Home Office takes £9k punt on iPod learning

The Home Office has splashed out on 20 video iPods to deliver 'leadership lessons' to senior civil servants.

The pilot scheme will cost around £9,000.

A Home Office spokeswoman told silicon.com: "Compared to the cost for in-classroom training, the iPods are very competitive, with the capacity on one iPod representing the equivalent of three days of classroom training - and the [iPod-based] training material can be recycled."

The spokeswoman said the iPods will hold up to 50 three-to-five-minute leadership tutorials for the civil servants to view "at their leisure" - for flexible learning.

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The gadgets will be held as a central resource - rather than being given out to individuals - and will be monitored to check they are only being used for work purposes, she added.

The iPod has been adopted for some weird and wonderful uses over the past few years, with Duke University in the US giving away free iPods to all incoming students to encourage them to use the devices for educational purposes.