Educational Ipod Use

According to Duke University, the first university to distribute ipods to incoming freshman as educational tools, ipods are a way to capture lessons, lectures, and other forms of educational media. Before reading this article, I was curious as to how an ipod can be used to learn rather than entertain. I understood that internet access can be helpful in the classroom. But these ipods were equipped with recorders and such to capture every conversation needed to assist students in the classroom. The ipods were said to be used for repeating needed items such as music, vocabulary lists, and audiobooks. This feature would come in handy during music literature when the students are required to match a composer with the work. This feature could also be acheived on a regular computer as well, minus the convience of a handheld device such as an ipod.

This approach to learning is still in testing and I believe that it depends on the operator rather than the equipment itself. Having an ipod to use in the classroom is more of a luxury rather than a necessity. It is not needed to perform daily assignments but can be used to expand availability to information.