Apple offers free hosting of class lectures at 'iTunes U'

In an article written by Laura Ascine, Assistant Editor of eSchoolNews online, she talks about students at the University of Michigan's School of Dentistry and their use of iPods and MP3 players. The students use these devices for more that just listening to music, they also listen to class lectures and review notes through a student-run project that uses iTunes technology for academic purposes. UM-Dentistry uses “i Tunes U”, a content-management system from Apple Computer, that allows teachers to post audio recordings of class lectures online. Students can preview a lecture recording, download an individual lecture, or subscribe to have downloads delivered to their computers or MP3 players automatically.

This is another example of current web trends in our society. This is also a great way to help many students who have a difficult time concentrating in class. The technology helps students who are absent because of an illness or for any other reason. They can easily download the lectures as if they were in class. One of the problems that I see with this wonderful technology is that students can miss class any time they want. They do not necessarily have to be in class because they can download the lectures at their leisure and may result in poor class attendance or poor listening habits.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=6153

Marianita Lemma
This is an interesting article by Technology and Learning. Please read on.
In this article by Tom McHale, clearly indicates that when there is a will there is a way. The Irving Independent School District in Texas approved in 1997 a 47 million bond to fund a vision that supports technology integration trough extensive online resources, especially at the High School level. The first bond was to build the Academy of Irving, a high school for technology and careers, and providing each teacher with a laptop and professional development opportunities. The second bond for $54.8 million passed in 2001 and enabled the Academy to open its doors and issue laptops to all of its 1,200 students. It also funded a new wireless infrastructure, the replacement of aging equipment, and a first round of laptops — for 9th and 10th graders — in the other three district high schools. All high school students have laptops for school and home use. Students are responsible for charging the batteries at home and also pay a small insurance fee.

The district also supports technology integration through extensive online resources, especially at the high school level. Among them are streaming video through Discovery's unitedstreaming and DigitalCurriculum.com and e-learning portals through Blackboard (263 courses are available). The district also offers students multimedia tools such as Microsoft's PowerPoint and Moviemaker and Adobe's Macromedia Studios. Teachers can also use LearnStar Client to create automated tests, quizzes, and competitive games.

Most of the teachers reported "the laptop initiative had a positive impact on their teaching," they also believe "it has added additional duties for classroom management to their workload." Dealing with classroom management issues at the high school level, such as students not bringing their laptops, is an obstacle many teachers are still encountering. In fact, Technology Immersion Pilot classroom observations note about 35 percent of the students were without their laptops. They also found greater instances of off-task behavior by students with laptops at the high school. "It's a whole new way of organizing your classroom," Owen said. "You have to find ways to engage the kids in different kinds of learning."

I think the Irving School district should serve as an example for many school districts in our country. We need to start helping students acquire the 21st century skills necessary for their success. But in order for us to do this we need the support of parents, administrators, educators and the government. Without their support we cannot help our students acquire their skills necessary to succeed.
http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604145