As students head back to schools and colleges this week, Apple’s iPod touch and iPhone are perfect for on-the-go learning – at any grade level.

And Blackboard’s (News - Alert) Mobile Learning solutions are a perfect match for the Apple products.

The iPod and iPhone devices put thousands of apps and countless possibilities in a user’s pocket.

With so many education apps available, students can carry an entire library of reference materials with them anywhere. Apps help transform the way teachers teach and students learn. And there are apps for every subject and every stage of learning.

For instance, college-level business students will find the finance calculator app, HP12C, extremely useful.

Built-in Wi-Fi on iPod touch and iPhone (News - Alert) means faculty and students can do research on the web, write an e-mail (even attach a photo or document), and chat or text with classmates or colleagues. iPod touch and iPhone instantly recognize nearby wireless networks found on many campuses. iPhone uses 3G as well as Wi-Fi to deliver rich HTML email, maps with GPS, and Safari web browsing over the cellular network. Users can email or browse the web while making a phone call.

Email on iPod touch and iPhone looks and acts just like email on your computer. Users can see all the appointments and activities that make up their life with iCal. They can create and manage multiple calendars and share them with colleagues and students over the Internet. And they can sync iCal to the calendar on an iPhone or iPod touch.

Users can record interviews, reading samples, study guides, or class lectures with voice memos — included on iPhone and iPod touch.

Built-in accessibility features make it easy for any student to benefit from all that iPhone and iPod touch have to offer. The 32GB and 64GB iPod touch and the iPhone 3GS come standard with features that accommodate people with physical impairments, visual and hearing challenges, and different learning styles.

While a user is shopping for music on iTunes, he/she can also choose from more than 350,000 free course lectures, videos, readings, and podcasts from universities and institutions worldwide. It’s all on iTunes U.

There are over 800 universities with active iTunes U sites. And most of these institutions — including Stanford, Yale, MIT (News - Alert), Oxford, and UC Berkeley — distribute their content publicly. In the Beyond Campus section, visitors can tour some of the world’s most famous museums or brush up on leadership skills. Students and faculty can access a wealth of content from distinguished entities such as MoMA, the New York Public Library, Public Radio International, and PBS stations.

Apple (News - Alert) has a place in the classroom, too. An Apple laptop program or mobile learning lab provides flexible and convenient access to technology, easily transforming any classroom into a digital learning environment.

Mobile Learning is the use of handheld devices with wireless networks to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning to extend beyond the traditional classroom. Mobile learning also decreases limitations imposed by location, especially now, with the increasing mobility of general portable devices. Using portable devices, such as laptops, iPads, PDAs and smart phones, mobile learning can take place virtually anywhere including traditional learning environment such as classrooms, at work or from home.

In addition, mobile learning focuses on the mobility of the learner, and learning that reflects a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support an increasingly mobile population, according to Blackboard.

Blackboard Mobile Learn and Blackboard Mobile Central are some of the key products from Blackboard that meet these needs.