Friday 24 July 2009

iPhones and Outdoor Learning Part 1

This post has moved to a new location
http://creativestarlearning.co.uk/digital-technology/iphones-and-outdoor-learning-part-1/

4 comments:

John said...

Hi Juliet,
There is a huge potential for the iphone in education and, in my opinion, especially for outdoor education. I've use one for a year now, quite a lot of it outside in Scottish weather and it has been safe and sound. Some of the GPS apps are wonderful and could be used for trips excursions and outdoor activities.
With the right cables you can show some of your content on a TV and plasma, but as far as I remember this is limited to pics and video not much use in class.

Juliet Robertson said...

Hi John

Having had a quick look at your profile and seen your IT experience I'm SO SO pleased to hear you say this. My hunch is that the iPhone with its apps is the shape of things to come. Also recently I was asked to do a brief mapping exercise for LTS about outdoor learning and the CfE EOs. Because of netbooks and smart phones, etc I found it hard to find any technology EO which had to be undertaken indoors.

I decided to break my musings on iPhones into 3 parts because I've written so much! Part 3 is going to be about the apps I've found particularly interesting (out in 2 weeks as I blog weekly). If you have an specific apps that you've found interesting, fun or useful, I think anyone else reading this blog would be interested to know.

Alan aka Geoblogs on Twitter has been helpful in pointing me in the direction of other blogs which have commented on iPhones in schools.

Thanks again
Juliet

John said...

Hi Juliet,
I'll look forward to reading the posts. I've blogged about various iphone things: posts tagged iphone. Ollie Bray has a lot more. I only used the iphone once GPS MathTracks before I left the classroom. For what it is worthy favourite apps are , mail (combined with, camera, voice recorder and a posterous blog), Trails, TweetDeck and netNewWire.
I've blogged with my class quite a few trips and think an iPhone would be great for class trip blogs.

Juliet Robertson said...

Hi John

I think the uses you mention are good ones and you compliment rather than repeat what Ollie Bray has suggested. His blog postings make for good reading.

I particularly like some apps in that they can be used as "before" and "after" activities. I also think that the free apps are helpful as possible home based activities for keen parents! So I see the iPhone bridging a number of areas that complement the use of outdoor places and spaces. It's a useful tool for making connections per se.

Thanks again for your comments.