Creative Uses for iPod touch in Education

iTouch flashcards (visual flashcards on the iPod)

Katie Morrow,  Distinguished Educator, O’Neill Public Schools

The iPod touch has a huge amount of potential in the classroom to revolutionize the way students learn and teachers teach.  The iPod touch can display photos seamlessly synched from any iPhoto library via iTunes.

Drill and practice, although lower-level thinking, is crucial for student retention of facts. Research shows that students' recall and memory will be increased when visuals are added to the memory-creating process. When recall is required for student learning, use the iPod touch to practice by creating iTouch flashcards.

Even more effective than students practicing the iTouch flashcards is allowing students to CREATE flashcard sets of their own. Fellow students can exchange iTouch flashcards and learn from each other, while they rarely need to review the flashcards that they, themselves created.

Workflow for this project includes:

1. Create Keynote

Create a keynote presentation with key concepts and facts.

    * Encourage student-created graphics and images

    * Remind students of destination iPod screen size for easiest viewing

    * One slide with a question; next slide with the answer

2. Export to iPhoto

Export the keynote slides to iPhoto photos.

    * File > Export > Images

    * Create a new folder to save the images in.

    * Drag the folder icon on top of iPhoto icon to import images into iPhoto.

3. Create iPhoto album

Create an iPhoto album with the imported photos.

    * Select all the photos from your "Last Import"

    * File > New Album From Selection

    * Name your album

4. Sync iPod Touch

Sync the iPhoto album to the iPod Touch.

    * Plug in the iPod Touch

    * In iTunes, click on your device and then the Photos tab

    * Select the check box next to the photo albums that you want to synch, and then click 'Apply.'

5. Practice flashcards on iPod Touch

Practice the flashcards by viewing the photos on the iPod Touch.

    * Photos can be viewed as a slideshow, with the student waiting in between each slide, or by manually advancing the slides by dragging the finger across the touch screen.

Extensions and Resources

Tip: To easily move folders of images from one computer to another, consider compressing the folder into a zipped file (Control-Click on the folder > Compress).

Additional Student-Created iTouch Flashcards can be downloaded from the linked "iFlashcard Samples” gallery page.

Project idea created by Katie Morrow, Apple Distinguished Educator