April 03, 2006
Listening to academic podcasts: Who would and why? Part I
Friday on Management Professor Notes II, Professor Piderit wrote, "Jeremy Smith writes that Case has been accepted into Apple's iTunes University program, which sounds exciting... as long as it doesn't mean that students stop coming to my class." Instead of worrying about this, she (and her commenters) then focused on ways to make classroom attendance worthwhile, while I started thinking about ways in which students and others might use podcasts.
As our iTunes workgroup waits to learn more about the technical requirements for the iTunes project, now seems like a good time to consider how classroom (and other) lectures podcast via iTunes might be used by various listening audiences. I've thought about this primarily in regard to podcasts that are available to everyone. There may be circumstances in which a podcaster would restrict a podcast to a limited group, such as students in a particular class, but I think in most cases there are benefits to be found in reaching out to a wider audience.
What follows are some suggested reasons various groups might listen to a lecture/discussion via podcast. I've organized them by audience. Today I've focused on members of the Case community. Next time I'll write about listeners from outside the university.
Case students enrolled in the course might listen to that course's podcasts to:
- Review material for exams.
- Listen again to segments of discussion that were missed while taking notes.
- Watch or listen to a lecture that demonstrated how to operate a certain piece of lab equipment, or that documented certain safety procedures.
- Review material that was confusing during the first lecture. This could be particularly helpful in foreign language classes or in classes that introduce something new or challenging for the first time.
- Listen to a lecture that was missed due to absence. While most students understand that class attendance provides benefits—such as participation in real-time discussion—unavailable in a podcast, there will be times when absences are unavoidable. At least this way—when students do have to miss a class—they will benefit from hearing the whole discussion rather than trying to make sense of a classmate's illegible notes!
Case students not enrolled in this particular course might listen to academic podcasts to:
- Review material covered in a previous course that provides foundational elements to their current course.
- Learn more about a specific topic—that is also studied in a different or related field—in preparation for researching a paper. For example, a history student writing a paper on the Renaissance, may gain insight by listening to a related podcast from a class in art history or literature.
- Identify a professor's teaching style. When trying to decide whether to take a course from Professor A or Professor B, a student could listen to the podcasts to determine which professor's teaching style fits most closely with that student's learning style.
- Explore new subject areas in anticipation of choosing classes for the following semester.
- Learn more about topics outside the student's primary areas of study. Students may be interested in a variety of classes that don't fit into their schedules. By sampling subjects through podcasts they can satisfy their curiosity as time allows.
Case faculty & staff might listen to academic podcasts to:
- Find out more about related research being done by faculty in other departments.
- Listen to information—presented by colleagues—related to joint research projects.
- Learn about a topic outside one's area of expertise—simply because it sounds interesting.
- Gain insight into a subject related to a particular work project. For example, fundraisers looking to match donors to specific programs, writers looking to publicize a project, and others can augment their knowledge by listening ro relevant podcasts.
So far I've covered only a fraction of possible reasons members of the Case community might listen to academic podcasts. I'm sure those of you reading this will have many additional ideas, so please share them by commenting below or via the iTunes working group. If you are interested in becoming more involved in the development of iTunes at Case, we also welcome you to join our charter working group by subscribing to the iTunes@Case Mailing List.
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Posted by: Heidi Cool April 3, 2006 12:46 PM | Category: Heidi's Entries , Podcasting
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Comments
Professors might also listen to another professor's podcast to get ideas on new lecture styles and techniques that could help them improve their teaching.
It seems like video podcasts of excellent seminar-style classes would be quite valuable as teaching tools as well as a way to encourage prospective students to come to Case.