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Students Get iPods as Study Aids
WIAKywbfatw writes "Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia has given iPod digital music players to its students to help them with their coursework, as reported by BBC News. Apple donated about 50 iPods as part of an experimental project to illustrate creative uses for the machine, and University professors say the gadgets have helped the students think more critically about their Gothic Imagination course." I wonder if I can write off my new iPod as an education expense.
What would also be really neat is if iPods could record. I could definitely see how having a 10-20Gb minirecorder could be really useful for classes. I've always wanted to be able to record lectures and play them back later with a high degree of ease. Laptops OTOH are not too well suited for this and you need a lot of space for a full course load.
Over all, this is a really cool idea.
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Now add a high-rez screen at least one half-page in size and the ability to play shockwave, flash, small programs and scripts, and up-to-date eBooks/pdfs, and you have a do-all textbook. Add input and networking and you can take tests and do homework on it too.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
So the big question is, did they get the brand new ones, or did they get some of the older models everyone is clearing out?
When or if or how Apple is going to release some kind of documentation for us to play with the guts. its obviously updateable and from a xserve cluster article I saw that they have already been re-programmed as headless lcuster administration tools. That and "dual processors" and "cd burning capabilities" why shouldnt we the owners be let in at some point. On an official Apple message board it was recently relayed to the community that ipod software 2.0 will NOT be availible for the first gen ipods...well I dont see anything that pushes the capabilities...why not let us have a look?
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Sure there are other things you can do with the i-Pod, but when schools are getting bothered by the RIAA all the time, this doesn't seem to make much sense. Well... unless they really like having the RIAA after them? I don't know.
It works for audio, text, contacts and calendar. I see the use for this course but it seems a bit of a stretch to make this practice widely available. Libraries could use ipods for checking out audio content which could save on duplication costs but campus networks could also share the files. Which would save a bunch on hardware, over the ipod option at least.
Seems like a better marketing plan then educational tool.
I think it is actually possible to use a gizmo such as an iPod for tax write-off purposes. I think if you review it for an Established Publication(tm), you can then write it off. But don't take my word for it; I've only heard of it being done. (A tax accountant would be much better to ask about how to make it a valid write-off.) I'm really not sure how it could become an education write-off.
-- haaz.
"There is always an easy solution to every human problem -neat, plausible, and wrong." - H. L. Mencken
And I would like to see what kind of Goth iPod mod someone could come up with.. black face-plate with red back-light?
I think it would be a great thing to have for my lectures. I'm partially deaf and despite the small class sizes at my college I still have trouble taking notes. I've tried the old fashioned analog microcassette recorder, but it never really worked for me. If I could afford one for my lectures it would be great!
I'm not certain if its the same university, but I was reading another article on creative uses in education, and they were doing some very cool things. One class set-it up so that the class lecture, curriculum, research, and notes as well as student projects were available for sync-ing. Students could plug there iPod into any number of iMacs in a pre-configured lab, to get all the new lectures. They could then listen/re-listen to lectures as needed. Additionly any new files designated by the instructor were also sync'd to the iPod, and students could place their projects in public folder, were others could download it and view it, listen to it, etc.
It combined using the iPod for as a MP3 player, as well as the hard drive to exchange and port files, media and documents.
Apparently being able to listen to the lecture and discussions more than once, not only improved retention of knowledge, but increased student participation in future discussions, etc.
It sounded as if it made the class much more exciting. Now of course, part of this excitement was probably just from the fact that the instructors had to rethink their entire syllabus, and revise it to actually be used with the iPod, which probably freed them from a lot of the boring standby material. But the fact that students for additional semesters were willing to purchases their own iPods, if they could just take the class, proves the value of the new format.
At Berklee College of Music... having an iPod can be included in Finacial aid i think. It's pretty well recommended and common to have one...
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