Finding Educational Podcasts


It doesn't take a college grad to see that podcasting can easily play a role in improving education. After all, having an entire semester's worth of lectures available as podcasts could greatly improve a student's chances on the final exam.

In Chapter 1, I speculated about the future of podcasting and how it might affect education in years to come, but Duke University in North Carolina is already deeply involved in podcasting (Figure 2.59).

Figure 2.59. Duke University has leaped to the forefront in educational podcasting, giving an iPod to every freshman during the 2003 04 school year.


Duke made headlines in the 2003-04 school year by purchasing iPods for every freshman student. These iPods were distributed with an iMic (an iPod accessory that allows for recording, much like an old-fashioned tape recorder) so that students could record lectures as they saw fit. Other classes had lectures recorded as podcasts made available through a special Duke University page on Apple's iTunes Music Store!

This concept intrigued me so much that I contacted Professor Richard Lucic, associate chair of the Department of Computer Science at Duke University, and asked him about this pioneering podcasting project.

Farkas: What was the genesis of Duke's iPod program?

Lucic: It was an outgrowth from discussions that the Information Sciences and Information Studies Program at Duke was conducting with Apple to explore incorporating technology in the classroom. The iPod idea came up during these discussions, and was expanded to a campuswide program.

Farkas: In a nutshell, how does Duke's program work? Are there microphones in every class so that each lecture is recorded and then turned into a podcast at a central location? Also, are computers supplied for students to download the pertinent podcasts to their iPods?

Lucic: This first year, all freshmen were given iPods, but faculty could also make a request to have any course designated an official iPod course, with loaner iPods given to all students. The freshmen get to keep them; the others have to return them at the end of the class. Students were given an iMic in addition to the iPod so that they could record lectures. Duke's Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) would, on request, come and make a recording of the class, but I think most faculty just made the recordings themselves. Duke made a site available to upload class audio content, and Apple also made a Duke-specific iTunes portal available.

Farkas: What has the impact of this program been in terms of both objective data and subjective feedback? Have the students taken well to this new educational medium?

Lucic: Apparently, the response from both students and faculty was very positive. Duke concluded that incorporating the iPod technology into the classroom did in fact enhance the learning experience. The faculty of the official iPod classes were required to provide feedback from surveys or other vehicles used to poll the students and instructors. Several roundtable discussions with faculty and with students were also conducted to assess the subjective feedback. A couple of the key conclusions of the experiment are that the iPods made learning portable, reaching beyond the confines of the classroom; increased student enthusiasm and work quality; and facilitated the learning process.

Farkas: What is the current status of the iPod/podcast project?

Lucic: They feel the program has been expanded, no longer being limited to freshmen. Any class, including graduate classes, can now be eligible for iPod use designation. In the expanded program, called Duke Digital Initiative, Duke will also experiment with other classroom technology in addition to the iPod, such as tablet computing, digital video, and collaboration technologies. For example, we have currently installed a system called iLecture in three classrooms to assess its ability to automatically audio- and video-record a class session at high quality

Farkas: How do you see the concept and implementation of podcasting affecting education in the future? Are there any ideal educational paradigms that podcasting can help educators move toward?

Lucic: One use I am very excited about is giving students audio assignments in place of written reports. I have found that field-recorded notes are much superior when the students use the iPod versus hand-written notes. Another experiment I conducted was to replace written research reports with assignments to record a group (four students) discussion of the research subject. In both cases, I found the work superior to that in old-style written reports.

Farkas: What has the inclusion of podcasting meant to you personally as an educator?

Lucic: It has meant an increase in class-preparation overhead. It takes planning to incorporate iPods effectively. Audio files must be processed and uploaded. I found I had to listen to audio assignments at least a couple times before I felt capable of grading them, and grading itself is an issue, because I did not have a paper report to write on. I eventually concluded that I would record my grading remarks and e-mail them to the students. Even with this increased overhead, I feel the improvement in the learning environment has made the effort worthwhile.

Farkas: Have there been any surprising results from the podcasting experiment?

Lucic: I think something that surprised the students the most was when they realized that they could turn "dead time" (like commuting) into productive learning time. Another thing they really came to appreciate was the ability to re-review a lecture in preparation for a test and report assignment. They eventually stopped taking notes during lectures and paid more attention to the speaker.

The biggest surprise for faculty and Duke admin was the wide variety of classes that participated in the iPod experiment. I think the initial perception was that audio-based classes, such as music or languages, would be naturals, but we found that very positive uses of the iPods occurred in engineering, environmental sciences, computer science, etc.

Podcasting specifically is a very exciting technology for education. Because it automates course-content delivery and student response to supplied content, I find that there is much more interaction between students. In the past, the paradigm was essentially a one-way transfer of knowledge from instructor to student. The new paradigm involves the student much more actively in the learning process and brings a new student-to-student learning process into play. Students like podcasting. They relate to it in ways similar to instant messaging. I think there is definitely an important role for it in education.

Farkas: Are there any limitations of podcasts that you have noticed?

Lucic: About the only thing that comes to mind is the quality issue. Podcasts of poor quality are going to turn off students. I have invested in pro audio hardware and hardware to ensure that the audio I podcast is of as good a quality as possible. Listeners tire very quickly when the audio is not of good quality. I also make this equipment available to students so that they can respond to course podcasts with their own good-quality podcasts.



Secrets of Podcasting. Audio Blogging for the Masses
Secrets of Podcasting. Audio Blogging for the Masses
ISBN: 321369297
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 80

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net