Today we handed out 15 iPod Touch’s and explored some of the possibilities with year 3 and year 4 pupils. Of the 30 pupils, 24 had home access to mp3 players, 10 had their own mobile phone, and 28 had access to a computer with an internet connection.

It’s no surprise then that most of the pupils had some idea of basic navigation and general use. The pupils obviously were very excited. It will take some time for the excitement to subside and the Touch’s become part of everyday life and not the current novelty. For the most part internet connection and web browsing was fine.

Apps however were less successful. Some of the built in apps like “Maps” and “Weather” worked fine but 3rd party apps relying on info through the LA filtered network wouldn’t run. This will need further exploration, possibly some kind white listing (again how this is done we’ve no idea!). Pupils quickly grasped the web browser, Google searches and particularly enjoyed find the school on Maps. They all managed to find the Spanish Coffee Break Podcasts and play them back. In some case they would listen to these without headphones, by holding the iPod to the ear like a mobile phone.

One other challenge (self inflicted) is the hygene issues with “in ear” headphones. We have chosen the Apple in ear headphone with recording mic to keep things as simple as possible. We are now looking at personalising/labeling all headphones now for hygene reasons. The next task is making sure that we can keep the Touch’s charged - the batteries did seem to go down quickly over the afternoon.