Although many teachers warn their students to keep iPods out of the classroom, journalism professor and associate dean Al Stavitsky of the School of Journalism and Communication has found a use for digital audio players. Stavitsky offered his fall term students the opportunity to download and play podcasts – audio files Stavitsky recorded and made available to students on the Web.
Stavitsky’s podcasts are designed as supplemental material to bridge lectures and reading assignments, not to replace participation in class.
But Stavitsky isn’t the first to use MP3 technology for recording and sharing college material. Taking the concept one step further, Tegrity Campus software and Blackboard Learing System recently teamed up to record class lectures and make the resulting podcasts available through Blackboard. A Dallas community college has already agreed to adopt Tegrity’s software and automatically record every class offered.
Podcasts provide several benefits. They can be an added resource when reading texts or reviewing class materials, especially before a midterm or final. They can also allow enterprising professors to make better use of class time by recording syllabus information, project descriptions and material they wouldn’t normally have time to cover.
Students missing part or all of a day’s class can more easily catch up on missed work with an audio copy of the lecture.
Podcasts may prove invaluable to students suffering from dyslexia, vision problems and other disabilities, although these students often have access to additional resources through
the University.
It’s easy to see ways that both teachers and students can benefit from an accessible recording of some lectures and other course information. But podcasts are not a valid substitute for attending class regularly to ask questions and interact with fellow students.
If professors ever begin recording all lectures as podcasts, they should consider keeping attendance mandatory to prevent lecturing to an empty room. A humorous sequence of scenes from the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield movie “Back to School” comes to mind: Students in a lecture class gradually start leaving tape recorders and cutting class until the professor just leaves a tape recorder to play his lecture and leaves as well.
This type of hollow interaction is no substitute for the benefits of the traditional Socratic classroom format.
Further, making this technology affordable to all students remains a valid concern. While many students already own an iPod or similar MP3 player, they are not yet universal. But because podcasts can be heard through computer speakers, students may access podcasts on many campus computers.
Allowing students to check out MP3 players from the library for short periods of time may be another solution to increase student access. The University already loans video and audio equipment.
As long as attendance is encouraged and podcast technology is within the grasp of every student, it will be beneficial to give students the option of more learning time with their professors.
Stavitsky purchased his podcast technology through a grant from the School of Journalism and Communication’s Dean’s Fund. The University ought to investigate how to make podcasting more accessible to professors and students alike.