I went over to a friend’s house the other week for dinner. When I got there, I saw something that amazed me. At the kitchen table, there was his three year old son, on a MacBook, watching YouTube videos. It seems that his son figured out that clips from all of his favorite cartoons were online at his disposal. I asked the father where he had learned how often he does this, and he replied we can’t get him off of there, he’ll be at it for an hour.
Archive for May, 2010
Thinking Different about iPods
In my school district, we have been lucky enough to receive iPod touches, either by purchasing or by grants. Since the iPod touch first came out, there have always been questions as to how close to a computer does it really come. The argument is that while it can do basic internet functions like surfing, email, and research it was nothing like a computer because it couldn’t perform many of the multi-media tasks that we need and does not possess a physical keyboard. More on that later.
With 7 elementary schools in my district, each has embraced the iPods in their own way. Some of the schools have them checked out on a regular basis where as some are checked out sparingly. My job is to find ways to use them.