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CNN Student News Transcript Special: Technology

  • Story Highlights
  • Get a glimpse at the next generation of gadgets
  • How the teaching role of MP3 players is growing
  • What officials say about tech on campus
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CNN Student News -- June 29, 2007

Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Thanks for checking out our latest summer edition of CNN Student News, where today's show, all about tech. I'm Carl Azuz. A college professor has found a way for his students to listen to his lectures even when they're not in the classroom. And we talk to students and experts to find out some of the ways technology is being used in schools.

First Up: Gadget Gifts

AZUZ: It's better to give than to receive. You've probably heard it a hundred times. But when that gift is for a techie, there's a gaggle of gadgets to go through. So how do you know which present to pick? Reynolds Wolf is here to help with the breakdown on some cool tech toys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN REPORTER: Are you searching for that perfect gift, but you are just a little bit stumped? Well, no worries. Brian Cooley from CNET.com is here to help us out, steer us clear and hopefully give us some great ideas. And I know you have some great ideas for us.

Don't Miss

BRIAN COOLEY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, CNET.COM: Look at these beauties. First of all, for gaming, you know the Nintendo Wii is hot, but you can't find one? The Nintendo DS Light is a pretty good placeholder. The dual screen that it's known for, they've slimmed it down from its original DS. And of course that great legacy of all those great Nintendo games. And pretty cheep. For $130 or less you can get one of these. That's very affordable.

Check out this music player, Reynolds. It's gonna be the next kind of iPod. It's from SanDisk. It's called the Sansa Connect. That little bump is a WiFi antenna. This can connect wirelessly to the Internet or to other devices like it to share music, download music and stream Internet radio. That is really the future of iPod-like devices.

If you want to give a phone, but you also want to give a music player, this one does both. NOKIA's 5300 Music Express is a great music player. It's not an iPod, but it's not bad. Transport controls and volume buttons out here tell you that it's something different.

And then for a camera, I like this very flat Sony T100. It's pocket-size, which is very hot these days. Nice slide-down door. 8 mega pixels, image stabilization and a great big screen for sharing photos.

WOLF: Brian Cooley of CNET.com, thank you so much.

COOLEY: You bet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Shoutout

GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the Shoutout! When did the first iPod debut? If you think you know it, shout it out. Was it: A) 1997, B) 1999, C) 2001 or D) 2003? You've got three seconds -- Go! If you guessed C, you've got the right tune. The popular portable players first made the scene in the fall of 2001. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Tech in the Classroom

AZUZ: Whether it's an iPod, Sony, Samsung or Zune, it seems like you can't go anywhere these days without seeing people plugged in to some type of MP3 player. And if you're on a college campus, you might think students walking around with their ear buds in are listening to music. But don't be fooled. They could just be studying up for class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Walk around any college campus and those famous white earplugs seem to be everywhere. But sometimes the playlist isn't quite what you'd expect. Lectures on Computer Science instead of American Idol. Not so much Sum 41 as History 101.

Some teachers have used the audio iPod in their lessons, but at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Professor Jim Foley hopes to transfer his visual Web lectures to the video iPod.

PROFESSOR FOLEY, USER INTERFACE DESIGN TEACHER: The students who did Web lectures earned grades that were about 10% better -- we did that three years ago.

AZUZ: As MP3 players become essential parts of students' lives, they have the potential to rival the laptop as learning tools in the classroom. With a graduate student's help, Foley records lectures before class, so that students can raise questions when they arrive. Students from Foley's User Interface Design course say they find it valuable to review lectures when convenient.

KATHY PHAM, STUDENT IN PROFESSOR FOLEY'S USER INTERFACE DESIGN CLASS: It takes 15 minutes to walk from one side of campus to the other side of campus. And to be able just to download the mp3 to my iPod and just walk across campus, would be very beneficial.

SCOTT GILLILAND, STUDENT IN PROFESSOR FOLEY'S USER INTERFACE DESIGN CLASS: A lot of people can't get to a full desktop computer whenever they need to listen to the lectures, and it's nice to be able to take them with you.

AZUZ: Although students show enthusiasm towards MP3 players, there are limitations because they're small.

FOLEY: The screen resolution is smaller and navigating between pages will be a little bit slower than on the computer because on the computer I just use the mouse. With the iPod I have to use the scrollwheel and scroll around.

AZUZ: Like the laptop, the MP3 player is a popular and revolutionary way to gather and disseminate information. Regardless of what teachers decide to use, players and laptops will remain allies. Besides, you need a laptop to operate an iPod and vice versa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Podcast Promo

AZUZ: And if downloading lectures isn't enough, we've got another cool thing you can do with an MP3 player: watch CNN Student News! That's right, you can download our Podcast at CNNstudentnews.com or at iTunes. So you won't miss out on the news when you're on the go.

Now and Then

RAMSAY: With cell phones, thin is in. But you had to flex some muscle to handle its oversized ancestor. An iPod can hold your whole music library. But a vintage Walkman let you jam out one cassette at a time. Microchips keep getting smaller and smaller. But old school computers took up a lot more space. And game controllers have buttons for every possible move. But the retro version? One button, one joystick, tons of fun.

Learning with Technology

AZUZ: It's not just slimmer cell phones and smaller computers. Advances in technology are changing the world we live in all the time. And one of the places where those changes are taking place is schools. So we talked to some students and experts to hear what they have to say about teaching with tech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRINA DAVIS, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION: We started off, when we were first starting to integrate technology, kind of at that basic level.

MATTHEW LEWIS, JUNIOR, GREENSIDE HIGH SCHOOL: We of course use laptops and computers. Each teacher is assigned a laptop. And also, we have computer labs and a media center with computers inside.

DON KNEZEK, CEO, INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION: Certainly just dropping technology into a learning environment doesn't necessarily improve it unless you are sure that the activities that you are doing align with the expectations that you have for learning.

AMMARAH MAHMOUD, JUNIOR, SALEM HIGH SCHOOL: I think many careers today require for people to know how to use technology, so it's important to learn that in school

KNEZEK: So you can't convince me that a student without basic fundamental technology skills is on equal footing for employment.

MAHMOUD: I don't think schooling should be technology dependent, because I think that, at the same time, we shouldn't rely on something that doesn't have a mind of its own.

KNEZEK: You can certainly abuse technology. You can abuse the printed word. You can abuse access to external resources. Certainly if teachers and school leaders and parents use the same standards that they would use for any resource for technologies, then we're in fine shape.

LEWIS: I can see people in the future having something where you just scan, and all of your, you know, personal information comes up and everything about you can come up on a screen, and I think that's really cool.

DAVIS: Customization, very innovative, lots of gaming, lots of 3-dimensional spaces and just social spaces that feed on the needs of young learners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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Goodbye

AZUZ: And that is the last word in this special edition of CNN Student News. We'll see you back here soon for our next summer show. And of course we thank you for watching everyone. I'm Carl Azuz. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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