Duke University is starting an amazing trend with the use of iPods in the classroom. According to http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html, Duke University expected 1,200 students to use iPods to enhance classroom material by the Spring of 2006. One professor, Mark Williams, used a photo iPod this fall in his “Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain” course to house a visual glossary of 500 human neuro-anatomical structures and terms comprising text descriptions, images and corresponding audio pronunciations.
Duke is doing a smart thing by incorporating iPods in their classes. Instead of fighting a no-win battle of not allowing iPods in the classroom, they are not only allowing them, but using them as part of lessons. It can make classroom interaction much better. Of course, there will be some teachers that will be skeptical of such an idea. However, as Duke’s vice president for Information Technology and CIO Tracey Fruthy puts it, "there is always a risk associated with introducing a program nobody had ever tried before. The increased use we’ve seen has been a direct result of faculty and student innovation. We expected we’d have this kind of interest, and it’s exactly the success we thought, but couldn’t be certain, it would be.”
Click here to learn more about Duke University's use of iPods.
When Apple adds a camera to the iPod Touch I will probably require it for this course.
ReplyDelete