Chapel Hill school gives students iPod Touch

Chapel Hill, N.C. — One school in Chapel Hill has provided every student with an iPod touch.

Culbreth Middle School has 622 of the slim, portable computers – one for every teacher and for every student. They were purchased through grants and technology funds.

“We don’t build lessons around the iPod Touch per se. It’s a tool just like you use your textbook,” said Culbreth technology coordinator Val Brown. “The opportunity it has afforded our kids is amazing. The engagement is simply phenomenal.”

Students don't get to take the devices home, but they do carry them from class to class.

“Instead of having lots of resources, books (and) dictionaries around, we can just go to the iPod Touch and research it,” said sixth-grader Emma Brodey.

There is no phone, music or e-mail capability. Students can surf the web, though many sites are blocked, including Facebook. Students can also download podcasts or play math or word games.

As they type in answers to questions, teachers see the responses on a laptop.

“I know before they leave that day who knows what (and) who doesn’t get it, so I have a constant assessment tool,” said teacher Pete Schwartz.

The staff at Culbreth Middle is talking with several schools across the U.S. and in other countries about how they can use the devices in their classrooms.

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Latest Comments

No use having books in school anymore is it? What about a school that has no books!

wildcat
June 8, 2010 1:41 p.m.

dewinit4fun,

You must not follow trends. By the time this group of kids begins to enter the workforce, these mobile devices will be even more dominant than they are now. Not that they don't need to learn how to use a computer, but there is nothing wrong with preparing them for the future.

They are Generation Z; the 'm-generation'.

issymayake
June 7, 2010 7:00 p.m.

"Dang, when I was at Culbreth all we had were a few TRS-80 Model 1 and 3 computers. The nice one had a single sided floppy with 32K of RAM, all the others saved to cassette tapes (yes children, we actually saved computer files to audio cassette tapes in the old days). What a change!"

SaveEnergyMan, we had TRS-80s at my elementary school in Winston-Salem (and we had one at home, too, so we could be "cutting edge"). We just had the audio cassette tapes/recorders. Oh, how I lusted after a floppy disk drive!

boolittlek
June 7, 2010 5:24 p.m.

"Two completely different things, which is why the article is accurate as far as the Duke situation is concerned."

LOL! An important rule is "don't write it so they can understand it, write it so they cannot misunderstand it." Few normal people would consider the distinction between an iPod and an iPod touch to be the least bit significant. In fact, since I presented my original concern to the reporter, the article's lead sentences have been rewritten to remedy the misinformation.

So hah, NCStatePack! ;)

wral19
June 7, 2010 5:17 p.m.

This story and this program are over two years old. There are actually two schools in Chapel Hill able to take advantage of this technology on a broad scale thanks to the generosity of partnering companies and institutions. So before you offer you opinion on how it's probably funded, how it's probably used, and the impact it will probably have on students, teachers, parents, and community - how about Googling the story to find indepth information on funding for the program, press releases on the genesis of the program, impact on student learning, partnering with corporations and institutes of high learning around the state, country and world. You don't even need to go to newspaper archives, microfilm or the library to do it ;)

aileensutter
June 7, 2010 4:54 p.m.