Currently there seems to be a focus on iPads in Education in Australia but I’m wondering has as much thought, or if any, been given to the use of iPods in Education? Sure, the iPad’s bigger screen and processor power is its advantage but is it really worth the extra $400? In terms of eReading, video playback, gaming and imaging these can be achieved on both devices. In terms of portability, an iPod is more portable as you can put it in your pocket.

I asked my 11 year old son,  “If  you were able to use your iPod at school would it help your school work? He replied, “Definitely. I could use it for spelling, the calculator for Maths, Safari for searching the Internet, Dropbox for my files, iBooks because it’s easier to have one place for all your books rather than sharing a hard copy between multiple people, there are apps for projects, I could video record science experiments, take notes and that’s all I can think of at the moment”. Then I asked, “If you had a choice between an iPad or an iPod which one would you choose?” He replied, “An iPad because it is larger and I can share it with a friend. An iPod is too small to share”. I would have to agree with him on the last point.

However, I think there is a place for  iPods in Education, you just need to be crafty. This article brings me back to my thoughts on BYOD. If my son had access to his iPod when the schools’ iPads were being used by other students, wouldn’t this benefit his learning? I found the slide show below which has some great ideas for using iPods in Education. It was created by Grace Poli, Media Specialist, New Jersey (you will need to click full screen to view the entire pages or click on the link under the slideshare).