Embracing the use of Ipods and MP3 players in the classroom

If you visited my school on any random day, this is what you'd see:

(image courtesy: ELIYAHU GURFINKEL/ANN ARBOR NEWS)

Kids connected--with Ipods and cell phones. As a special education teacher, I'm well aware of the fact that many of my students do NOT sit well with the idea of sitting at their desk and studying for a test 20th century style--with pages of notes, re-reading them silently.

Most educators know this is the case...but why haven't we embraced the usage of Ipods/MP3 players in the classroom? I'll admit, I'm guilty of not doing so (in the past), but that was due to lack of time to create a podcast, or things of that nature.

I recently created a podcast for an upcoming test that I'll be giving in my classroom. It was relatively easy--I simply recorded the audio file via trakAx (or another free audio recorder like Audacity), ensured the file was in mp3 format (Download.com has a number of free .wav to .mp3 file converters available), and saved it on a free web based file hosting service (I use DivShare). The end result was this:

The total time it took me to complete this was about...20 minutes. Bear in mind, I'm somewhat technologically savvy (I'm by no means a computer 'geek', but I can hold my own!) With that being said, if one does not wish to complete all those steps in order to create their own podcast, Gcast is another option that allows you to create a podcast over the phone and then embed it onto your website. This is great for those enrolled in schools that do not have many of the required tools to complete podcasts, or refuse to allow podcasting software onto their district computers.

Below are additional links to give you ideas on how to use podcasting in the classroom:

Apple's ideas on how to use the Ipod in the classroom
A podcast on Podcasting in the classroom
Kathy Schrock's Links-Podcasting in the classroom