The Possibilities continue…

Can Something This much Fun

Actually be Educational?

We hate to admit it but our little patch of earth here on the Gulf coast of Florida is not exactly the center of the universe. Having said that when your children come home from school here saying they spent an hour in class listening to iPods you start to wonder what’s going on.

As our local paper, the St. Petersburg Times reports in today’s issue that the iPod has taken on a whole new life in the schools:

“Devyn Cabral and Britney Croman lounged in papasan-style chairs at the back of their fifth-grade classroom, iPod headphones jammed in their ears. While their Shady Hills Elementary School classmates focused on their 90-minute reading block, the two girls listened and laughed.

Teacher Debbie Hunnell didn't even blink. She did, after all, bring in the iPods for her students. "They love using the iPods," Hunnell said. "They like being able to hear the personality of the author. They can listen to things that are harder to understand. … It's highly motivational."

Devyn put it in the terms of an 11-year-old. "It's cool," she said, taking a break from Science Fair by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. "When you're sitting at your desk and reading a book, it's harder. It's easier for me to comprehend by listening to it."
Throughout Shady Hills Elementary, teachers have been taking advantage of iPods as an extra tool aimed at encouraging their students to learn in different ways. The iPods are finding their way into the curriculum as a less expensive, more portable piece of technology that teachers and students can use when computer labs, for instance, aren't available. The school has 80 iPods, available in sets for teachers to check out for their classrooms. And more are on order.

Embracing technology

The way that Shady Hills puts them into play has garnered attention across Florida. Media specialist Tracy Bonnett and technology specialist Jerry Marsh recently presented their program at the Florida Association for Media in Education annual conference, getting several inquiries about how to duplicate their model.”

Here at IF Music this comes as no surprise as we have been discussing the potential educational benefits of the IF kiosk for some time now. Our programming allows the kiosk to instantly reverse its primary function of selling music to a function of educating and even testing awareness of issues such as the care of the environment while providing music downloads as a reward for excellent performance.

It’s just one more example of how broad the many applications of a whimsical and magnetic device can be, particularly when it is placed everywhere its key customers frequent. Books and podcasts are all available at the touch of a screen and retailers can run periodic philanthropic promotions in ways that are limited only by their imaginations!