Students can use their iPod touches in plain sight in Mark Schuler鈥檚 World History class at Roswell High School here. The portable devices and the telltale ear buds are also welcome in the hallways, library, and cafeteria.
Roswell officials, unlike most of their counterparts around the country, have changed their view of the MP3 players, seeing them less as contraband and more as educational accessories. Educators at the 2,400-student school in suburban Atlanta are hoping to put more content at students鈥� fingertips and capture their interest by enlisting the digital tools today鈥檚 teenagers have already mastered for social and leisure purposes.
鈥淔ive years ago iPods were banned, but we got overwhelmed with trying to discipline kids and fight the technology,鈥� says Edward Spurka, the principal of Roswell High. 鈥淥ur philosophy here now is let them have it, ... so we鈥檝e allowed all those resources out in the world to be on their person.鈥�
The school鈥檚 pilot program, which integrates iPods into Advanced Placement classes and encourages appropriate applications for other lessons and activities across the curriculum, was introduced as part of Georgia鈥檚 educational technology plan. The initiative, being rolled out in 60 high schools across the state, uses federal funding for hand-held technologies as a means of expanding access to and success in rigorous high school courses for underrepresented student groups.
鈥淲e thought this would be a great way to engage learners and deliver more-rigorous material to them,鈥� says Becky Chambers, who manages the AP program for the Georgia Department of Education. 鈥淥ftentimes, kids have technology but they don鈥檛 use it for substantive work, only social media or for pleasure such as listening to music. They don鈥檛 recognize the power of these devices to improve knowledge and skills.鈥�
The state program provides grants of up to $64,000 to districts鈥攆unded primarily from federal Enhancing Education Through Technology, or EETT, grants鈥攖o buy the portable devices and provide professional development and support services to teachers in AP courses.
Expanding Learning Time
The touch-screen devices鈥攚hich are equipped with wireless Internet capability, play high-quality video, and can be equipped with any of thousands of free educational applications, or apps鈥攈ave found favor in a number of schools across the country. First graders in Orange County, Calif., for example, are using iPods to record themselves reading aloud and retelling a story in their own words to demonstrate comprehension. In Springfield, Ill., teachers can create podcasts, or audio recordings, of lessons and provide links to related online resources that students can access at any time using their hand-held computers. And 3rd graders in Wells, Maine, are using iPods to preview exhibits at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art as they prepare their own podcasts related to a field trip.
At Roswell High, Schuler鈥檚 students have round-the-clock access to the class Web site, where there are links to text resources, podcasts and notes from previous lectures, video clips on related topics, and details about assignments and exams. The students often take notes or compose drafts of essays on the miniature keypads using word-processing software and then send them to themselves via e-mail. Schuler gives multiple-choice quizzes on the devices, which then automatically calculate scores and provide data on students鈥� knowledge of the content.
鈥淲ith the [iPod] touches, I鈥檓 not bound to the 55 minutes of class time,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey have expanded my time with students, and if they are willing to put in the work, they can learn at their own pace and easily find more information on their own.鈥�
When he sees students hunched over their iPods typing furiously, Schuler sometimes wonders if they are attending to classwork or something unrelated. Ultimately, he鈥檚 learned to trust they will do the necessary work, generally a given among his high-achieving students, he says.
Cellphones vs. iPods
The experiment at Roswell is still limited to two classrooms鈥擲chuler鈥檚 as well as an English literature class鈥攚here students are issued iPods. But other teachers are finding ways to do similar activities using students鈥� personal devices. Spurka and other administrators use their own iPods to document classroom observations and collect data on teachers鈥� performance.
The iPod touches are appealing for educators and students alike because of their ease of use, the availability of free educational applications, and ready Internet access, according to Lisa Thumann, a senior specialist in technology education at Rutgers University鈥檚 Busch Campus in Piscataway, N.J., where she teaches a class for educators who want to use the devices as teaching or administrative tools.
In Thumann鈥檚 view, cellphones or smartphones offer more instructional options for teachers than MP3 players, because large numbers of middle and high school students have their own, and applications are adaptable across brands and types. While many students own MP3 players, it would be harder to coordinate lessons when some students have Apple鈥檚 iPods while others have Sony鈥檚 Walkman or Dell鈥檚 Zune devices, Thumann says.
But the iPods and similar devices don鈥檛 require costly data plans and, without telephone and texting capabilities or camera features, they tend to alleviate some of the concerns over cybersafety and inappropriate use that have made many school administrators prohibit cellphones in schools, according to Kathy Politis, the director of technology for the Fulton County school district, which includes Roswell High.
For officials in Georgia, the MP3 players provide the ideal solution for using mobile technology efficiently and effectively in schools.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been struggling to move teacher instruction away from some of the more traditional approaches to formats that are more engaging for students,鈥� says Elizabeth Webb, the state鈥檚 director of innovative academic programs. 鈥淲e鈥檙e giving them a great tool not only for them to be successful in high school, but when they get out in the real world.鈥�
