Filed under: iPod Family, Education
Iowa school district to use iPods for standardized testing
The Muscatine Journal reports that the Louisa-Muscatine School District in Iowa will start using iPods as part of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Special-education students will use the iPods to allow them to work on their tests at different rates, while still providing a standardized administration of the test. The iPod will provide both test instructions and spoken versions of the questions.
It's apparently a time consuming process getting everything transferred from the written page into a spoken format but it's also pretty exciting to see how innovative educators are using off-the-shelf technology to meet their student's special needs. Obviously technology isn't going to be the answer to every pedagogical problem but a creative application of the already-available iPod may go a long way.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cedric said 9:35PM on 2-28-2007
That's cool and all, but wouldn't it be a heck of a lot cheaper to burn the material to CDs and provide the students with portable CD players? I know it's not quite as 21st century cool, but it seems more practical.
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Stephen said 7:01PM on 2-28-2007
Hm... I could see this saving a lot of money in the long run for California if we were to follow this school district's lead - Sure, the startup costs might be high, but each year schools pay teachers money to read the tests aloud to students. If iPods (or any mp3 player for that matter) were used that wouldn't be necessary. There would still be the kids who needed to take the test in a separate room, but at least some of the extra teacher costs would be eliminated.
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JHG said 10:52PM on 2-28-2007
As a teacher, I see this as an exorbitant expense for the school district. Many times schools force the use of technology to prove to parents and boards that they are "advanced," even though the ways they are using the technology are merely replacing low tech, cheaper methods that worked for ages.
I'll bet the kids are already trying to figure out how to get an iPod via 5-finger discount.
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scott said 12:25AM on 3-01-2007
Really, I consider myself an honest person, I go to church and help old ladies across the street.
But any school district that does this when less expensive options are available deserves to have these iPods disappear.
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Joshua Whitver said 2:04PM on 3-01-2007
They're not just using the audio features of the iPod - they're also using the Smart Notes functionality to provide on-screen help that corresponds to what the students are listening to.
That's why they needed something like the iPod, instead of just a cheap CD player.
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fd said 3:45PM on 3-01-2007
What happened to pen and paper?
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Holly Hinkhouse said 11:02PM on 3-01-2007
Just as a note. I went to this school. It's tiny. There were 61 people in my graduating class in 1999. It's very, very rural. We were surrounded on three sides by cornfields. Seriously.
I think it's a good place to test run something like this. They can get an idea of how it works, and perhaps other schools can model it on a larger scale.
Also, in terms of the school... Granted, it was seven years ago, but there was little to no fighting, vandalism, etc. Crime is minimal. Two of my brothers still attend, so I know it hasn't changed much.
Additionally, because of the small town thing... A lot of the teachers probably also taught your parents. Everyone knows everyone which can be both a blessing and a curse. I don't see theft as something that will be a MAJOR problem, though perhaps I am being overly optimistic.
As a final note, my brother Tyler, who is a senior working with the Falcon Daily News, http://web.mac.com/lmelemstudents/iWeb/FDN/FDN-HDTV/FDN-HDTV.html
tells me that there is a massive budget surplus that allows for such things. I can't specifically verify this. But if they have money to play with, I love that they are innovating in the way of technology.
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Samuel Hinkhouse said 9:19PM on 4-06-2007
I think the school district has improved n a lot of things I'm Tyler Hinkhouse's little brother, Samuel Hinkhouse and the News site is updated!!
http://web.mac.com/lmelemstudents/iWeb/FDN-HDTV%20Home/News.html - Graphics created by Lead Weathercast, Tyler M. Hinkhouse - FDN-HDTV Viper Weather
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