Today's technology runs through the veins of today’s kids. It infiltrates education at an unprecedented rate, changing the way learning takes place while programming young minds with new ways to absorb, catalogue, correlate and relate to information and relationships. Is this good? Is this bad? What are the implications? All we can say for sure is that it is here to stay and will continue to evolve at a mind-boggling (at least for us slow-mo adults) pace.

So enjoy the simple act of reading an email - which none of us could do less than 10 years ago – and then forward it on to those in your Address Book that could use a moment of pondering. Help disseminate information at 2006 nano-speed, which will invariably be a snail's pace a few years from now!

As you shake your head in amazement at iPod Learning described below, enjoy with us an appreciation of an "ancient" entertainment – reading books! We at Legacy were honored to have "52 Ways to Protect Your Teen" available at the Palm Desert Barnes and Noble as part of the annual fundraiser for Palm Desert Middle School. As always, we enjoy sharing through pictures the process and progress of our outreach of Hope.

(Photos include Susie with John Padgett - Barnes and Noble manager and Nancy Minter – fundraiser coordinator for Palm Desert Middle School; and Susie with the incredibly talented Palm Desert Middle School Drama students who shared a variety of excellent vignettes at the bookstore throughout the day.)

At Washington University, students can access the video version of some science courses online. But currently, the University offers no means for students to use iPods to download their lectures online. John Bleeke, associate professor of chemistry, said that online lectures provide both the visual and audio content of original lectures, the iPod, which mainly stores audio formats, may not be as useful for the students.

Bleeke also said that allowing students to view lectures online has not decreased student attendance in the classroom.

Yet other prestigious universities such as Stanford and Duke are already using the podcasting technology to broadcast large classroom lectures to students.

At Stanford University, students can only access the recordings of the lectures after one month of the actual lecture. Stanford set the limit as a means to prevent the students from using the device as a replacement for attending lectures in the classroom.

Duke University has hosted various events, including podcasting symposiums, to discuss various ethical and technological issues surrounding the practice. As a part of the Duke Digital Initiative, Duke distributed over 1,600 20GB iPods, equipped with Belkin Voice recorders, to entering first-year students in August of last year.

-From Washington University

The district already has programs that give computers to families. It also lends PlayStations to elementary students for math games.

Carrollton-Farmers Branch is one of a handful of districts across the country finding ways to use iPods in schools. The idea came from Duke University, which gives iPods to all incoming freshmen.

At Country Place Elementary School, ESL and native English speakers take turns bringing home 16 iPods. The iPods play 10 sing-along songs with familiar tunes but altered lyrics, such as "Hippo Hop," which is sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle."

"Phonemic awareness is the No. 1 tool for reading success," Ms. Stemmermann said. "Playing with the language is so important, being able to manipulate words."

There's no consensus in Ms. Stemmermann's kindergarten class on which song is best. " 'Marvin the Monkey' – it's so good," said Leo Cortez, 6.

Benito Otiniano prefers "Apple Annie." It helped him learn such words as apple, alligators and astronauts, he said.

Students do agree on one thing: "It's good homework," said Nicholas Omar, 5. "I feel happy when I take it home."

As the students progress, teachers change the content. The kids pick up the new vocabulary quickly but struggle to comprehend one of the rules.

"We have to tell them, 'You have to bring it back,' " said Lisa Stewart, another kindergarten teacher at Country Place. " 'You're borrowing it. You have to bring it back so your friends can use it, too.' "

The pilot program includes four other teachers at two middle schools and two high schools. Most of the iPods are used for English language learners.

The idea is to get siblings and parents involved so that learning becomes a family affair. There's no way to monitor the content, so students could download other music files. But that's fine, so long as kids are also listening to the lessons, Dr. Berning said.

The concept is too new to gauge its effectiveness. In the spring, Dr. Berning will evaluate the iPod program through interviews with students, teachers and parents. If it's a hit, he'll push the school board to buy more, he said.

"If it's just a cool thing, it's not a successful pilot," he said. "If we think we have made an impact, we'll take this to the board for full implementation."

- From Dallas News

BOOKS -
“52 Ways to Protect Your Teen” continues to be an invaluable and concrete communication aid for parents with teens, school counselors and grandparents.
“Teen Power and Beyond” remains our current choice for an inspirational book for teens.
CD’S –
Ken Vanderlip, PhD, Susie’s partner and clinical psychologist, has created a guided meditation CD that MD’s are recommending to hundreds of patients with sleep
and relaxation issues – and receiving rave (snoring?) reviews! Blessed with a deep
resonate voice and decades of counseling and stress management skills, this is THE tool to aid adults as well as teens in reducing the exhaustion and anxieties
that can lead to poor choices and underachievement.

Slept through the talk on craniofacial biology? Go to an Internet iTunes store set up exclusively for future dentists in Ann Arbor. There, students can download the professor's recorded wisdom to an MP3 player for easy listening while strolling across campus, working out or cramming for an exam.

For years, tech-savvy professors have made recordings of lectures available on the Internet. But the dental school is among a wave of colleges now offering lectures in the MP3 compressed digital data files that make classes portable.

"It's not a better way of learning or a worse way. It's just a new way. Our way," said Jared Van Ittersum, 24, a second-year dental student from Spring Lake. "It's about maximizing our time. But, frankly, there have been a couple of lectures, early morning ones, where I just didn't get up."

There, some professors, including Kennedy, have experimented with making recordings of their lectures available on personally managed Internet sites. "The interchange of what happens in the classroom is the value of a good education," he said. "My fear with all these things is that students who are prone to not be engaged will use this as a tool to be even less engaged."

Cathy Cheal, assistant vice president of e-learning and instructional support at Oakland University, said the sudden clamor for MP3 recordings is driven by the successful marketing campaigns of commercial products like Apple's popular iPod music and video players. Although virtually everyone on campus seems to have one, Cheal said the university is not yet convinced it's wise to make them a part of the curriculum.

Marketing-driven or not, proponents say the trend reflects a new generation's adaptation to technologies that can meet growing demands for increased productivity on campus and at work.

"It's like saying the Internet is a crutch because back in the day we used to go to the library and pore through the card catalogs to spend two more hours finding some information," said U-M dentistry student Paul Lopez. "That's not what happens in the workplace anymore, so why teach it? This is about new modalities here and everywhere. It will not reduce the college experience. It is in line with modern and practical expectations." The expansion of technology in classrooms could barely be envisioned when the first pocket calculators began selling for under $20 in 1975, sparking debates about whether the devices would ruin math education.

Instead, the lament of the slide rule was the start of a revolution.

"Thirty years ago, students used to be in class reading newspapers and passing notes. Now, they are IMing (instant messaging) each other while surfing the Web and having text-message conversations on cell phones," said Dennis Lopatin, a professor and associate dean of the U-M School of Dentistry.

"It took a long time for some of us to get into computers, but this is what these students grew up with."

Van Ittersum said he has rigged lecture files to play at a faster speed so he can review the content even faster while walking to a class.

"The vast majority of my use has been supplemental," Van Ittersum said. "It's an intense program, and I haven't noticed any real drop in lecture attendance because of this."

Lopez, 32, routinely employs the popular MP3 technology.

He has downloaded about 20 of the nearly 200 lectures posted on the U-M Dentistry iTunes site this term. Most were for review because he said the sessions are fast and jam-packed with technicalities.

"It's kind of hard while you are taking notes in a hurry to write something like parvo cellular nucleus," Lopez said. "I reviewed one lecture the other night for an exam and I picked up on several points that I had missed in my notes."

But Lopez admits he skipped one lecture to attend a sonogram examination of his unborn child.

"With the amazing time demands on students here, something that allowed me to do something as significant as seeing my first child for the first time, well, I was grateful," Lopez said.

- From the Detroit News

According to the university's Center for Instructional Technology (CIT), 1,200 students are expected to use iPods to enhance classroom materials, lectures or assignments in 42 spring 2006 courses. Last spring, 280 students in 19 courses used iPods as part of the Duke iPod First-Year Experience, which has grown into the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI). Duke distributed free iPods to all first-year students in 2004; for the current academic year, it modified to program to provide free iPods only to undergraduates who enrolled in a course that required the device.

Simultaneously, the university has broadened the focus of the program beyond iPods to a much broader effort to promote the effective use of new technology in higher education.

An improved comfort level with personal computing devices like the iPod has allowed students such as Duke senior Gisselle Molinar to take her learning experience outside the classroom. I definitely think students would be able to adapt to additional digital technology, she said.

Molinar's instructor, Mark Williams, used a photo iPod this fall in his Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain course to house a visual glossary of 500 human neuro-anatomical structures and terms comprising text descriptions, images and corresponding audio pronunciations. Although Williams said the device interface isn't yet perfectly suited for complex learning applications, the students adapted pretty quickly.

Both fourth-generation photo iPods and fifth-generation video iPods will be distributed to students enrolled in spring 2006 DDI courses, depending upon specific course requirements. Students enrolled in spring 2006 DDI courses using iPods will pick them up from the university Help Desk, and will be responsible for their care throughout their time at Duke. Students who have already been given an iPod by the university will not be given new ones; however, in some cases, students who previously received an iPod may be eligible to trade in their old model for a newer one if the course they are enrolled in requires functionality not available on their original model.

- From Duke News

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Wishing you well,
All of us at LEGACY
Susie Vanderlip - Ken Vanderlip - Veronica Garcia
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