Thursday, May 21, 2009

My comments on 3 technology articles

I do not own a iPod. I have never even downloaded anything on one either. Needless to say the iPod is great and now instead of it just being something to listen to for musical pleasure or watching movies. It can also be used for educational purposes. In the article "History To Go Why iTeach with iPods" explains how convenient it is for grad students to use their iPod to record references with iTalk mikes in the library and also with the audio voice note function. This may sound difficult, but the students explain more people use this function, is the most useful and the easiest to use. The second article is concerned with the Australian Public Libraries. In order to keep up with modern communication levels the Queensland Opal Training Project explored inexpensive and practical methods. These technologies will improve online services and be more inviting for the younger generations. The last article I read is "Using Podcasts as Audio Learning Objects. Posting digital sound to the web and other mobile devices. One aspect I found interesting was the how podcasts can be used for the visually impaired. What better way for modern technology to promote education. Then to be more accessible. The podcasts can be recorded and listened at anytime and anywhere. Connivance is always a great selling point.
What I think all these articles and technologies have in common is they all promote positive educational tools for the student and teachers. If a person is a little computer literate they will be able to use all the gadgets mentioned. I don't think these new inventions will take over class time with the professor or become a nuisance, but I think these modern tools will make learning more fun and interesting.

4 comments:

  1. The article made me realize that the iPod can be an instructional tool. I must share some of this information with my colleagues because we have been discussing banning the electronic devices from our campus. Too many times they get stolen or are used at inappropriate times. Now I must share how teachers should start to utilize this as another teaching tool.

    Jill

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  2. The article made good points about ways to use podcasts. I agree that it would be great for visually impaired students, but I also think we could record our classes and students could listen to what was taught online from home. This would be a great way for students to keep up with what is going on in class when they are not at school. Sometimes we have students that are gone for 7-14 day on vacations in the middle of the school year. They will miss words of the week, new concepts, and bones of the week. Usually we just move on to the next topic when they return and don't touch over what was taught as much as we should. Using a podcast would make it so students can keep up with any lesson they miss just by clicking on the PE website and following the lesson for the day.

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  3. Wow, you do not have an ipod, man that is not right. I have had 3 ipods in the last 2 years. I do not have time to down load things on my ipod or i would do so more often.
    It is a great idea to allow students to use ipods, it can be a great learning tool and could help them become more sucessful in class. Allowing studnets to use ipods is a great thing. Like your last article said, the students can use it to record information that may help when the teacher is not around. That is a great thing.

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  4. Absolutely agree w/ the podcast article. I have never had experience w/ them (just bought my mic today!) but that is absolutely beneficial for visually impaired students to utilize. Podcasts would also help if you are one who re-writes your notes. In undergrad Kinesiology classes, we all had our little tape recorders and had to stop, play, stop, play when re-writing our notes. If they were pocast, this process would be much easier!

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