Classroom Gone Online

As technology is being implemented into classrooms, classrooms are also becoming totally online.  With our eLearning site at UNI, instructors can post assignments, syllabi, and even tests online.  Most of these classes have a physical classroom as well, but the space online is helpful and easier.

Something else that is happening is social networking and Skyping in class.  No, this isn't just to pass the time.  Students and teachers are using these services to connect with people they might not be able to hear from in person.  Students in classrooms like these can connect with each other and can have speakers video conference with them.  Students in Iowa, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania are experiencing these types of physical and virtual classrooms. 

A Web 2.0 Class: Students Learn 21st Century Skills, Collaboration, and Digital Citizenship elaborates on these realities.

iPods in the Classroom

iPods became very popular while I was in high school.  They were only to be used during passing time and study halls.  iPods were especially banned from test time, because a student could have loaded the answers and such onto their iPod.  Louisa-Muscatine (I went to Muscatine schools) special education students are allowed to use their iPods to listen to a voice reading test questions to them.  This began as early as 2005, when I was a high school freshman!  I am proud that some districts are adopting technologies such as this.

I hope that iPods will be used more widely in our futures as teachers and students!

Iowa School District Pioneers iPods for Special-Ed Testing

10 Ways to Make Your iPod a Better Learning Gadget

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better