Why iPad and iPod touch for Education?
Innovative educators are using iOS devices as powerful educational tools to meet
students’ academic needs. Here are just some of the reasons:
• iPad and iPod touch, like Apple’s other iOS devices and computers, are familiar, easy
to use, and exciting for students. And the Multi-Touch screen means students can read
a book, explore an app, page through websites, and much more with just the touch of
a finger.
• Portability, instant on, and long battery life give students anytime access to learning
from any location.
• iPad and iPod touch can be personalized to support students’ individual learning
styles and needs with tools like customized playlists, built-in accessibility features,
support for more than 30 languages, and specific education apps. And students can
access content as many times as it takes them to master it.
• iOS devices engage students with their education—students actively participate in
and focus on the learning process, no matter what their learning style. They can also
use iOS devices to create their own content, such as movies and music compositions.
• iTunes U provides teachers and students with access to the world’s largest online
collection of free education content, including complete courses, videos, podcasts,
audiobooks, PDFs, and more. They can access it all on iPad and iPod touch with the
iTunes U app, available free from the App Store. What’s more, the web-based tool
iTunes U Course Manager offers an easy way to create and publish course materials to
distribute to students and others.
• With a Wi-Fi connection, students have anytime access to the Internet as well as to
printers on the wireless network. And Bluetooth offers connection with a wealth of
other tools, such as digital microscopes, science probes, and keyboards.
• Education apps from the App Store offer limitless avenues for exploring new subjects,
reinforcing learning, expressing creativity, helping with organization, and much more.
• iPad and iPod touch give all types of learners versatile and amazing ways to read—
from reading Multi-Touch textbooks and other books with iBooks, which gives you
access to a dictionary and other tools with a tap of the finger, to a wealth of
audiobooks and other interactive book apps.
• Students and educators have a valuable collection of productivity tools in just one
device—for taking notes, keeping track of dates, browsing the Internet, sending and
receiving email, and more.
• With built-in features and apps from the App Store, iPad and iPod touch offer a broad
range of accessibility features to address students with special needs such as visual
and auditory impairments.
These are just a few of the reasons educators are finding iPad and iPod touch so !
valuable for teaching and learning with today’s students. The rest of this guide offers
information and suggestions for using these amazing devices in your classroom.
iTunes at a Glance
iTunes is an app for organizing and playing digital audio and video content. It has an
easy-to-use interface for managing the content on iPad and iPod touch. You can set up
iTunes on the Mac so that when an iPad or iPod touch is connected to a computer, the
iTunes library automatically syncs to that device.
iTunes is also used to connect to the iTunes Store for downloading free academic
content from iTunes U, apps from the App Store, books from the iBooks Store, podcasts,
music from around the world, full-length movies and TV shows, and more. Apple TV lets