A pilot program in which teenagers used iPods for school workhas increased attendance and increased enthusiasm for homework.
A class of year 8 students at Shepparton High School in centralVictoria are the first in Australia and among the first in theworld to use iPod touches in the classroom for a global "mobilelearning" project.
The students use the hand-held media players to search theinternet, download music, do quizzes, research and submitassignments and collaborate with a school in Singapore.
Preliminary research on the program found students were morewilling to come to school, did more homework and used their iPodsmore than laptops or desktop computers.
Using an online learning program called Studywiz, students andteachers accessed school-wide emails and saved their homework to an"elocker".
Pupils also used the iPods, which were lent by Apple, forscience experiments - to see how many decibels they produce - andin history classes.
Louise Duncan, the teacher who set up the project, said thedevices were cheaper than laptops and allowed students to tailorinformation and stay focused in class.
The project had also shown not all teenagers were comfortable ina digital environment. "We assume that 14-year-olds are reallytechnologically savvy, but they're often not," she said.
-Miki Perkins