A laptop for every student! — is this the direction we are really heading in?
The idea is very attractive, and with good wireless networking it can create some really exciting synergies. It is a very enabiling technology, helping students feel vested in their education and leads to some really compelling benefits. But laptops are also heavy, power hungry, and require all sorts of maintenance. And, while prices have come down considerably, they are still relatively expensive to purchase and maintain. To give 200 students iBooks would cost around $100,000 — for iPods you are looking at $20,000.
Other portable computing devices, such as GameBoys, cell phones and mp3 players offer a very attractive platform for educational initiatives. Many kids already have them, they are cheap, really portable, require little maintenance, can be dropped without great harm. GameBoys seem practically indestructible — at least my kids have abused theirs for years and they keep on ticking.
Cell phones are attactive because so many kids have them. But they also tend to tough to program for in the US with little interoperability between different services. The new GameBoy, with its built in wireless networking, is pretty cool, as is the new PlayStation Portable. These might offer real possibilities, but the manufacturers also keep their platforms relatively closed also making it tricky to work on.
The iPod is the hot new gotta-have device for kids in at least middle school up to adults. It is an off-line device, in that you download things to it and then take it away to use. But that also means you can use it anywhere. Podcasting has some great educational potential, from distributing audio lectures and other content, to allowing student audo homework. (And podcasts will work with any mp3 player.) iStory Creator allows anyone to create text-based games and interactive stories. It looks a little pedestrian when you first look at them, but they are strangely compelling. My 14-year old, when first shown one of the iStories immediately wanted to see more, and get them downloaded to his iPod (an 8th grade graduation present.) He is an active gamer on Xbox interactive and all sorts of high-end platforms, so you know its got something.
And there are other companies offering their own iPod additions/hacks and other mods. There’s even a linux distribution for iPods. With this kind of energy I think we’ll see more iPod usability coming up in the month ahead, It ain’t just for playing music anymore. And in this, there’s probably some room for some creativity for e-learning and other learning strategies.
Here are some iPod software sites of interest:
http://www.ipodsoft.com/ — Application including iStory Creator (make
your own text based games ) and iPod Agent (takes music off your ipod
and put RSS feeds onto it.)
http://www.sappenin.com/ — Export with PalmPod: Get your palm desktop onto your iPod
http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/ctable.php — Anapod Explorer, promises more features and better iPod management than iTunes
http://verstige.com/iDirectionz/ — iDirectionZ: download driving directions to your iPod
http://ipodlounge.com/ — iPodlounge: News, reviews and all things iPod
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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