FriezlandiPodProjectLive
What we did in class today Today we rolled out 28 iPod Touches so the ratio was almost 1:1. The pupils (a mix of year 3/4) were given a task to research 2 countries in each continent, find the capital cities and then find out how hot it was in those cities. The pupils had a work sheet (see pictures), basically this was a google style research task. What we observed Some younger less able pupils had forgotten how to navigate around the Touch and how to use the web browser. More able and to an extent older year 4’s had very little problem picking up from last week. Typing was slow for some but this more to do with literacy and typing than the Touch’s interface. Some pupils struggled with their finger ends to control the Touch. They were trying to use their finger nails as opposed to finger tips. Unsurprisingly those with weaker literacy skills were challenged and conceptually the task may have been quite a tall order for the younger pupils. More able and older pupils were visibly engaged and quite excited by idea of finding out the weather conditions across the world. Although each pupil had a work sheet created by their teacher, they tended to work in pairs and share information. The use of hand held devices meant the pupils would wander around and share findings. They were not fixed to a wired computer or even a lap top. So the dynamics of the room were a lot less formal. They weren’t given instructions not to move. They were keen/excited to share. It was hard at times to keep an eye on the some pupils who inevitably wandered off task. There was a high degree of focus over the 1 hour. The teaching staff liked the immediacy of access to information. They didn’t have to waste time decamping to the ICT room. A couple of the iPods had not been charged properly and the pupils sat and worked with them being powered over USB from the one PC in the room. Where next? Well it’s an organic thing, so the pupils will be making charts to track the temperatures across various cities. We are hoping to sort out the following challenges… Many apps that rely on data passing to and fro, through the Local Authority filter don’t seem to work. This maybe a matter of “white-listing” the sources, but as it’s not simply a website/url this is more challenging for a classroom teacher to fix. We still haven’t sorted out email. Email is the preferred method for moving sound recordings back to a computer for editing. We are also looking now at adding the First Class app for emailing/collaboration and hopefully the Studywiz app when the latest version of the VLE is rolled out over half term. Finally managing the iPods -At the moment this is being managed by 7 Port USB hubs. These need to be attached not only to the mains for power but also to a computer. The computer doesn’t need to be the one that hosts the content. It doesn’t even need to have iTunes installed, it just works and enables the iPods to charge. We are looking at an expensive option £899 (ouch) for charging and docking, but we’ll explore this as it happens.

What we did in class today

Today we rolled out 28 iPod Touches so the ratio was almost 1:1. The pupils (a mix of year 3/4) were given a task to research 2 countries in each continent, find the capital cities and then find out how hot it was in those cities. The pupils had a work sheet (see pictures), basically this was a google style research task.

What we observed

  • Some younger less able pupils had forgotten how to navigate around the Touch and how to use the web browser. More able and to an extent older year 4’s had very little problem picking up from last week.
  • Typing was slow for some but this more to do with literacy and typing than the Touch’s interface.
  • Some pupils struggled with their finger ends to control the Touch. They were trying to use their finger nails as opposed to finger tips.
  • Unsurprisingly those with weaker literacy skills were challenged and conceptually the task may have been quite a tall order for the younger pupils.
  • More able and older pupils were visibly engaged and quite excited by idea of finding out the weather conditions across the world.
  • Although each pupil had a work sheet created by their teacher, they tended to work in pairs and share information.
  • The use of hand held devices meant the pupils would wander around and share findings. They were not fixed to a wired computer or even a lap top. So the dynamics of the room were a lot less formal. They weren’t given instructions not to move. They were keen/excited to share.
  • It was hard at times to keep an eye on the some pupils who inevitably wandered off task.
  • There was a high degree of focus over the 1 hour.
  • The teaching staff liked the immediacy of access to information. They didn’t have to waste time decamping to the ICT room.
  • A couple of the iPods had not been charged properly and the pupils sat and worked with them being powered over USB from the one PC in the room.

Where next?

Well it’s an organic thing, so the pupils will be making charts to track the temperatures across various cities.

We are hoping to sort out the following challenges…

  • Many apps that rely on data passing to and fro, through the Local Authority filter don’t seem to work. This maybe a matter of “white-listing” the sources, but as it’s not simply a website/url this is more challenging for a classroom teacher to fix.
  • We still haven’t sorted out email. Email is the preferred method for moving sound recordings back to a computer for editing.
  • We are also looking now at adding the First Class app for emailing/collaboration and hopefully the Studywiz app when the latest version of the VLE is rolled out over half term.
  • Finally managing the iPods -At the moment this is being managed by 7 Port USB hubs. These need to be attached not only to the mains for power but also to a computer. The computer doesn’t need to be the one that hosts the content. It doesn’t even need to have iTunes installed, it just works and enables the iPods to charge.

We are looking at an expensive option £899 (ouch) for charging and docking, but we’ll explore this as it happens.

Posted 2 years ago