“It’s not necessarily what you have, but how you use it,” Rob McClellan, technology director for Region 14 Educational Service Center, says in reference to technology in the classroom.
McClellan said the service center will facilitate workshops for teachers so they will be as proficient with new technology as their students. This week, the Texas Education Agency, or TEA, announced it is providing free multimedia educational content for students, teachers and parents on Apple iTunes.
Anyone who has iTunes on a computer, phone or other mobile device can download the content for free. The TEA is asking Texas math teachers to upload podcasts on algebra for consideration of placement on iTunes U.
Mark Gabehart, chief technology officer for Abilene ISD, said students are immersed in a variety of Internet tools such as blogging, Wikipedia and social networking sites.
“Using iTunes is another mechanism for students to access educational content,” he said.
He describes today’s students as digital natives who were born with this type of technology in their hands, while their educators and parents are digital immigrants, still learning.
“That’s a challenge,” he said.
He also said it’s a challenge to figure out how to incorporate all these types of technology into the classrooms. For school districts like Blackwell and Jim Ned, the answer to that question is a little easier to come by. That’s because Blackwell began an iPads-to-students initiative this year by giving each senior an Apple iPad to use for school.
All Jim Ned High School students received an iPod Touch last year. An iPod Touch is similar to an iPhone, but without the phone capability. An iPad is a computer that resembles an oversized iPhone.
Blackwell Superintendent Abe Gott said he hasn’t had a lot of time to look into the new TEA-produced content on iTunes but thinks it might be a good tool to use for kids who need a little extra help or those who want to go above and beyond what they’re doing in the classroom.
He said last year he downloaded an algebra podcast for a student who was struggling in the subject, and it helped. Gott hopes to bridge the gap between students and educators by getting students more involved in the process.
The administration has asked Blackwell students to come up with ideas on how the school can better use their iPads. He encourages students to make their own podcasts and develop some of their own applications.
Gabehart said he believes the time is coming when students will no longer be using traditional textbooks for school but wireless technology instead. The iTunes U is simply more proof that that time is coming, he said.
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