iPod has new role as educational tool

Children will soon have a compelling new argument when begging their parents for an iPod, as the music, movie, and audio book player is about to take on a new role: educational tool. Pearson Education has just announced plans to release downloadable study guides (for use with Pearson texts, naturally) and audible review notes for exam preparation that may convince even the strictest parents to acquiesce and let the little white trojan horse into their homes. Not content with just the youth market, Pearson also revealed that it has purchased Apple's PowerSchool student information system, which is used by teachers and administrators to track student progress. No word yet on when kids can start using the "I'm studying!" excuse when told to take off their headphones in class.

[Petey Boi @ May 25th 2006 11:49AM]

Oh my God!

[Petey Boi @ May 25th 2006 11:56AM]

Next thing you know, the Ipod can shoot lasers.

[David @ May 25th 2006 11:56AM]

I would enjoy a program with languages. You could look-up common phrases and learn with pictures and audio.

[Joe Smith @ May 25th 2006 12:03PM]

you know what the iPod should definitely have? a dictionary/thesaurus. it would be so easy to build that in!

[Jordan @ May 25th 2006 12:09PM]

Please don't say things like "little white trojan horse" .. ;)

[Jamie @ May 25th 2006 12:14PM]

Man, it must suck to be an ipod hater. Seems like the ipod keeps hitting homeruns. It is becoming a behemoth that can't be stopped, and I love it. Sorry, I have passed that puberty stage where I hate a product just because it is popular.

[Mike @ May 25th 2006 12:27PM]

This is not new - I recently recorded my GCSE speaking presentation for french on my iPod and used that, along with cue cards on my photo option.

[Brandon @ May 25th 2006 12:35PM]

My high school is considering recording all lectures or notes into podcasts and encouraging students to buy ipod shuffles at least. Students without the money to afford iPod or without internet access could request the podcasts burned onto CD-R. It's not set in stone yet, but for a high school of about 130 students, it moves forward in technology pretty fast. They're already using SmartBoards, which is a board that detects where the user is writing on it, and when calibrated with a projector properly, puts in the screen of a computer. Too bad I graduated before they'll ever implement the podcasts though. Our science teacher also said there is some program that removes some of the quiet parts of the speech in order to shorten the length of the lecture, so kids with short attention spans (and isn't that all of them?) don't have to listen as long, but get all the info.

[Big Ed @ May 25th 2006 12:44PM]

@ Joe Smith, that's the kind of sick minded garbage that got you that negative star.

I think this is a bad ideam, little Jimmy was listening to Cinderalla on his $400 ipod and he dropped it down the stairs, or spilled chocolate on it, or dropped it in water...etc

[Shunnabunich @ May 25th 2006 12:55PM]

@#3: "Next thing you know, the iPod can shoot lasers."

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/ibeams/index.php

:D

[crescentdave @ May 25th 2006 1:09PM]

I think it would be a great addition when it comes to subjects like foreign languages. It'd be a waste for many other subjects like science and biology, simply because the visual & relational aspects of reading are much quicker than audio & also interact with the mind differently.

[Clay Coffman @ May 25th 2006 1:28PM]

A waste, kids don't use this stuff. It WOULD help for foreign language classes I bet though. You can't use an entertainment device to study very well. Think of high school kids, are they gonna study on the iPod or watch the latest "Lost"? My HS spent nearly a million bucks on lots and lots of computers and we hated it. This is yet another attempt by society to automate our eduation process. Better education means more teachers and smaller classes, no amount of trying to make education fun or easier can ever compete with that.

[David @ May 25th 2006 1:37PM]

Cool.

[Skeg8 @ May 25th 2006 1:53PM]

At BYU Hawaii we are in the process of installing iTunes Univeristy where teachers can control class content for students. The school has also begun puchasing iPod's for students to use. It is just another tool that allows students to get the information.
Interesting thing is the great divide between those faculty who think it is a great idea and those who think it is a waste of money. I suppose only time will tell if our project will work.

[Aaron Smith @ May 25th 2006 2:04PM]

This is a good step in the right direction. Educational publishers are starting to catch up with the rest of the publishing community. This is a great example of using technology to enhance student learning by removing the restriction of time and location. I have lots of comments on this at my blog: http://k12edtech.blogspot.com

[Rod @ May 25th 2006 2:22PM]

WTF! I wish I had this when I was in school! Then again, I probably wouldn't have afforded it 'til after high school(broke @$$ parents). I could see it would work by using it like a digital flash card thingy(for lack of a better word). I know it would help me with my finals right now!

[Guess Who @ May 25th 2006 2:29PM]

As to languages, I rip Pimsleur's Mandarin Chinese lessons onto my iPod and do my lessons while I am on an exercise bike at the gym. Folks who try to read my lips have a perplexing time of it!

My wish for the memory-challenged Nanos, BTW, is a media card slot. Then, I could rip different things to differend media cards to make up for the short-changed Nanos.

--Steve

[Paul P. @ Mar 7th 2008 11:27AM]

You can download Pimsleur directly to your iPod (and avoid the CDs and Windows Media files) at http://www.thelanguagestop.com/pimsleur-download-ipod.html

They also sell Pimsleur on audiobook chips, which sounds like what you're looking for. There's a player for it too ( http://www.iofy.com/player/ ) but I guess that defeats the purpose of the iPod!

[Bill @ May 25th 2006 5:34PM]

"little white trojan horse..." i love it
Proud owner of a ZEN microphoto

[Intrepid @ May 26th 2006 8:25AM]

Now kids can wear turtlenecks too. I know apple loves making things affordable, so how are poor kids going to get this? You guys (Apple) suck...

[josh @ May 26th 2006 10:31AM]

"My high school is considering recording all lectures or notes into podcasts."

Several colleges are doing this as well - of course, you don't have to have an iPod, any player that can support podcasts would work fine.

[Anton @ May 30th 2006 7:21AM]

> little white trojan horse...

...that STILL lacks an FM-tuner and voice recorder!

All we can guess is that Apple wants to make sure you don't waste time on MP3 activities that don't require you to keep buying from iTunes. Listening to your favorite FM radio station or recording podcasts on the fly doesn't put money in Mr. Jobs iPocket.

[PeteL @ May 30th 2006 2:51PM]

As Stevie J has stated, He wants you to buy one or two per year. So each "NEW" iPod will have one more feature that you "HAVE to HAVE". Thus making him even richer. He'll add an FM tuner or voice recording to one version and then wait 6-10 months and then add the other. Next Video iPod.... etc