iTunes U and iPods are revolutionizing education, but are they addressing all learning styles?I've had my iPod since 2002 and cannot imagine life without it. I use it for music solely, and subscribe to a few podcasts that I like to listen to in the car. I for one would love to have lectures available for reference during downtime during the day, where ever that may be, so that I can get some work done. I have found that with the podcasts I listen to, that I'm not really listening to them, I am only hearing them.
You know this happens to you--You're driving in the car, and suddenly (and usually at the end of a song), you'll say to yourself, "What the hell am I listening to!?" This happens with podcasts as well. I subscribe to a show from NPR called Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me. If I hear something particularly funny, my ears perk up and I listen. Most of the other time, I'm not hanging on every word of the speaker and tend to lose a lot of what they say. I personally need to see something to create meaning for me.
In order to use a real world situation, I chose a class at random from the iTunes U site that offered a podcast as well as a video podcast. I needed to see for myself how this works.
Okay, I chose biology 100 taught by Dr. Phillip Sokolove from University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). I began by listening to the first twenty minutes of the lecture. Dr. Sokolove was repeatedly referring to objects in the room that needed to be seen in order to get the most out of the lecture. In other words, I was completely lost in a matter of five minutes. I was not lost because of subject matter, but because I needed to see what the hell he was talking about to fully understand his intent. Click here to link to the podcast.
After 20 minutes of wanting to stick knives into my ears to stop my misery, I turned to the video podcast version of the very same lecture. Talk about a lightbulb moment! What he was saying made total and complete sense to me when I saw what he was talking about during the audio only podcast. He was going over how to use the new electronic/interactive component and was referring to charts and information on a huge screen above his head. Had I not had the ability to see rather that just hear this lecture, I would remain lost. Click here to link to the video-podcast.
You might be saying to yourself, "Well, if you don't like the audio only podcasts, then don't listen to them. Just watch the video version." That is a problem because not every school listed on iTunes U is currently offering dual versions of the same lecture. Some offer video only, most offer audio only. It's funny that the Ivy League schools; Yale University in specific; had the most limited formats. Is this to cut down on absenteeism?
Until all schools that offer podcasting as a summplement to classroom lecture (or for distance learning students, the only classroom lecture) offer dual modalaties for differentiated learnerspodcasting in education will not completely take off. But, I must say that once video podcasts take over as the major format of course lectures, the educational revolution will really begin.
1 comment:
I agree, TechTank, that video podcasts of lectures would definitely impact learning experiences for distance students, and perhaps campus students, as well.
Distance students could have all of the advantages your describe in your experience. Campus students would be able to revisit lectures that they had seen live in order to rehearse the information taht they had learned.
One potential problem, however, could be that campus students stop attending classes and instead watch the video podcasts. Obviously, this would decrease the interactivity of their learning and the lecturer's ability to gauge his audience's understanding.
~Katie~
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