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.
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