What I'd like to see for an iTouch

While I looked at what's out there yesterday, I still see quite a bit of potential to be reached, and reached within the next two years. There's even potential for these needs to be developed locally. Grant Wood's Andy Crozier and I recently attended a session on Apple iTouch App development, and given the (nearly) free developer kits out there, there is potential for the AEAs, and enterprising schools, in partnership with developers from the state's universities, could produce items such as these, in perfect alignment with the Iowa Core.

1. An easy-to-use flashcard program, where a teacher can quickly go in on the internet and upload curriculum related information that the student's iTouch would then draw upon, giving students an interactive way to check their understanding of teacher notes immediately after a lesson... and anytime thereafter.

2. Tools that mash geochaching information, such as photos or data, that tie in with a geographic location. Google Earth's iTouch app works well, and with the availability of free Google Sketchup licenses for Iowa, students can build 3-D items in addition to adding photos and data. Research is coming out that, given students increasing acclivity toward visual references for a schema to house non-visual information, geocached mapping serves as a referential package for student learning (such as Google Lit Trips).

3. Simulation-games, where a student has an interactive lesson to experiment, explore, and practice the skills they have acquired, such as what UW-Madison is doing. Here's a screenshot of a simulation-game created for students to interact with the Milwaukee Museum of Modern Art.

4. Clicker-style formative feedback, where a teacher poses a question to class, students select one of the answers, and the teacher can pull up live feedback from the "polling" via computer and display over a projector. The data could be displayed anonymously, or tracked by students when they log in.

5. In the same vein as above, a way to quickly generate online quizzes, especially ones that can be dynamically generated.

6. Personalized data programs, such as health and fitness monitors, musical composition devices, visual arts portfolios, allowing students to track their own learning. This one will be a ways off, as there needs to be better ways to import data and images into the ipod.

7. Apps that give practice for skill acquisition. This is the place where the first educational apps are, including ones for math facts, spelling, vocabulary, scientific equation balancing, etc. These are much more interactive than a simple multiple-choice quiz problem. Problem right now is they aren't customizable--I can't create a vocabulary activity over the first grade sight words in my curriculum. But this could change with advances in the software.

Educational iTouch Apps... What's Out There?

Hardware issues aside (still no camera or voice recorder in the iTouch, which if added, would make it a more full-featured formative assessment tool to use in the classroom), I still am high on the iTouch at the elementary age. It continues to be a more intuitive interface for primary students to pick up and use, making the technology serve the curriculum faster.

But, educational software for the iTouch is still in its infancy. There have been some simple apps created, focusing on one particular skill or concept (like multiplication or state capitals), but we're a ways from a really robust educational app that could be the centerpiece of a curriculum. However, given the speed things are changing, that "ways" might be traversed in a few months.

Tomorrow, I'll touch on the things I'd like to see on an iTouch, some of which might exist today, but could use more development. Here, though, is what I've seen so far.


OVERVIEW OF ITOUCH IN THE CLASSROOM
This teacher tube video describes what it labels as the iSchool initiative, a curriculum aided by the computing power of an iTouch



ON MY ITOUCH NOW
I've limited myself to free apps for now, and my target audience is ages 3-10 (the age of my kids, since they are my test audience). The older grade levels have more built in use, just as mere content vessels (like audiobooks or a referenced periodic table or historical maps)... if you are a secondary teacher, you are more likely to find something to use right away because you can use it as an accompaniment to your regular instruction easier. But I think the more interactive programs are definitely suited for younger learners at this point.

• Google Earth - application for searching geographical information, including geocaching.
• Basic Math, Brain Tuner Lite, Math Drill, Multiply Flashcards - applications for math fact drilling
• gFlash and iFlipLite - programs that allow teachers to create their own flash cards
• Flickr and Image Search - for finding images
• aNote Lite and Evernote - two note taking tools for organization
• Remember the Milk - organizational to-do lists for students to use
• Blanks - a program that gives drills on vocabulary words
• Spel it Rite, ShakeSpell, Spell - interactive spelling programs

The reviews are mixed on these... very easy for my kids to learn and become engaged, could serve for enrichment in many cases. On the other hand, some have been overly simplistic and not well designed. Blanks for example generates definitions from some a dictionary, so they'll occasionally list something like "a trait of being curious" with the correct answer out of the four choices being "curiosity" (and the other three being adverbs or something non-relative).

My two favorite have been great for my 3-year old. iWriteWords allows students to trace the path of letters and connect the letters to sounds and visual pictures (a bee for the letter b, for example), which has done wonders for Hannah learning her letters. And, HippoShapes allows students to select the shape described, using a variety of different textures and settings. Neither are very complex programs, meaning Hannah taught herself how to use them. Both isolate the skill that is part of the curriculum (pre-literacy skills such as letter recognition and shape recognition are pretty much universal).


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR ITOUCH APPS IN EDUCATION
Learning in Hand (a great place to start for an overview)
I Educational App Review
iPhone and Kids
Online Educational Database's Top 50 Apps
99 Apps for Students
Apps Hopper
Springfield, IL CSD

Rumination on primary integration and the iPod Touch

My wife, who teaches Kindergarten, and I were having a conversation recently about technology integration at the primary level, as we are wont to do often. She has recently been asked to help the district prepare technology lessons for the primary level. And, the task was proving to be difficult, mainly because there are some misconceptions about primary technology integration.

While the district's technology leadership is very strong, they don't have experience teaching at the primary level. So what would be fruitful for other grade levels--making example lessons that integrate technology while accessing the curriculum--doesn't work here.

THE PRIMARY DILEMMA

We looked at our options. Kidspiration is the most promising program, as it allows teachers to prepare graphical organizers. You could have students sort objects that start with "B" into one circle and objects that start with "T' into another. Or you can put the four pictures of a sequential story in order. Or you could record your voice with the object, giving students working on speech or phonological awareness a chance to practice.

There are just too many logistical problems with using this, however. For one, Kindergartners will have trouble opening up the file. You'd have to train the students to 1) open the program, 2) go click on the open button, 3) navigate to the title (which pre-literate students wouldn't be able to read), 4) highlight it, and then 5) click the open button... all for what could be a 5 minute activity.

Then, when students finish the activity at different times, there is no good way to transition them on to the next Kidspiration activity. You will need teacher guidance to repeat the above procedure, which will be impossible with some students finishing the first activity in 3 minutes and others finishing in 25.

Plus, there is the never-mentioned issue of attention. We think computers are inexhaustiably attention-holding, but the truth is that many Kindergartners will lose attention with computer activities that don't vary for over 15 minutes.

And of course, there is the issue of teacher burn-out. I don't particularly care how great Kidspiration is as a program, if you as a teacher need to devise 5-10 activities each time your class goes to the computer lab, you're going to be tired of it as well.

The flip side of this is to let student curiosity run, having them create their own materials with programs. This works very well with Kidspiration, and even better with drawing programs like Kidpix. Problem is, this isn't what the district wanted. It allows students to build the 21st century skills (like creativity and problem-solving), but you give up the focus on specific curricular objectives (like the sorting of "T" words and "B" words from above).

Or the flip side is to purchase stock programs that have a curricular bend to them, such as Reader Rabbit. But again, you lose control over specific curricular objectives that you are trying to meet. And neither of these two options allow for quality assessment to take place.

HEY, WHY AREN'T THE KIDS FIGHTING?

It was at this time in the car trip that we noticed our kids, 8, 7, and 3, weren't bickering, despite all indicators suggesting it was to be a long car ride before we started (never in my life before kids did I ever think where you sat in the car could be such a big deal).

The answer, especially for our 3-year-old, was the iPod Touch. I know I will be casted as a lazy parent to say my 3-year-old gets to use the "iTouch" for an hour and a half in the car, but the device is a lifesaver. Case in point, we would never have been able to have our conversation about primary integration beforehand.

Here is the remarkable thing about the iTouch. It is graphically as rich as anything you would find on a computer, and rich in terms of audio capabilities. There is a versatile set of apps (many, many are free) that challenge her in all types of ways. It is ultra-portable and very functional, even without an internet connection. And best of all, it can be run without typing or literacy limitations. My three-year-old can access any program that she likes and doesn't have to type anything to get there or run the programs.

THE TAKEAWAY

It was my wife who thought out loud, "You know what we should do, we should buy a lab of iTouch's for the Kindergarten." Rather than force them to use a computer for the sake of computering, give them technology that works for them. iPod Touch's are a fraction of the cost of regular computers (especially Macs), and because of their portability, can easily be shared (and don't take up a lab).

I've been skeptical of cell phone and iPod use in the classroom, despite adopting iPod use in the classroom 4 years ago as a teacher. While I've seen that they have had their place, they easily become more about the gadget than the actual curricular objective.

But for Kindergarten & 1st grade, this is entirely different. A computer is more about the gadget than learning in K-1, not the iTouch. But moreover, technology integration shouldn't be about the curricular objective at these grade levels... a stark contrast to the rest of the grades. This time is a time of rapid neural development and inquisitive growth, and to force-fit students into a task that exercises one concept actually slows them down. The iTouch can surround the student with many different learning opportunities.

If I were a superintendent or elementary principal, I would invest my technology dollars into labs of iPod Touch's for primary students and examine software that would be best for the development of their minds.