January 23, 2006

MOORESTOWN FRIENDS IS SITE FOR REGIONAL APPLE iPOD CONFERENCE

 

MOORESTOWN -- Moorestown Friends School has been selected by Apple Computers Inc. as the site for a regional conference on iPods and Podcasting in the Classroom. The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 15, in the Moorestown Friends School Auditorium.

Moorestown Friends was one of the first six schools in the nation to use iPods, the popular hand-held Apple computers, to help students learn foreign languages. The iPods and iTalk recorders allow Middle and Upper School French and Spanish students to practice speaking skills, assess their pronunciation, and download final recorded versions for evaluation by their teachers.

Those interested in registering for the free half-day seminar can do so online by clicking here. Moorestown Friends School is not taking registration for the event.

The conference will draw up to 250 educators from throughout the Northeast.

Julie Ann Morris of Medford, the Academic Technology Coordinator for MFS, and Spanish Teacher Rob Buscaglia will present a session on iPods in the Classroom during the conference.

Also presenting will be two Apple representatives, who will discuss Podcasting, iTunes and iLife ’06.

The “iPod in the Curriculum” session with Morris and Buscaglia will focus on how educators can create iPod-based lesson plans, using the tool to create, organize, distribute and access audio and video learning materials.

This session will include information on the way iPods are used at MFS, where they function as mini language labs. The iPods allow students to listen to select foreign language texts, audio books, music, speeches and radio stations from around the world. They also have been used by foreign language students to practice answering questions from worksheets, textbooks and movies.

Students are less reluctant to talking into the iPods than they might be to speak aloud in front of their classmates, foreign language teachers say, noting they have seen an improvement in student verbal skills since the iPods were introduced.

Additional sessions include:

• Podcasting means “Content to Go.” A podcast is audio or visual content that can be automatically delivered over the Internet or a school’s network via free subscription. This session will show how to create and access educational content for listening or viewing. It will show how to create and publish a podcast of daily assignments and to share professional development “best practices.”

• Spreading the News. This session will show how iTunes and iLife’06 can work seamlessly together to make classroom experiments, assignments and projects come to life. It will show how to capture and transfer content with the iPod, and then publish, post or share that content through DVDs, the Internet, a network, weblogs and more.

The latest iPod resource material also will be available for conference participants.