MP3 Players Help Bring the Outside World into the Classroom

Educators across the nation are finding that iPods and other MP3 players are more than just high-tech toys. Students are using the portable devices in classrooms and libraries to listen to books, watch documentaries and record podcasts, among other educational uses.

MP3 players have a range of benefits. Instead of sitting in a library cubicle to watch a video or listen to an audiotape for class, students can download content onto a portable MP3 player and watch or listen anywhere as many times as they need.

Some research even shows that listening to music on an MP3 player while taking a test or doing other schoolwork may help some students drown out distractions

(*)Tiffany Ray wrote this abstract and she is a staff writer for the Birmingham (Ala.) News.