EDIT: (almost typed EDIOT, which would be apt!): I fixed the link below. Apologies to all.
Hey folks, I’ll be here all week.
Dental students at the University of Michigan are listening to podcasts of their professors’ lectures. The initiative was led by a second-year student. The lectures are available through the iTunes music store.
Amazing. What students won’t do in their quest for knowledge.
That’s really only semi-facetious. Perhaps not facetious at all. Think about this quote: “I do walk (to class) often, and I will listen to the lectures 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back.” That’s Jared Van Ittersum, the student who started the project. His words demonstrate the false dichotomy between the “sage on the stage” and the “guide at the side.” The time-and-place constraints of the classroom (beautiful, necessary, misleading constraints) distort our understanding of learning. The classroom is one node of attention and focus, with ramifications we could imagine more creatively.
I think of Bernstein’s monologue in Citizen Kane about the girl on the ferry.
Thanks to eSchoolNews for the tip.
Even though the average lecture leaves a lot to be desired as an educational experience, it will continue to be the staple in many of our institutions. If so, it makes sense to use as many low impact technologies–like podcasting–as possible to enhance the amount students learn. In those few classes where we’ve captured the audio content at William and Mary, more than 1/2 of the students went back to review at least a few of them. They’re particularly useful for non-native speakers–either students or faculty. (It’s also great to capture the truly great lectures for posterity, though I’m pretty sure I won’t be subscribing to any dental school lectures through ITunes even if they are great.)
Terry Hajduk, a designer who spoke at the ELI Fall Forum, likened the typical classroom to a sensory deprivation chamber. Lighting, furnishings, wall and floor coverings are all focused on eliminating distractions from the front of the room rather than on ‘lighting up the brain” and stimulating creativity and energy.
Yes, but let’s not forget that podcasts and “live” lectures are not identical. They may be substitutes over some range of applications, but not necessarily for all.
Steve,
Quite true; a sensible caution. Still … the reinforcement of listening there and back again is inviting to consider. I remember how useful it was for me to listen to John Bransford’s NLII presentation after I had seen it. I could recall what I saw, and attend more carefully to the words by hearing them again. Certainly I could learn more with the repetition than I could without it.
My larger point, which I didn’t make very well, is that in some respects listening again to a lecture corresponds to memory.
Gene,
Agreed and intrigued on all counts. That sensory deprivation chamber analogy is right on in many cases. Give me even an old-style book-lined seminar room any day over the bare and chilling rooms in most modern academic buildings. I’m tempted to point out strong analogies between these easily-administered cookie-cutter rooms and course management systems in general, but I will refrain for now.
Though Steve says a live lecture and a podcast are not identical, I might think that in some cases where there is little interaction between the lecturer and student – they might as well be. Large classes come to mind on this…
I cannot help but think that a lecture is not a productive use of class time if there is not significant interaction between students and lecturer. Otherwise, what is the benefit of everyone being in the same room at the same time?
There is some debate over whether what the dental school is offering is actually a podcast. An article published on the school’s web site seems to suggest that it’s both more and less than a podcast. I haven’t been able to find a reference to an RSS feed, and the lectures do not appear to be available in the public iTunes store, so it’s difficult to determine exactly what’s being offered. The school seems to be offering the content through iTunes but only to enrolled students. I posted something about this on the blog Syndication for Higher Ed earlier today: http://syndicateblog.petersons.com/wordpress/index.php/university-of-michigan-ann-arbor-dental-school-podcast/.
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This is a good tool in the learning arsenal.