App 1: iTunes U
This week I looked at iTunesU and how I could possibly use some of the classes and lectures within that program as a tool in my future classroom. I decided to take a class from Yale University on The Civil War. There were two versions of the course offered an audio or a video course and I chose the video course simply because in a classroom setting children tend to do better when there is a visual component. The course consisted of 27, 1 hour long lectures by Professor David Blight, an American History professor at Yale. I only participated in 5 of the lectures just to give myself an idea of how the program worked.
The lectures would be very useful in the classroom. In the case of this series the topics of each lecture span a variety of areas of interest. The third lecture "A Southern World View" would be useful in teaching high school age kids about why the south had such a vested interest in slavery and why the believed that slavery was right. In order for students to access the lectures outside of the classroom they would only need a computer with access to iTunes and an Apple ID (which is free). If students do not have access to a computer with iTunes or an iTunes account I have the ability to play it in the classroom. With an Apple TV, I can mirror the images to the Apple TV in order to view the lecture on a projector with HDMI input, making it viewable to everyone.
iTunes U also has lecture series' for me as an educator. Ohio State University provides a course on using iPads in the Classroom. The course not only teaches you the basics of using an iPad, but it also shows you apps that you can use for different activities in the classroom.
iTunes U also has lecture series' for me as an educator. Ohio State University provides a course on using iPads in the Classroom. The course not only teaches you the basics of using an iPad, but it also shows you apps that you can use for different activities in the classroom.