Thing #6 - iTouch Apps

The lingo of Thing #6 has me thinking about the old term cyberspace, an imagined place where electronic information goes or is exchanged or lost(!), in relation to the new concept of cloud computing. Space (as in cyberspace) is cold, foreign, and impersonal. A cloud, on the other hand, is known, can be experienced, and is more personal. With the advent of communities like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and, now, the portability of mobile devices enabling access anywhere at anytime, we are not as isolated and ingrown as was once thought our computer dependent society might become.

For novices to the iTouch with no experience using a handheld mobile device, a helpful video to watch before going to the Apple store is Apple iPod Touch: A Guided Tour . When I went on my field trip to the Apple store to play with an iTouch, I found that figuring out how to hold it and manipulate the screen was awkward at first, but I finally began to get the hang of it. Students will have no problem manipulating the screen, and some will probably be able to teach their peers and me plenty. Their portability, small size, and familiar touch screen will appeal to and energize students.

Some things I can imagine students doing with iTouches in the library:

• Using it as a reference tool - quick access to a dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedia
• Backchanneling - sprinkled around the room for small groups to use
• Watching student-made videos, Photo Stories, educational videos (see Thing#7)
• Creating and listening to podcasts
• Creating music with apps like Band
• Gaming preselected games - the Wii will be limited to 2-4 students and some smaller libraries have a space issue problem
• Mapping - map skills with a real life application
• Microblogging - Came across something called Edmodo, which is a free micro-blogging platform (like Twitter) for students and teachers, addressing the need for privacy when making a 2.0 technology tool available to K-12 students. An elementary teacher in the UK posted an enlightening article “Enhancing communication with Edmodo” describing how and why he intends to use this platform in the classroom.

A blog post from a high school teen's point of view as posted on Digi Teen: Digital Citizenship for Teenagers - Uses for your iTouch