EDUCATION REPORT - Duke iPod Experiment

EDUCATION REPORT - Duke¹ iPod Experiment
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, August 05, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Duke University in Durham, North Carolina recently announced a campaign² to increase creative uses of technology in education. The university will provide each of its one-thousand-six-hundred first-year students with a digital³ device⁴ called an Apple iPod.

 
iPod
Apple iPods are small devices⁵ that copy, save and play music and written material. Duke University officials say the iPods will contain information about the school that its new students need to know. The university is also establishing a special Duke Web⁶ site so the students can copy to their iPods information provided⁷ by their professors.

University officials say the experiment is part of a cooperation program between Duke and the Apple Computer company. Each iPod sells for about three-hundred dollars in stores. The experiment will cost Duke about five-hundred-thousand dollars. That includes the costs of hiring a computer specialist⁸, paying for a research study and buying the digital devices for the students. The students will be able to keep their iPods free of charge. But they must pay for replacements⁹ if the devices are lost or broken.

Duke says it is providing only its first-year students with the devices as a way to control the experiment and make it easy to examine the results. Researchers will do the study after the students have used the iPods for one year.

The university wants to know if the iPods help people take part in creative educational experiences. Officials say that success will be measured by the number of ways that Duke students and professors use iPod recordings¹⁰ for educational purposes.

Duke officials say they expect the iPod experiment to get professors and students thinking creatively about how to use the devices. They expect students will develop new ways to use the iPod. For example, one official said the student newspaper could create a weekly editorial¹¹ that students could listen to by using the devices.

University officials also expect Duke professors to suggest their own ideas about new ways to use the devices. Officials say professors could use the iPods to add music or foreign languages to their classes. One Duke professor is already planning to have students use the iPods to record lectures, take notes, and record music and other information from experts.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. This is Steve Ember.

1 duke   

n.公爵

参考例句：

• His grandfather was a royal duke.他的祖父是王室公爵。
• The duke was the king's most trusted adviser.公爵是国王最信赖的顾问。

2 campaign   

n.运动；竞选活动；战役；vi.参加运动；进行竞选；作战

参考例句：

• The election campaign heated up in that state.该州竞选运动激烈起来了。
• The campaign had begun during his absence.在他不在期间运动已经开始了。

3 digital   

n.数字，数字式；adj.数位的，数字的

参考例句：

• There's a digital watch on the table.桌子上有一块数字式手表。
• The signal will be converted into digital code.信号会被转变为数字代码。

4 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

5 devices   

n.设备；装置( device的名词复数 )；花招；（为实现某种目的的）计划；手段

参考例句：

• electrical labour-saving devices around the home 节省劳力的各种家用电器
• modern labour-saving devices such as washing machines and dishwashers 诸如洗衣机和洗碗机之类的现代化省力设备

6 web   

n.网，蛛丝，蹼，织物，圈套，卷筒纸；vi.生蹼，形成网；vt.织蜘蛛网于，使落入圈套

参考例句：

• The spider weaves a web.蜘蛛织网。
• You mean the World Wide Web?你是说国际互联网？

7 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

8 specialist   

n.（医学）专家，专科医生；专家；专业人员

参考例句：

• She is a specialist in English.她是一位英语专家。
• The peasants looked up to him as a specialist.农民们尊他为专家。

9 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

10 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

11 editorial   

adj.编者的，社论的；n.（报刊的）社论，重要评论

参考例句：

• For a full hour they argued over the wording of the editorial.他们为社论的措辞争论了一个小时。
• We now bring you the full text of the Renmin Ribao editorial.现在全文广播《人民日报》社论。