Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > July > 04 > Entry
Going to class? Don’t forget your iPod
I just discovered another MSM education blog that I didn’t know about. It’s called Campus Watch, written by Greg Esposito and recently joined by Amy Kovac, two education reporters at the Roanoke Times in Virginia.
Kovac, one of my education writer pals, recently wrote about Radford University in Virginia and how the music department now REQUIRES students to bring iPod’s to class. Not just any MP3 player, they want the Apple-brand iPod. And they prefer the big $269 model, not the stripped down (and cheaper) iPod shuffle, mini or nano. (I have the iPod Mini, which works great for my purposes — a daily three-mile run).
A professor tells Kovac the cost shouldn’t be a burden since it’s not much more than what college students often pay for textbooks. Any thoughts on this requirement? Anyone heard of Ohio colleges that have done the same?
BTW, Campus Watch now makes eight MSM edublogs that I know about, counting myself and the fairly new addition of the LA Times’ School Me! blog along with these earlier arrivals in the MSM edusphere.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Colleges and Universities, Journalism
Comments
By Laf
July 12, 2006 10:53 PM | Link to this
Georgia College and State University professors in Milledgeville, Georgia make very effective use of the ipods in their classrooms. The ipod can be a very useful tool in the hands of the right professor. Also students connect well to this form of instructional tool. Also one should review the number of free pod cast available that has educational value. Everything from current events to lectures by some of the leading professors in the country. Go ipod!!!By Oldprof
July 5, 2006 9:08 AM | Link to this
Responding to Dave: Gimmick. We’ve seen this all before: the latest technological innovation that will transform education, the newest magic bullet: programmed learning, eye training, college by cassette, video-recorded lectures by master professors, multimedia. NONE of them worked as advertised, and the ones that weren’t eventually discarded completely live on in limited uses that weren’t originally envisioned. There have been only four technological innovations that revolutionized education: writing, printing (esp. movable type), chalkboard, and computer. Also note that the IPod is propriatary unlike generic MP3 players. I’m appalled by the cost of textbooks; there’s nothing in that $250 art history tome that you can’t find for free on the internet—those costs are not justified, and neither is that of the IPod.By Dave
July 4, 2006 10:22 PM | Link to this
Yes, some textbooks do approach that cost. And a few of them are actually worth it. But the real question here should be, “Does the iPod really enhance the education, or is this just an expensive gimmick?”By NYC Educator
July 4, 2006 2:25 PM | Link to this
From what my college students tell me, there are already textbooks that approach the prices of iPods. They tell me science tests are particularly costly, which leaves me relieved, as the most I ever read them is never.By Mary
July 4, 2006 11:49 AM | Link to this
USA Today Life section on March 15, 2006 had an article on iPods being used at Duke, and I believe, other schools and universities, for lecture material.By Mary
July 4, 2006 11:36 AM | Link to this
Seems a few months ago I read an article in the Dayton Daily News, or more likely USA Today, about various colleges, schools and Apple having a formal program on utilizing iPOD in the college and school classroom. I cannot recall if an Ohio classroom was mentioned, but it seems they were also used for lectures and iPods were free to the students.