Let’s take a closer look at the educational application Wheels on the Bus from Duck Duck Moose, which is available for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The application is currently on sale for 99 cents, but is regularly $2.99.
DESCRIPTION:
Wheels on the Bus is an interactive musical book for iPhone and iPod Touch, based on the familiar children’s song. Children can listen, sing and read along to the popular tune. The song contains eight different verses that allow children to touch and move objects and characters on every page. FORWARD ad BACK buttons are provided for easy navigation between each page and verse. Occasionally, children will discover fun surprises and sounds by touching an object on a page. Users can spin the wheels, open and close the doors, swish the wipers, make a dog bark and my favorite, pop some bubbles.
When I was working on my masters degree in the principalship, I was involved in a program that utilized a classroom walkthrough (CWT) tool. This methodology was employed as a means for educational leaders to collect data in regards to what type of professional practice they observed in their school building. From there, principals had a base of data to review and analyze as they made decisions about what type of professional development their staff needed. Since that experience, I’ve been thinking that designing a CWT for the iPhone/iPod Touch would be a great project to work on.
If there is anyone who is using a CWT on a handheld device currently (I know of one option, but I’m not crazy about it…) or if you are using a more traditional method of CWT, I’d be interested in talking about it with you here or on the IEAR NING where I have also cross posted this entry on the discussion board. I think this would be a great app to get started on. Any thoughts?
I’ve been delivering professional development and providing training on iPods, iTunes and podcasting for about 3 years. When I first started working with educators in this area, I was toting around a fourth generation Classic iPod with me. At that time, I’d say that about 90% of the teachers I worked with had never had an iPod, used iTunes or even knew what a podcast was. While that percentage has probably gone down somewhat over the years, most districts I work with still want the focus of PD to lean more towards creating podcasts and using the iPod as a playback device. I am always happy to work with teachers on this kind of stuff, but it is a little discouraging since I know the device could be used for so much more in classrooms.
While the iPod technology has developed rapidly, i.e. numerous models, video capacity, multi-touch interface, most of the teachers I interact with are still trying to come to grips with how to master using the iPod as a portable media player. My conversations with them are most often centered around “how do I download this,” or “can I put movies on this thing?” In the hustle of a school day, our conversations rarely get to grow beyond the normal troubleshooting variety. I never really get the chance to talk to teachers about the education potential of iPhones/iPod touch. This leaves me constantly searching for conversations with other people who understand what mobile devices would/could mean to teacher practice.
