I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a good reader or writer. It’s one of the reasons I teach P.E., because it requires a lot less reading and writing than a general education teacher. I tried to compensate for this during my undergraduate days by bringing a tape recorder to class and trying to record the lectures. Sometimes the audio was good and sometimes it was bad. But I preferred listening to the tapes on my commute to school than reading the books at home.
Given my own preference for audio and video over text, I have to agree with proponents of Podcasting. I’m not the only student who benefits from being able to access lectures and presentations anytime from anywhere (Hoagland, 2007). I don’t have to worry about a flat tire or finding a babysitter for a sick kid or missing work (Hoagland, 2007). I can get the information I need without having to worry about making it to class. I can also process the information at my own speed, spending more time on the subjects I’m struggling with and less time on the ones I understood quickly.
I recognize that some see this benefit as a downfall in the sense that Podcasting may encourage students to skip class (Hoagland, 2007). But as Fresno State Professor Burke-Doe said, “This is their business, and they have to demonstrate some self-directed learning” (Hoagland, 2007). Podcasting may be a nice supplement or the next best thing to a live lecture, but it’s probably true it’s not a replacement. There are some things you cannot get from a Podcast, such as questions and answers in real time between students and professors (Hoagland, 2007).
But it appears colleges and universities are embracing Podcasting and looking for ways to make it more interactive and educational. Deborah Vess’ (2006) experiment using iPods provides a good example. I had never really thought about the fact that an iPod is a lot easier to carry around and use to take notes (Vess, 2006). How much time would I have saved taking notes on a book in the library or copying pages of a book at 5¢ a page by using the Voice Memos application on my iPod or Smart Phone? How much lighter would my backpack have been carrying around one of these devices instead of a laptop computer.
And I have to agree with students in Vess’ study that it takes a lot more time, thought, and energy to do a Podcast than write a paper (Vess, 2006). A paper doesn’t stutter, or pause to catch its breath, or use fillers like “um” or “ok.” Tone, inflection, and many other little things come into play that never do when reading text (Vess, 2006). For myself, I’m so self-conscious when making a Podcast that it takes dozens of recordings to avoid coming across either like an auctioneer (rushing to get to the end) or a used car salesman (sounding cheesy and fake).
Cebeci and Tekdal (2006) opened my eyes to other issues I had never considered, such controlling the content and length of Podcasts. Listening to a three hourslecture about research methods is not as thrilling as listening to an audio book for three hours (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). The shorter the lecture and the more focused the content, the more effective Podcasts are likely to be (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). I tried to keep this in mind creating my own Podcast this week.
Despite the downfalls of Podcasting, it can’t be denied that today’s students are increasingly more accustomed to getting their information from Facebook, Twitter, and other online sources (Hoagland, 2007). If teachers don’t try to tap into this resource, they may miss an opportunity to reach these students (Hoagland, 2007).
References
Cebeci, Z. & Tekdal, M. (2006). Using podcasts as audio learning objects. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 2, 47-57.
Hoagland, D. (2007, February 7). Getting their iLessons: In a nod to popular technology, some Fresno State instructors are recording lectures so students can listen to them later on computers or iPods. Fresno Bee. Retrieved from http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-printerfriendly/story/28453.html
Vess, D. L. (2006). History to go: Why I teach with iPods. The History Teacher, 39(4), 479-492.
Given my own preference for audio and video over text, I have to agree with proponents of Podcasting. I’m not the only student who benefits from being able to access lectures and presentations anytime from anywhere (Hoagland, 2007). I don’t have to worry about a flat tire or finding a babysitter for a sick kid or missing work (Hoagland, 2007). I can get the information I need without having to worry about making it to class. I can also process the information at my own speed, spending more time on the subjects I’m struggling with and less time on the ones I understood quickly.
I recognize that some see this benefit as a downfall in the sense that Podcasting may encourage students to skip class (Hoagland, 2007). But as Fresno State Professor Burke-Doe said, “This is their business, and they have to demonstrate some self-directed learning” (Hoagland, 2007). Podcasting may be a nice supplement or the next best thing to a live lecture, but it’s probably true it’s not a replacement. There are some things you cannot get from a Podcast, such as questions and answers in real time between students and professors (Hoagland, 2007).
But it appears colleges and universities are embracing Podcasting and looking for ways to make it more interactive and educational. Deborah Vess’ (2006) experiment using iPods provides a good example. I had never really thought about the fact that an iPod is a lot easier to carry around and use to take notes (Vess, 2006). How much time would I have saved taking notes on a book in the library or copying pages of a book at 5¢ a page by using the Voice Memos application on my iPod or Smart Phone? How much lighter would my backpack have been carrying around one of these devices instead of a laptop computer.
And I have to agree with students in Vess’ study that it takes a lot more time, thought, and energy to do a Podcast than write a paper (Vess, 2006). A paper doesn’t stutter, or pause to catch its breath, or use fillers like “um” or “ok.” Tone, inflection, and many other little things come into play that never do when reading text (Vess, 2006). For myself, I’m so self-conscious when making a Podcast that it takes dozens of recordings to avoid coming across either like an auctioneer (rushing to get to the end) or a used car salesman (sounding cheesy and fake).
Cebeci and Tekdal (2006) opened my eyes to other issues I had never considered, such controlling the content and length of Podcasts. Listening to a three hourslecture about research methods is not as thrilling as listening to an audio book for three hours (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). The shorter the lecture and the more focused the content, the more effective Podcasts are likely to be (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). I tried to keep this in mind creating my own Podcast this week.
Despite the downfalls of Podcasting, it can’t be denied that today’s students are increasingly more accustomed to getting their information from Facebook, Twitter, and other online sources (Hoagland, 2007). If teachers don’t try to tap into this resource, they may miss an opportunity to reach these students (Hoagland, 2007).
References
Cebeci, Z. & Tekdal, M. (2006). Using podcasts as audio learning objects. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 2, 47-57.
Hoagland, D. (2007, February 7). Getting their iLessons: In a nod to popular technology, some Fresno State instructors are recording lectures so students can listen to them later on computers or iPods. Fresno Bee. Retrieved from http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-printerfriendly/story/28453.html
Vess, D. L. (2006). History to go: Why I teach with iPods. The History Teacher, 39(4), 479-492.