If there is one thing that I am learning about blogging it is that there are some people out there, some terrific students in this case, who take the whole thing seriously. That's why I am so excited about blogging in general and the potential of x.casting that is soon to follow. One student who I have a ton of respect for sent me an email about the podcast Steve Sloan and I did last week on transparency in education through blogging. It is humbling to have your ideas tossed out into the cybersphere not knowing where the words will land. This is a perfect example of how blogging and podcasting can transform how students interact with instructors. Less lecture and more dialogue.
However, it is also very different recording a interview than actually sitting down to write out your thoughts. When I am podcasting I am always a little afraid of making some silly remark without thinking it through carefully. We put the entire conversation up without much editing. That's transparency.
I just finished listening to the interview you were a part of with Steve Sloan. Interesting about educators feeling threatened by losing their place as the only source of information. It is also probably difficult for some because having information available online would mean that they would have to think of something interactive, educational, and thought provoking for class.
As to your comment on the "Nintendo" generation and your experience in the ice cream parlor, I cannot speak for everyone, but I do enjoy learning. Also, about the video game culture in general,many view it as losing contact with society and interactions with others. However, video games actually foster community growth in many ways, with fan sites, message boards, blogs, and most importantly, online games. These games, while always in the news for supposedly teaching about killing and violence, actually teach teamwork, camaraderie and compromise. But I digress.
Going back to podcasting, how do you think this technology can be best utilized in education. Will it be used mainly to allow students to listen to recorded lectures easily? Can it be used to allow experts to give lectures in any college in the world by podcasting?
Blogging is useful because I can quickly search a blog for relevant key words. In podcasting, there is not yet a convenient way for me to go back to a particular quote that you stated. There are programs (available mostly on tablet pc's) that allow the user to timestamp certain parts of a recording as it is happening. These programs are usually linked to a word processing program, allowing the user to take notes while recording and timestamping at the appropriate moments.
Q: How do you think this technology can be best utilized in education.
A: This an important question that needs to be explored. The novelty of podcasting and the ease in which it can be done overshadows, at the moment, the true potential. Steve Sloan is concerned about the limits of podcasting in terms of accessibility for the hearing impaired. Ideally, a transcription of the audio would also be made available for syndication.
I think the technology of podcasting can best benefit learning by allowing education to become even more portable than ever. Podcasting cannot replace the classroom but it is one more way to meeting students where they live -- on the Internet and on iPods. I think of all this technology as supplemental to the classroom experience and interaction with professors. The technology can best be utilized in education by figuring out how students learn best in a digital information-rich society.
Q: Will podcasting be used mainly to allow students to listen to recorded lectures easily?
A: Actually, I hope to experiment soon with this format by linking the podcast to visuals online. As you listen you could follow along to specific examples on the web.
Q: Can it be used to allow experts to give lectures in any college in the world by podcasting?
A: This weekend, during our photojournalism retreat I recorded some of Mike Franklin's critique of students' work. I positioned a mini-digital video camera on the screen while recording Mike's comments. I hope to create some downloaded Quicktime files for students to work with and learn. Mike is an expert and I would hope other schools around the world could benefit from his knowledge.