What if everyone had an iPod?

This summer, I got a class’s worth of iPod Touches as part of an experiment by our IT department. (This is the class Alex describes as “bumpy, albeit fun” here.) A full report on the class–including a comparison to a control section that got the same syllabus, but no iPods–is in progress, but I’m re-running the experiment this semester, and will be providing regular updates here.

As a way of opening this discussion, here are some things I think we learned this summer:

• Access is still a problem, at least at schools like mine (a regional comprehensive [public] university). Only 1 person already had an iPod Touch. Fewer than half of all the students had an mp3 player of any type. Not all students had wireless at home. Not all students had the internet at home. Not all students had a computer at home that was capable of running iTunes. Not all students had a computer at home, full stop. Figure out a plan to get those students access, so that they can sync to iTunes regularly.
• You know how Apple stuff just works? It’s totally true. But you’ll still need to spend a surprising amount of time explaining how the iPod works. Even intuitive stuff needs to be taught. The idea that all students are net-savvy millennials is a pernicious myth. It’s disabling for students and for faculty, who often feel overwhelmed by their students’ ability to give zombies a cupcake on Facebook, and decide they don’t have anything to contribute. (Not y’all. I know that Prof. Hacker’s readers try to raise their students to the light. But less technically confident professors? Yep.)
• That said, many students are perfectly comfortable pushing the boundaries of a device, and–because there are more of them, and because they’re curious–they will think of things you won’t. William Gibson is fundamentally right: The street finds its own uses for things. One of your goals should be to harvest from the students information about how they actually use the device. Sometimes they’ll use it in ways that they don’t think are pedagogically relevant, but that you can adapt.
• Summer classes meet 2 hours a day, four days a week. You know what you don’t really need? A handheld wireless device that leads to even more communication possibilities. Make sure there’s a credible pedagogical rationale for asking students to communicate more outside of the class. I think that the class will go a lot better this semester, in part because there’s more time between class sessions, and we’re together a lot less.
• The biggest, most problematic discovery of the summer didn’t have anything to do with the iPod itself. It’s that our campus network disables wireless peer-to-peer connections. (The usual reasons: Porn! Security! Piracy! And, look: I mention this not to rag on the IT department, which is accountable to state auditors in ways that make my head cramp in fear and pain. But if you’re at a public school, you might encounter this.) For a non-trivial number of our planned assignments, while there was an app for that . . . we couldn’t use the functionality. That was–how to put this?–disappointing. This hadn’t even occurred to me, since peer-to-peer connections (e.g., wired ones) aren’t forbidden. So this goes in bold all by itself: Specifically ask whether wireless peer-to-peer connections are permitted on your network.
• If you’re loaning students iPods, how are you going to get them back? (My solution: No one gets an iPod until after add/drop is over. No one gets a grade until they’ve returned their iPod.) Once you’ve gotten them back, how are you going to make sure they’re wiped of sensitive data?

In general, the presence of a room-full of wireless handheld computers can be pretty exhilarating, one of those moments when you think that the future is finally getting here. (Of course, it’s a little too bad that my iPods will be made obsolete the 2nd week of the semester!)

Have you taught with a room full of smartphones or iPod Touches or a similar device? Would you want to?

[By flickr user DerkT (CC-licensed)]