The latest craze….I can’t pick up a professional journal or read an online newsletter that doesn’t mention podcasting in education. And it makes sense….our kids are all plugged into their iPods or other MP3 devices already. Why not give them some content to listen to?
Duke University was brilliant when they gave all incoming freshman iPods last year. The iPods were pre-loaded with everything from information about orientation to the campus fight song. Kids could walk around campus plugged into their iPod while they had a campus tour or found out about registration and more.
Many professors are on the podcasting bandwagon. Providing lectures or review notes through podcasts allows kids to be tuned in, not tuned out. Students can plug in to their iPods in the dorm room, block out the other noise, and listen to a class they missed or listen to one they attended, but for deeper understanding.
I was poking around the iTunes site the other night, searching for educational podcasts. I found that an introductory Art History course at the Rhode Island School of Design was available as a podcast. Now, with the ability to create “enhanced” podcasts, the professor can not only include the lecture about each painting or sculpture discussed, but include an image of it as well (copyright issues??) Now, if my daughter were enrolled in that class, how would I feel? Would I want her to subscribe to the podcast and skip the class? Naturally, there’s much to be gained by attending the class: the camaraderie with classmates, the ability to ask questions, and more. But if a student can learn all of the content required of that class through the podcast and still “ace” the test, should they be penalized? Maybe some students would much rather be in the studio CREATING art, rather than sitting in a lecture hall. If they could plug into their iPod and listen to the lecture while creating their own masterpiece, isn’t that OK? That’s recognizing that all students don’t learn in the same way.
And, don’t we teach our kids to use technology to be successful?
1 response so far ↓
1 Meredith205 // Nov 26, 2006 at 11:16 am
I also agree with some of you points aobut podcasting. i feel that it should be used as an enhancment to learning, not to replace the class. i am in an online class, and we often have podcasts. its nice because instead of just reading you can hear the professors’ actual thoughts and words. but if i did not have other assignments i don’t think i would listen to the podcasts as much as i do now.
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