Alberta has banned students taking provincial exams this month from bringing their iPods into examination rooms.

Alberta Education added digital audio players such as iPods to the list of banned technology in March.

Bob McManus, a spokesman with Alberta Education, says times have changed since teachers had to worry about passing notes in class.

The department's list of banned technology includes cellphones, pagers, CD players and hand-held electronic dictionaries. 

'You can record stuff onto your iPod. Like, just read out your notes and just record it as a song and just listen to it.'-Grade 12 student Ben Heshka

"IPods could be used to download all kinds of things, not just music," said McManus. "I mean, you could download speeches, you can download all kinds of different items."

Ben Heshka, a Grade 12 student at Paul Kane High School in St. Albert, says students can easily cheat with an iPod.

"You can record stuff onto your iPod," he said. "Like, just read out your notes and just record it as a song and just listen to it. That's been known to happen."

McManus is not aware of any incident involving a student using an iPod to cheat.

Some high schools in Alberta allow students to listen to their digital audio players during study periods and even in some classes.