CMU class teaches education students using iPod technology

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For students interested in learning to become teachers — there is an app for that.

The four sections of EDU 107: Introduction to Teaching have integrated Apple iPod Touches and iPhones into their class experience, the popular music players which have quickly become mini jacks-of-all-trades with the explosion of Apple’s “App Store.”

“For them, this is like having a pencil,” said Jan Huffman, an instructor for Teacher Education and Professor Development, who co-teaches the class.

The integration is part of a package from turningtechnologies.com. It began offering the iPhone/iPod service this year.

The technology allows for traditional response pads and the iPods/Phones, or even Blackberries, to be used to respond to questions, polls or attendance taken during the class period.

The new approach is acquiring a buzz around campus, with the geology, health professions and marketing departments also beginning to make use of it.

The iPods and iPhones also have the added benefit of allowing students to see the selections and other information on their screen, and to complete short-answer questions or ask questions themselves during the class period.

It is particularly useful for the large classes of roughly 155 students in EDU 107, where students might otherwise be too afraid or nervous to ask questions.

FaCIT support

Six years ago, the technology assignment for the course was replying to an e-mail sent out by the instructor.

While the changes are significant and it has not been an easy process to integrate the new technology into the course load, the professors have not been alone in the effort. Faculty Center for Information Technology has been instrumental in the changes.

Between 35 to 40 percent of students enrolled in EDU 107 owned an iPod touch or and iPhone when classes began in August, said Brian Roberts, an imaging and web developer and FaCIT liaison for the integration project. (Jake May/Staff Photographer)

“FaCIT has been very supportive of all the innovations and changes we’ve had to make,” Huffman said.

FaCIT is a resource center that aids faculty members in implementing new technologies into classes all across campus.

“The integration into the class is an ongoing process,” said Brian Roberts, an imaging and web developer and FaCIT liaison for the project.

Roberts said the miniature computers are used outside the class as well, where students download podcasts of scheduled speakers and instructional videos from iTunes U.

“I like it because most every kid in college has an iPod of some kind,” said Eaton Rapids freshman Zach Brinson.

Between 35 and 40 percent of the students of EDU 107 had an iPod touch or iPhone when the class began, Roberts said.

“It can actually visualize what the questions or answers are,” Brinson said.

But some student’s enthusiasm is tampered by the extra hassles new technology brings.

“I like it, but it’s kind of difficult to keep up with it,” said Perrinton freshman Jennifer Buck.

The registration process to sync the devices with the class consists of at least four steps. And while many students, including Brinson, already owned the needed technology, those who attended the two sections where the Apple devices are mandatory needed to either buy them or rent them from the Central Michigan University Bookstore for $30.

This also is the same price point as buying a response pad, and Buck saw the investment in a rental as being more desirable overall.

“I’d rather have an iPhone or an iPod Touch than a response pad,” he said.