Free lectures with iTunes U
March 26th, 2009
Available through the iTunes store, prominent universities such as Stanford and MIT, museums, and other cultural organizations provide video and audio podcasts for free to the public.The lectures are distributed publicly and monitored for academic quality.
“It’s a great way of showcasing or highlighting what’s going on on campus, highlighting our innovations, and highlighting our faculty,” said Brett Izutsu, Stanford’s iTunes U project manager.
“iTunes itself has many users and it’s pretty low cost. It’s an easy way to engage various populations in the general public, or even potential students.”
Recently, a study published at the State University of New York-Fredonia measured the performance of 64 students, half of whom listened to a lecture via podcast and half whom attended the live lecture.
Students who listened to the podcast averaged 71 per cent on the follow-up test, while those who attended the lecture averaged 62 per cent.
However, for teaching English, U of M professor Shelly Mahoney says a podcast lacks the necessary personal interaction.
“I think [with] what I do, it suits it better to have a live person there, because what you’re doing is you’re having a conversation,” she said.
“Even if you’re seeing a live feed of a lecture, you still miss something simply because you can’t [interact].”
Dennis Hlynka, a professor of curriculum teaching and learning at the U of M, also points out that podcasts have to try to apply to any number of viewers.
“A podcast has to assume that they know the age of their audience, that they know what their audience wants, that they know what their audience already knows about their subject,” he noted.
Others are excited with the new progress in technology and what it means for education.
Karen Smith, also a professor of curriculum teaching and learning, gave an example of integrating new technology into her class.
“I’ve found that those kind of things add to [our world] and add to our sense of being in touch with a broader range of research,” Smith said.
At Stanford, Izutsu says podcasting is not aimed at replacing traditional lectures.
“Professors in the future will have to stay ahead of technology and integrate technology more in their classes, but I don’t think that traditional methods of teaching are going to change constructively so much that students don’t attend class,” Izutsu said.
