Week #3 - Podcasting in and out of the Classroom

Podcasting was the topic of discussion for this week. Many schools are beginning to use this technology in the classroom and I think it's great. There are a lot of advantages to podcasting. Some instructors podcast their lectures and this gives those students who missed class an opportunity to catch up with their peers.

This brings up what some people claim might be the #1 disadvantage to podcasting. If the lecture will be available via the podcast, why even go to class? Let me just address this issue for a minute. I feel that there are 2 types of students – those who go to class and those who don't. If you're the type of student who skips class, you're going to skip it regardless of the circumstances. Not having access to podcasts is not going to make you go to class. I don't believe that students who don't skip class are suddenly going to begin skipping class simply because they can now get the lecture via a podcast. I think it's very important that instructors think through how to use this technology in their classes. It should be used as an extension of the class, a supplement to the lecture, an opportunity for diverse learning experiences. While having a lecture at your disposal to listen to repeatedly might be helpful to some students, there are so many other ways to employ this technology in the classroom.

Instructors could use podcasts to give their students information not covered in class. When you only have 55 minutes or so to spend with your students, you can't always cover everything you would like. However, supplying background information in a podcast to be listened to prior to class would free up class time for more in-depth discussion and additional material. Instructors need to realize that there will still be students who don't listen to the assigned podcasts. They're the same students who don't read the assigned reading prior to the lecture/class. I don't think technology is going to change that.

The use of MP3 players in the educational setting also allows students to be creative with their assignments and it addresses the different learning styles and talents of diverse students. Instead of writing a paper for every unit covered in class, a student could create her own podcast about the unit. For students who have reading issues (disabilities or are possibly just slow readers), being able to listen to information instead of having to always read it would be a refreshing change.

The last thing I would like to address is the accessibility of this technology to all students. In the Duke experiment, the university supplied the students with iPods. Not all school will do that. In my first entry, I brought up this very same issue. I wondered how students would find access to computers if they were unable to use the library or the school's computers due to schedules, etc., and their families were unable to afford their own computers. I don't think that it's as much of an issue with podcasting. If you take a look around today, you will hear students complain about how they don't have any money, but yet they have an MP3 player, a cell phone, a hand-held video game. If students want something bad enough, they will find a way to get it. Fortunately, MP3 players are something that almost everybody wants now for personal use anyway.

I can't wait to see how schools and universities use podcasting and similar technology over the next few years.

Diana