Posted 16 Dec 2008

The University of Derby has given 35 iPods to radiography students to provide them with enhanced quality and confidence, it has emerged.

Containing video lessons and graphic animations, the devices show pupils how to position patients for x-rays.

The university said the aim was to have a more useful teaching tool than traditional text books.

Ruth Chester, a senior lecturer at the university, told the BBC: "[iPods] are not gadgets – they are things of the future that are here to stay."

The devices, which are commonly used for listening to music and watching video downloads, cost £99 and will be given to first-year BSc diagnostic radiology students who will keep them for two years.

Ms Chester added that it would not be professional for students to use them in front of patients as some may think they were listening to music.

English schools were praised earlier this month by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers for being among the best in the world when it comes to using ICT as a teaching tool.

A further example of technology and language being brought together is online TEFL courses, which can teach people the necessary skills to teach English abroad.

Category: Teaching and Learning