Sunday, July 8, 2007

The world of MP3 for educators and students



Some people may find the topic of MP3 players as old news, but in the world of education, the topic continues to emerge. As an educator, you may wonder what value an MP3 player can have to your classroom. When I enter teacher workshops on technology, such as the NECC 2007, I was once again reminded of the MP3 player and its value to learning.

What is an MP3 player? Basically, it is a popular audio encoding format. One of the extensions that many people save music with or small video clips with is called MPEG. The other name for MP3 is MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. However, regardless of the technical name, MP3 players can be very useful in the classroom.

Ipods are really great for creating a podcast. A podcast is basically an internet broadcast with an Apple MP3 player called an Ipod. These podcasts are valuable to students who can share their opinions in teacher-led educational webcasts or for students who want to create their own.

In the end, the use of MP3 players will likely increase as educators continue to realize that their importance has grown from simple storage places for music and videos. Educators and students have the power to take these technological tools to another level. We all have the power to make changes with technology in an value-laden manner.

1 comment:

T. Armer said...

I wanted to comment on this article. It was very informative. I had no idea that I could use MP3 players in my classroom and I really appreciate that you gave a clear, consice and informative article without making the readers feel overwhelmed. Great idea to also add the website so that teachers can link right away into instruction on how to use an MP3 player into the classroom.

Sincerely,
T. Armer