iPods Episode #6: Notes

Another episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been published. Episode #6: Notes is all about viewing text on iPods.

When you think of iPods, you think of those white earbuds. While iPods are designed for audio (and some for video, too), iPods with screens can also display text. In the Extras menu, you’ll see the Notes option. That's were you can view text files that have been placed on the iPod. Learn how to copy notes to iPod along with the limitations and workarounds.

Listen to all 7 minutes of Episode #6 for how-to and a few valuable tips. Also, check out learninginhand's iPod Notes page.

Automatic Suspension

Michigan School District Cracks Down on Cellphones, iPods appears in USA Today. Rather than having electronic devices confiscated or serving a detention, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools have begun automatic suspensions. Students are slapped with a one-day suspension for the first violation. Students could be suspended for up to five days for more than three violations.

The main reason for such harsh consequences? You guessed it: they might be used for cheating. Forget that handheld devices have potentially great educational value. Forget that assessment should be more than memorizing facts that can easily be looked up. Forget that outside of school, looking up information on your mobile device is not cheating, it's being resourceful (and becoming a necessary life skill). Forget about teaching ethics. Just ban utensils that could enable cheating. Perhaps this should include paper and pens, which are much more commonly used for cheating. Heck, ban the air supply so students can't possibly whisper answers to one another!

Plymouth-Canton's director for student services is quoted in the article, "This was not done capriciously. ...We want to teach people responsible use." What? First, I had to look up the word capriciously. Knowing what that means didn't clear up my confusion. Automatic suspension is not teaching students responsible use. Suspending a student for bringing an iPod to school is in no way guiding learners in how to use technology responsibly. I'm not opposed to suspensions for cheating, but for simply bringing a potential learning device into school? No way.

I enjoyed reading the comments on Michigan School District Cracks Down on Cellphones, iPods:

• genxer65 wrote: "Kids do need to learn when to use these devices and when not to."
• o050441 wrote: "Humans survived thousands of years without a cellphone. There is no NEED for this technology to live day to day. It's a luxury, a privilege or even a crippling disease."
• Eldiablo wrote: "Don't use them during school hours, how hard is that to follow?"
• mistamilla wrote: "There's another issue being overlooked: the damage / theft of iPods and cellphones. I know this firsthand...as a teacher, you'd be STUNNED at the number of calls our school gets.....get this now....the number of parents that want us, the school, to REPAIR or REPLACE Johnnie's or Susie's damaged property."
• commonpurposecon wrote: "Suspension just allows them to use the devices all day long and not in school. Have the library confiscate the devices with no guarantee that they will see it again."
• RD72987 wrote: "Its not just iPods and cell phones, get rid of all of the elements of cheating....People copy other peoples homework in study hall, heck that's what study hall was for."

I realize cheating is an important issue. I know phones and iPods can be distractions. But, schools should integrate students' miniature computing and communication devices into learning. Banning and suspension is cheating students of access to valuable tools.

My iPod Session at NECC

I Didn't Know You Could Do That with an iPod was the name of a session I presented at last month's National Educational Computing Conference in Atlanta. The room was pretty much full when I entered to set up. By the time the session started, people were crammed in every square foot of space. In fact, blogger David Jakes gave his Most Ironic award to the fact that there was "so much interest in the educational application of a tool that is banned in most schools."

Kyle Stevens took great notes during the session. You can read his notes and listen to a recording on his Final Curve blog.

I used an iPod as a fun way to give away a prize. One of the possible prizes was an iPod Key Chain Connector. Lots of attendees wanted more information on the connector, so I wrote about it here.

I got many questions for more information about the camera I was using to show the iPod's screen. Unlike Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, there is no software that allows iPod's screen to be transmitted directly to a computer. So, the only solution to show an iPod to a group of people is to point a camera at it. Often I've used a document camera. This time I used my iSight camera on top of a flexible stand. The stand is available from MacMice, but you must already have an iSight camera (Apple no longer sells them). Any USB camera can be used, but you'll want it to have a flexible stand so that you can position it over an iPod (or whatever you happen to be showing). USB cameras can be as inexpensive as $30, making them much cheaper than document cameras.

The camera does me no good if I can't show it on a computer screen. I use Monitor Mode, a free Mac program that takes any video source and displays it in full screen mode. With my Mac connected to a projector, I can show what's under the camera to a whole room. I've searched for a Windows alternative to Monitor Mode but haven't yet found one.

The NECC conference was a great event, with thousands of educators everywhere. Many of them blogged from the conference. I was tickled that Diana Laufenberg wrote the she was star-struck to see "the beloved Tony Vincent." Can you see me blushing, 'cuz I am! Furthermore, I got to meet the very sweet Midge Frazel and the brilliant Wesley Fryer, both of whom blogged about meeting me.

While it was a busy conference, the best part was meeting so many great educators. I didn't catch her name, but one technology teacher said she didn't retire this year because of me. She learned about podcasting from me and her students absolutely love it. She enjoys doing it so much, that she's staying on for another year. This is exactly why I share everything I do online!

Next year's National Educational Computing Conference is in San Antonio. Perhaps I'll meet you there!

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iPods Episode #5: Troubleshooting

The fifth episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been published. Episode #5: Troubleshooting gives advice on solving problems.

iPods are great little devices and almost all of the time, they work just fine. However, use an iPod long enough, and you’re bound to have a problem or two. After checking to make sure the Hold switch is in the off position and the battery has a charge, it’s time for the Five Rs of iPod troubleshooting: reset, retry, restart, reinstall, and restore.

Listen to all 8 minutes 20 seconds of Episode #5 for several iPod troubleshooting tips. Also, check out learninginhand's iPod Troubleshooting page.

iPod Key Chain Connector

iPods can be used as flash or external hard drives. This is certainly handy for carrying your files with you from one computer to another. One problem: you must have iPod's USB cable to connect to a computer. If you are like me, you leave your cord connected to the original computer and rarely tote that syncing/charging cable and iPod together.

But, something you always have with you is your keys. Some innovative folks have come up with a key chain that has a USB port on one end and an iPod connector on the other. The key chain can be used for synching and connecting and iPod as flash or external hard drives. It can also be used to charge iPod. The key chain is quite short and doesn't expand, so connecting iPod and the computer can be challenging, but it's still convenient to always have a connector when you need it.

The Young Micro Apple iPod USB Data and Charging Key Chain for Dock Connector iPods is available in white or black for $7.99.

• Read more about Hard Disk Mode.
• Listen to Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #1: Hard Disk Mode.

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iPods Episode #4: iPod shuffle Tips

The fourth episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast is online. Episode #4: iPod shuffle Tips is full of worthwhile advice for using Apple's $79 audio player.

Despite its lack of display screen, iPod shuffle can be more useful than you might think. The iPod shuffle's 1 GB of memory can store more than 12 hours of audio (240 songs), which means the battery will need to be recharged before the shuffle has played all of its audio. In classrooms where a computer for syncing new content is usually available, 12 hours of audio is not really all that limiting.

Listen to all 11 minutes 37 seconds of Episode #4 to learn about using the power of Smart Playlists to automatically sync podcasts and music to iPod shuffles. You will probably want to view these instructions.

And as a special request: If you enjoy this podcast, please click here and leave a rating and comment in iTunes. Thank you!

iPods Episode #3: Main Menu

The third episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast is online. Episode #3: Main Menu is all about customizing what appears in an iPod's Main menu.

If you're an avid iPod user, you've scrolled through your share of layers of menus. Of course, the first menu you start with is the Main menu. From there you can access music, videos, photos, and settings. But did you know you can customize the items listed in the main menu? I always add Playlists and Podcasts to the menu for quick access.

Customizing the Main menu items can save you time scrolling to your most-used iPod items. Also, if you're managing a set of iPods for student use, it's nice to place the items students will use in the Main menu so they can easily find what they are supposed to be doing on the iPod.

Listen to all 5 minutes 6 seconds of Episode #3 to learn how to change what's listed on your iPod's Main menu.

Edition 2 of Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators

The second edition of Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators by Tony Vincent and Janet Caughlin is now available! You might be familiar with the first edition published four years ago. Edition 2 has been completely updated and has an added 50 pages. Besides taking you step-by-step through using Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, iPods, and podcasting, the book gives dozens of examples of classroom use. In fact, the vignettes with teacher lesson idea and their insights into handheld computing is my favorite chapter. There's also a chapter with school administrators telling you all about how they use handhelds to do their jobs better.

The podcasting section is an exciting new addition to the book. It takes you through finding, subscribing, and listening to podcasts in iTunes, on an iPod, a Palm handheld, and Pocket PCs. It even has a tutorial for creating and publishing a podcast using the free Audacity software.

As with all of Janet's Workshop Books, busy educators can pick up Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators and get started right away using their handheld computers. The book's CD-ROM provides useful resources for the tutorials, lesson ideas, and podcasting. There also is this website that has all of the web links mentioned in the book.

Currently Edition 2 is not yet listed on the Tom Snyder website. Call the publisher at 800-342-0236 to order the book. You also order from K12 Handhelds here.

As a shameless promotion for the book, I made a Gizmoz animation of myself telling you about it. You can make your own Gizmoz for free by uploading a photo of yourself and then supplying text or audio.

iPods Episode #2: Downloading Videos

The second episode of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast has been posted. Episode #2: Downloading Videos is all about getting videos from websites to play on iPods.

Full sized iPods can play movies and videos! If you aren't sure if your iPod can play videos, simply turn on your iPod and go to the Main menu. If Video is listed, probably just below Music and Photos, then your iPod is video-capable. Currently, iPod nanos cannot play video. Their screens are so tiny, it probably wouldn't be enjoyable. And, of course, iPod shuffles don't have screens—not very conducive to viewing video.

You probably know that the iTunes Store would love to sell you music videos, television, shows, and full-length movies for between $1.99 and $14.99. But those are certainly not the only videos you can download, sync to, and play on an iPod. There are free video podcasts available from the iTunes Store as well, but we're not going to cover those in this episode.

We're going to talk about videos that you might already have on your computer that you'd love to put on an iPod for student-viewing. Additionally, you might have several favorites tagged in United Streaming, YouTube, or TeacherTube. Let me tell you about getting these videos ready for viewing on a video-capable iPod.

You need to know that iPods will only play videos that are in the MPEG-4. That means the video will end with the extension .mp4. In fact, iPods are somewhat picky in what kinds of MPEG-4 videos they will play. I'll share ways to get your videos into the iPod specific format. But please don't think that just by renaming a video with the ending .mp4 that that magically turns the video into the right format. Videos have to be transcoded from their original format, which might be .mov, .mpeg, .avi, to MPEG-4. Transcoding takes a lot of processing power, so when a video is being converted, you'll have to wait a while. Listen to all 11 minutes 45 seconds of Episode #2 to learn more. You can read more about videos and iPods here.

Good iPod Ideas

Here are a couple neat ideas for using iPods in schools:

In our media center, we currently have four iPods that are used with students during school. I have purchased full audiobooks for the iPods that students may listen to in the media center.

Also, using garage band, I've put mini "booktalks" on the iPods to give students ideas for books they may want to check out. The booktalks may involve general information about the book and/or reading a short excerpt from the book to entice the students to read the book on their own. This is very helpful as I do not always have time to give every student the personal assistance they need in locating books.

We have set up in iPod center in the media center and students must be trained on the iPods before they can use them. Our plan is to order several more iPods before the end of the year as the project has been very popular!

Mark Twain Elementary
Bettendorf, IA
Beth Campbell

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We just recently got an iPod at the beginning of this school year along with out new textbook series. I have every single CD that I would use in my music classroom loaded onto it. It works better to go shuffle through the playlist instead of loading CD's into the CD player or switching disks.

Janelle Jaworski
Blair Community Schools
K-2 Music Specialist
jjaworski@esu3.org

Thanks to Beth and Janelle for permission to share their quotes. Thanks to Janet Hill from Apple for sharing these ideas on the Nebraska Apple Education mailing list.

New Podcast About iPods in Education

Want to learn more about that iPod you carry around? Want to know how iPods can be used for teaching and learning? Then subscribe to my newest podcast, Learning in Hand: iPods. The podcast features short episodes to help teachers use iPods. Topics to be covered include: downloading video, viewing slide shows, iQuiz, voice recorders, podcasting, classroom management, and more. Hard Disk Mode is Episode #1 of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast.

Full sized iPods have huge hard drives. Current iPods have hard drives that are between 30 and 80 gigabytes in size; that might be more capacity than the hard drive in your laptop! That's enough space to store over 50 days of audio or 100 hours (4 days) of video. Chances are your collection in iTunes that you sync to your iPod is not nearly that large, leaving you with gobs of unused disk space. You can put extra space on any iPod to good use by enabling disk use. Using your iPod for portable data storage is perfect for accessing files between school and home computers. And it's always a good idea to make extra copies of those documents you've spent hours and hours on. Listen to all 5 minutes 45 seconds of Episode #1 to learn more (and you can look forward to many more episodes of Learning in Hand: iPods).

iQuiz for iPod

The iPod firmware is closed so only Apple can offer software and games that run on an iPod. Until now, the games offered from Apple have not been educational. That has changed today with the release of iQuiz. This game has lots of learning possibilities.

You can watch a short video preview of iQuiz in iTunes. You'll see that iQuiz has slick game show graphics and exciting background music for a fun and lively atmosphere. The one drawback I see for classroom use is that the timer cannot be turned off or slowed down. A timer can be distracting and inappropriate for some learners.

Go to iQuizMaker.com to download free software for making your very own true/false and multiple choice quizzes. You can include explanations with your true/false questions. You can set several options, including how many questions a user can answer incorrectly and the graphics theme of the quiz. iQuiz Maker includes an iPod simulator so you can take the quiz on your desktop before syncing to an iPod. Currently the software is Mac only with the Windows version due in May.

iQuizMaker.com has additional quizzes you can download for iQuiz, including Human Anatomy and Cats & Dogs. You can download the Quiz Installer for making the process of getting these on your iPod easier. [To manually install a quiz pack, put the quiz pack folder in the iQuiz folder, which is in the iPod Games folder in your iTunes folder.] Apple has more detailed information for installing and creating quizzes.

Apple's Learning Interchange has a section called Teaching with iPod and iTunes. There are a couple iQuiz examples listed.

iQuiz is compatible only with the fifth-generation iPod (that's the iPod with video) with iPod Software 1.2 or later. These games cannot be played in iTunes, nor are they compatible with other iPod models. Use this page from Apple to identify which iPod model you have.

Currently iQuiz is 99¢ and you can sync it to multiple iPods from one computer. It's a great value and I hope to see more educational software for iPods from Apple.