iPod / iPhone in the Classroom

This type of technology has been on the horizon for a while.  The concept here is one of using these devices in the classrooms for learning activities.

I’ve been sort of interested, on the sidelines, but not terribly sold on the concept.  Until recently, the applications that had an educational bent were very simple and did things like flash cards which doesn’t cut it for me.  Yes, there’s a drill and kill, review type aspect to them that does have a place but it’s an expensive place.

I’m thinking that Christmas 2008 may be the start of something new and interesting.

It was this Christmas that kids (big and small) found iPod Touches and iPhones under the Christmas tree.  After tearing them open, downloading the latest iTunes, updating the i-OS (these things must have been manufactured last summer), there’s a realization that these devices could do more than just play their favourite music.  Significantly more.

If your house was equipped with wireless for traditional computing devices, you were ready to go with your new one.  Where to head?  The iTunes store, of course.  Ready to pony up $.99 for a song?  How about something free instead?  If you hadn’t been there for a while and hadn’t been there with one of these new devices, you might not have poked around the “App Store“.  Sure, you might have downloaded a free podcast or two, but this changes things significantly.  Love it or hate it, the App Store is your one stop for applications that run on your new device.  And so many of them are for free.

There is the entertainment space which I’m sure is the first place that most people head.  Prepare for a smorgasbord of free games.  However, the educator also heads to the Education section.  As I write this, there are 59 pages of about 20 applications per page that fall into the category of Education.  It does indeed get interesting now.  Applications written for the iPod / iPhone tend to be very visually engaging, with sound and music, and no external drivers and devices needed to get them to work.  If you can point and click with your finger, you’re good to go.

The down side is the distribution mechanism.  While there are lots of free applications, there are even more pay applications.  At this writing, there isn’t a way to preview these before you buy.  You pay for them upfront and take your chances.  With the digital rights management feature, I’m surprised that there isn’t some sort of method to take a look before you pay.  Many developers release a “lite” version to let you explore and then purchase the full version if that’s what you want.

There needs to be a way to improve upon this for sales because there are so many good applications for free.  The venerable Google Earth has a mobile version.  Animoto has released a free version that lets you put together simple presentations based upon imagery in your device.  Great teachers will find great ways to incorporate these.  The list of applications is impressive.  Above and beyond the typical single application, the iPod / iPhone works with the best of collaboration right out of the box.  In fact, with the GPS abilities of these machines, applications like Twittelator have more functionality than their desktop or web relatives.

How will this play out?  Who knows?  We may be headed towards a head to head battle between the iPod / iPhone and Netbooks in the race toward ubiquitous computing.  Both seem to be zeroing in on the same price point.  Both are very portable, have great battery life, both access web applications, you can fill in the blanks. It might even be that your Netbook will run an iPod emulator in the future.

The iPod / iPhone even has the teacher is covered.  With appropriate connections, your device also connects to a television or data projector for display.

Stay tuned; we’re not done with this discussion by a long shot.

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