In a recent blog post, John Connell asks, “Why should the iPhone & iPod touch be significant for education?” Connell suggests that he comes into contact with educators in many regions and countries around the world who are looking to empower their learners by offering them a connected device of some kind. As things stand, this objective tends to focus on the possibilities offered by laptops, or by PDAs and handhelds of various kinds.

However, he asserts that when speaking to educators about this 1-to-1 vision, he has always looked forward to a development in the mobile phone market as the eventual solution to the problem. He writes, “I have been telling anyone who will listen that the advent of a powerful, handheld device, with access to the Web, and with productivity tools of various kinds built in, will be the solution.”

With the release of the iPhone and iPod touch, Connell is confident that this vision is closer to reality than even he had hoped. He suggests that it can only be a short step from this initial implementation of the Touch, and of the iPhone, to an even more powerful device, with greater levels of storage, additional tools and functions, perhaps a virtual, laser-generated keyboard, and, of course, a price that makes it affordable as a possible 1-to-1 instrument for learners worldwide.

Our friends at TUAW recently (relatively) posted an article about the CFBonjour Cocoa class, which simplifies mDNS/Bonjour programming for the iPhone and iPod touch. This handy little class allows you to publish and subscribe to Bonjour network services with a minimal amount of programming. All you have to do to utilize Bonjour in your iPhone apps is add CFBonjour.h and CFBonjour.m to your project directory, and add CFBonjour.o to your makefile. In addition, the designer is using this code to write a DropCopy client for iPhone.

Perhaps this progress will make it easier for more developers to get on the iPhone/Bonjour wagon—apparently, “the opportunities go far beyond Zune-like file sharing.”

Apple Education recently posted an interesting article that profiles Professor Maria Lovett’s “Writing with Video” class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Supported by Mac computers plus iWork and iLife software suites, Writing with Video is one of the most popular courses at the University.

The course grew out of an attempt to define what it means to be literate in the modern world, and the role of the written and spoken word in education and normal discourse. Lovett and Professor Joseph Squier from UIUC’s School of Art and Design developed the class to challenge traditional perceptions of language and to help students understand how easily media can be manipulated. Using a combination of writing and video production, Writing with Video pushes students to become effective authors and critical consumers of media.

Assignments incorporate reflective writing about the production process — shooting, editing, and sharing the videos. In addition, students engage in peer reviews of works-in-progress and completed projects. Most students in the Writing with Video class use Apple notebooks and iMovie to compose and edit their video projects (those who do not have access to the notebooks work on iMac and Power Mac computers in UIUC’s Mac labs). For audio editing, they employ a combination of GarageBand and a third-party product. Final projects are published on iTunes U, creating an end-to-end process from creation to publication (iWeb is also being evaluated as a publishing option).

Because electronic media plays an increasingly important role in contemporary society, students proficient in both visual, time-based communication and written discourse might possess a significant competitive advantage in the coming decades.

Karen Brooks of Teaching 2.0, a professional development resource blog, recently posted an extensive list of tutorials and informational sites that demonstrate the effective employment of Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts in the classroom. The list also provides educational examples of these mediums for teachers to see how they are used and can be incorporated into the curriculum as an instructional tool to support and enhance learning.

If you have a couple of minutes, check out this incredible resource—you certainly won’t be disappointed.

Alex Iskold’s recent Read/WriteWeb article, “Will Podcasting Survive?” has created a bit of a stir in the podcasting community, most notably among diehards like Jason Van Orden of Podcasting Underground. In a recent discussion, Van Orden explains that some people are ready to bury the medium because:

• Yahoo pulled their podcasting directory.
• Google Trends shows fewer searches with podcasting as the keyword.
• No one is making millions in the podcasting medium.
• Podcasts don’t offer rich keywords for search engines to find.
• Podcasts aren’t becoming integrated into the mainstream.
• It’s hard to publish podcasts, but easy to publish a blog.
• Podcasts require a fair amount of concentration, unlike music, which you can listen to while working.
• The time available to listen to podcasts is relatively short — while commuting — so the number of podcasts that can be consumed is small.
• Big media companies are recycling their content in audio form, squeezing out the little podcasters.

In response to Van Orden’s discussion, Tom Johnson of I’d Rather Be Writing suggests that, while the bells are not yet tolling for podcasting, there are certainly limitations that keep the medium from being more prominent. He asserts:

• Skype needs to provide better connections, which would reduce audio glitches and make it easier to produce a podcast.
• Cars need to come with built-in mp3 jacks. I don’t know too many people with wireless FM transmitters in their cars.
• Podcasts need to be created with more of a blend between entertainment and education. This is something I want to work on. Interviewing is an art — on the one hand, I want to give people questions in advance so they can prepare and not feel lost for words. On the other hand, spontaneity, tangents, and engaging conversation is what make up the life of any podcast that is entertaining.
• Podcasts need to be more findable. Search engines should be able to limit searches to podcasts only, filtering out web pages and blogs to help readers locate audio.

We would like to know of any limitations you have experienced with podcasting in an educational setting along with steps you have taken or plan to take to overcome these limitations.

Samuel G. Freedman, professor of journalism at Columbia University, recently posted a very entertaining and informative New York Times Online article that discusses the difficulty of policing classrooms full of students armed with arsenals of technological distracters. Freedman writes, “[Educators’] perpetual war of attrition with defiantly inattentive students has escalated from the quaint pursuits of pigtail-pulling, spitball-lobbing and notebook-doodling to a high-tech arsenal of laptops, cellphones, BlackBerries and the like.”

Prof. Michael Bugeja of Iowa State University suggests that the technological tension between professors and students can be attributed to a fundamental conceptual divergence. He writes, “The baby boomers seem to see technology as information and communication,” while ““their offspring and the emerging generation seem to see the same devices as entertainment and socializing.”

In the past three years alone, the percentage of college classrooms with wireless service has nearly doubled, to 60 percent from 31 percent, according to the Campus Computing Survey, an annual check by the Campus Computing Project of computer use at 600 colleges. Professor Bugeja’s online survey of several hundred Iowa State students found that a majority had used their cellphones, sent or read e-mail, and gone onto social-network sites during class time. A quarter of the respondents admitted they were taking Professor Bugeja’s survey while sitting in a different class.

In response to this pervasive classroom “multitasking,” Scott Carlin, an instructor of teacher interns at Michigan State University, advises his charges to forbid personal use of tech devices in the classroom. He states, “If the students actually found some creative way to use a cellphone or a BlackBerry in a class demonstration, I’d be all for that,” “Or if they could demonstrate how a chat room or AOL instant messenger would help them present a project. But what I found in most cases is that it was just a fancy new way of passing notes.”

Perhaps, Carlin’s acknowledgment of the possibility that these devices might be employed to contribute to teaching and learning provides some hope for the future. Ultimately, we are never going to be able to dam the technological flood. As Freedman suggests, “In the end, as science-fiction writers have prophesied for years, the technology is bound to outwit the fallible human.” However, if we can somehow turn-the-tables by regularly implementing these devices into our daily classroom routines, perhaps we can make some headway in the “war of attrition with defiantly inattentive students.”

Marketwire recently posted an interesting article about dominKnow’s release of the iPod touch and iPhone-optimized Touch Learning Center portal. dominKnow Inc. creates learning software and rich media content for e-learning applications in corporate, government and non-profit organizations.

With access to the dominKnow Learning Center through the iPod touch and iPhone-optimized portal, learners can log in and take full online courses, access reference objects and open documents and Web links added as resources to any course. Learners can also access progress reports and their internal dominKnow LCMS e-mail inbox.

Chris Van Wingerden, Vice President of dominKnow Inc states, “We knew that this device could open up tremendous new access to mobile e-learning — all because of Apple’s focus on the user experience. The ability to zoom in and out of Web content with the touch of your fingers means the experience of taking a course online is so much more intuitive than the experience on many other mobile devices.”

dominKnow has posted a short sample course online in the Touch Learning Center portal so that touch and iPhone users can try the experience for themselves. To access the portal, click here and create a user account.

The 4th Online International Podcasting Expo is now accepting submissions for audio/visual presentations for its April 18-19, 2008 free event. Seminars may cover beginning or advanced podcasting topics, but must clearly present easily applicable concepts and instructions relevant to entrepreneurs, web professionals, educators, non-profits, marketers and hobbyists. Seminar presenters will each be featured in the International Podcasting Expo Podcast and blog, including their bio, business links, and main products and/or services.

Prospective speakers must submit a full outline of their presentation, along with links to online visuals, or a basic Powerpoint presentation (no transitions). Speakers must also have a computer headset microphone and a webcam. Deadline for public submissions is November 30, 2007.

Current topics and speakers include Leesa Barnes - “Podcasting for Profit”, Kim Bloomer - “How to Get Sponsors Who Don’t ‘GET’ Podcasting”, Dr. Peter Beck - “What Medical Professionals Can Gain From Podcasting”, George Smyth - “How To Find Music To Play In Your Podcast”, Penny Haynes - “Recording, Editing and Mixing with WavePad & MixPad (free software included)”, and Shelly Brisbin, Editor-In-Chief of Blogger & Podcaster Magazine will lead an advanced discussion about “‘Cliques’ in the Podcasting Community & ‘Scary’ New Media Language”.

For more information, check out the official announcement in TransWorldNews or contact Penny Haynes: penny@1stpod.com.

Sandra Guy of the Chicago Sun Times recently posted an interesting article discussing the impact of pod/vodcasting on educational instruction at DePaul University. Among other implementations, DePaul produces podcasts and vodcasts for students to watch before signing up for classes to learn about professors and coursework. DePaul faculty members have also found podcasts to be ideal for lectures designed to guide students through textbooks and for tutorials, particularly those with screen shots that guide students on a walk-through of searching a Web site or a library database.

At some universities students produce their own podcasts for course assignments. Students at Duke University have been required to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language via a podcast and create short movies showing scenes they imagine from a Jane Austen novel, said Lynne O’Brien, director of academic technology and instructional services at the Duke library.

As Dan Schmit—instructional technology specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—suggests, podcasting has truly become a “new movement” in higher education.

As you might already know, The World Digital Library, an online initiative of the U.S. Library of Congress, UNESCO and other international partner libraries, is currently scheduled to launch in 2008 and has garnered the support of tech heavyweights Apple, Intel, and Google. Modeled after the Library of Congress’ American Memory project, the international digital library will be free and multilingual with contributions from around the world, including rare books, films, prints, sound recordings and musical scores.

Google has pitched $3 million into the initiative while Apple and Intel are also taking supportive roles. Representatives for Intel were on hand at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters last month to show how the prototype worked on its child-focused Classmate PC, and Apple employees demonstrated the manner in which the library will function on mobile devices. Apple has also provided the project with expertise concerning digitization and accessibility of documents.

Obviously, this project presents some exciting opportunities for the enhancement of course content—especially since faculty and students will have boundless access to the Word Digital Library from converged mobile devices like the iPhone.

If you’d like to know more, check out AppleInsider’s full article.