All Posts Tagged With: "iPod"
Calgary students might soon use iPods in the classroom
Tech tools range from periodic tables and calculators to audio books and news feeds
Calgary students told to turn off their iPods might soon have an excuse to keep the small gadgets glowing – they can say they’re just doing homework.
The Calgary Board of Education is starting a series of pilot projects that could see many types of technology such as iPods, video conferencing and green screens incorporated into classrooms and school libraries.
Most students have grown up used to having digital tools on hand at all times, says Erin Hansen, project lead for the new initiative. Teachers may be able to make learning more personal for students by helping incorporate these familiar gadgets.
“How deeply are students using these tools? Are they just using them to text message and to telephone, et cetera? What deeper purposes can we use them for?”
Hansen is currently trying out some of the tools in the board’s resource library for teachers ahead of a classroom rollout that could begin within a few months.
For example, she’s found a vast variety of educational applications for iPods. While they’re not included in classrooms just yet, possible tools range from portable periodic tables, astronomy charts and graphing calculators to downloadable audio books and news feeds.
Videoconferencing could link classrooms to museums far beyond the reach of a school bus, and green screens could let students put themselves anywhere, doing anything.
Students in Calgary seemed enthusiastic about seeing more technology in their classrooms, but were cautious about whether the gadgets they use for fun could also be educational.
“All teens use technology, but whether or not they learn better, I think it’s on more of a personal basis,” said Derek Vogt, 17. “It definitely can aid, it’s more of a tool or a resource rather than something that creates the final product itself.”
Fifteen-year-old Corrine Tansowny laughed that currently, teachers usually ask students to turn off their iPods in class.
She said while educational applications might be great, an increase in certain types of technology can also present challenges.
“People can put stuff on their iPods and cheat,” she said. “I know that you can put SparkNotes and get the notes off the Internet for a book you’re reading in (English), or whatever.”
U Saskatchewan in the lead? Check your iPhone
With new iUSASK app, students will have access to marks, maps and campus webcams
Programmers at the University of Saskatchewan have designed a new iPhone application that could revolutionize how some students get their school-related information.
The iUSASK app is set to launch in August, and will allow students to check their marks, feedback from professors, campus news, maps and even search the library catalogue.
Although the program, a first at a Canadian university, still needs to be approved by smart phone manufacturer Apple, the university is aiming to have it available — for free — by the time school starts in September.
USask’s computer science department will also be the first Canadian university to offer an iPhone programming course within the year. The class will be open to students and members of the public, who will learn how to build applications for the popular smart phone.
The iUSASK application, which can also be accessed on the iPod Touch, can currently be used to check class schedules, assignment due dates, marks and other academic notifications. The university’s athletics department has a feed, as does the students’ union and the school’s learning centre. The program even has access to a real-time campus webcam.
As they continue to develop the software, the app’s programmers plan on including a real-time map, made with Google Maps, that can track a user’s location at the university.
A spokesperson for the school recently told The StarPhoenix that the programming code used in the software could ostensibly be sold to other universities. “Yes, we could make money off of the application.”
