iPod Set-up Day 1

Today I went in to work on setting up the iPod Touches and cart for my classes. I did not get them synched, but I did get the cart ready for class. All iPod touches are engraved on the back, I added a printed label for an easier read. I also labeled the slots in the cart for the iPods. This will enable me to hand the iTouches out to the students and replace them quickly. I am betting I will lose at least ten minutes of class time to sign them in and out per period at first. I am hoping that this time decreases as we go through the year. I am also hoping for our school converting to block scheduling eventually…someday…it would make the time loss of setting up the technology minimal.

The district’s Technology Director and I finalized the sign out policy, I will have the students initial a sheet, printed out from my grade book, when they pick up and return their iPod. This will help keep tabs on who gets each iPod, a simple check mark could easily lead to sloppiness. The initialling will keep everyone, focused on tracking the iPods during the period.

I also looked over the cart and the procedure for syncing the iPods, it looks easy enough, just a bit time consuming. The manual approximated 20 minutes for 1 Gig of info for 20 iPods. The next step will be the most tedious, it is also the first step. I have to give each iPod a name and set it up with my Macbook. Once this is done, I will be able to sync 20 at a time. Over the next several days I will get this done and begin synching all of them with my computer.

For now I will be using all free applications for the iPods, I want to see how far we can go before we have to start spending money for them. A list of the applications I will be using can be found at the following link, https://nbasdcff.wikispaces.com/iPod+Apps+for+Sal%27s+Class. This page will be kept updated with which apps we are using and which we have dropped and why.

I plan on keeping a running journal on the project stating the good, the bad, the ugly, and the how did we adjust over the course of the year. More will follow later this week once I try to name and synch the iPods.

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