Case 2
Cris Laytham
Morris Academy, Taiwain
We have tried the following at our school.....
1. Purchased 5 Ipods (could have been any MP3 player) but we chose iPods in our school colors labeled with types of our mascot(sharks---hammerhead, great white, etc.) to draw interest
2. Purchased digital audio books from multiple sources(Amazon, Audible, iTunes), also purchased some CDs and imported them into the collection with the intent not to use the CD for circulation (sticky with copyright here...but these were only items that did not have a digital download available for purchase). Have also subscribed to free podcasts of history shows (our MS history teacher's request) that we can add to them or play through our school network on another computer.
3. Loaded all content through 1 computer using iTunes onto the devices
4. checkout the iPods to students/staff with normal checkout time
5. continue to add new content and sync/charge iPods when they are returned from students
Assessment to Date
We started the project in the spring of 2009 around March. Pretty consistently all of our iPods have been checked out with waiting lists. Have had requests for additional content to be put on them. I would call what we have done successful so far but will need to continue to add content which may force me into deciding whether I buy a print or audio version of some items.
It has been additional work to add the audio books, keep track of the iPods, charge them/sync them, etc. But I think it has been worth it.....
Future goals/plans
list all of our audio items in Destiny
create customized playlists or checkout specific titles only when circulating the iPods...now I am checking out everything and eventually it might be too much memory
buy more devices and/or content as my budget allows this year.
get more teachers excited (only 2 so far...MS humanities and ESL) about using them in the classroom either individually or in groups