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| During a workshop at the recent HECC conference, Nathan Davidson, Wayne Township Technology Staff Developer and Doug Stotts, Park Tudor MS Technology Specialist learn the “tricks” of using the Sony PSP. |
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Southwest School Corporation Technology Facilitator, Doris Halberstadt uses the Sony PSP to connect to websites on the internet. |
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What if you told your students to bring their Sony PSP(Play Station Portable) to school to help them learn? Sound ridiculous? Well, it isn’t really. Like it or not, millions of students are playing games on devices like these and some savvy educators are beginning to explore ways they can incorporate this technology tool into the classroom arena. The PSP is a readily available, multi-sensory, technology tool that many students already use at home. The PSP can be used as a portable storage device, as an internet access to online learning activities, and for classroom PowerPoint presentations. With additional add-ons such as a camera and software, students can also record audio files, share pictures and download video for use in their classrooms. Imagine the possibilities. Some teachers and students have already taken the leap and incorporated PSPs into their academic practice.
After students at Seymour High School were seen working on transferring their RoboPro program from their own PSPs to their computers in their Project Lead The Way course, Seymour Community Schools Technology teacher, Bob Sexton, took a keen interest in what they were doing with these handheld devices. He directed students in his class to figure out ways to use their PSPs for educational purposes. With other teachers’ permission, they were able to download eBooks such as Beowulf and The Odyssey for their English classes, and calculus and trigonometry formulas for their math classes. In their business and social studies classes, students presented projects using video and PowerPoint presentations from their PSPs. When asked about using these tools in the classroom, most students’ first response is, “Why didn’t we do this before?” Bob adds, “I don't know what is coming next. It [PSP] has just made every class FUN! I honestly don't know what the next PSP use will be; I am just holding on and learning from the students as fast as possible.”
Forward thinking teachers Robbie Grimes, Brownsburg Community School Corporation, and Shawn Mahoney, Seymour Community Schools, showed approximately 80 educators in a workshop at the 2007 HECC conference how to use their recently acquired PSPs. (HECC gave a free PSP to those who registered for the 2-day conference.) Demonstrations by Seymour High School students further illustrated how excited they were about being able to use their PSP devices at school as part of their learning experience.
For additional information about Seymour High School initiatives, contact:
Shawn Mahoney mahoney@scsc.k12.in.us
Resource sites for using the PSP in the classroom:
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