This brief letter from the editors of eSchool News explains that in today’s society, it is a foregone conclusion that multimedia elements are an essential part of instruction; and that the use of such tools allow educators to target the wide variety of learning styles that are recognized today. The various educational technologies now available to us (blogging, podcasting, etc.) help to liven up lessons and draw today’s “digital natives” in to the learning process. However, educators must also realize that there comes along with these tools certain responsibilities, concerns, and new preparations. For example, educators have to discern what is useable and meaningful, and not just filler. There are so many resources available that one could never hope to be exposed to it all. The editors of eSchool News have put together “this in-depth resource center complete with integration ideas, best practices, quality web resources for streaming video, web sites for research and lesson supplementation, podcasting trends and ideas, and much more.” It is an excellent resource for any educator.
Ascione, Laura (2006, March 1). Apple offers free hosting of class lectures at 'iTunes U'. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from eSchool News Online Web site:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=6153
One link that I followed led me to this article which details the experiment that took place at the University of Michigan’s School of Dentistry. Here, the students are using Podcasts of lectures to enhance their learning and reinforce lessons learned in person. The Podcasts are available for download through “iTunes U” at no cost. At Michigan University, the students have taken responsibility and perform all the tasks required to acquire, edit, and upload the audio files. Initially, the lectures were available in video files with audio, PowerPoint presentations with audio, and just audio. The administrators discovered that the most popular format was audio alone. This was attributed to that fact that today’s students are multi-taskers by necessity, and being able to listen to these lectures on portable mp3 players while doing other activities is a huge advantage. These students have kept the program running for three years now and have found it to be an excellent asset.
I think the use of lectures in the form of Podcasts can be a powerful way for students to reinforce what they have learned and possibly catch information that was missed the first time around. And I think this application is useful in the secondary level as well, not just in university. Particularly given the fact that I think sometimes in today’s society, with the knowledge and understanding about learning that has been attained, some people feel that the “lecture” is obsolete in the classroom environment. This is foolish. While today’s students are in fact multi-media learners and have a wide range of learning styles, there are still some subjects and some sets of information that can best be conveyed in this method. As an educator, there are moments when I plan lesson and I look at the available resources and weigh various activities for a certain subject. And to myself I say “this information was acquired in such and such away. And no group assignment, web quest, blog, etc. is going to get this information across to students quite as well as me just telling them about personally in a specific way.” And these would be times where a podcast could help students go back and review the information. Perhaps most for those with very short attention spans, or who are poor note takers. Or, even if a lecture wasn’t the initial means of conveyance, it could be available as a review resource. Indeed, this is a useful tool.
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