Meeting the Millennials Halfway: Expanding Teaching and Learning with Pod- and Vodcasting
Recent studies of so-called millennial learners suggest that students increasingly expect reliable anytime/anyplace connections to learning materials that afford them opportunities to multi-task and to customize their individual learning experiences.
Seminar
March 7, 2007
12:00-1:30 p.m.
402 Walter Library
East Bank, Twin Cities campusSee the UMConnect Meeting recording.
Subscribe to the podcast and vodcast.
Panelists discussed how audio and video podcasting provides students with increased control over when, where, and how they learn; facilitates deeper learning; and affords students access to subject matter experts and virtual field experiences that would be difficult or impossible to arrange in a face-to-face setting.
Moderator:
Billie Wahlstrom
SVPP, Twin Cities campus
Panelists:
Bob Rubinyi
Extension and SVPP, Twin Cities campus
Chris Scruton
DMC, OIT, Twin Cities campus
Tayne DeNeui
Public Health, AHC, Twin Cities campus
Paul Bernhardt
Public Health, AHC, Twin Cities campus
Murray Jensen
Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, CEHD, Twin Cities campus
Dave Lindeman
Academic Computing, OIT, Twin Cities campus
Colin McFadden
CLA, Twin Cities campus
Panelists' Projects
The panelists discussed the following projects.
College of Liberal Arts. "Media Mill Beta Test." University of Minnesota. http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/.
Jensen, Murray. "PSTL 1135 Blog." University of Minnesota. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/msjensen/pstl1135/.
Jensen, Murray, Gerald Shannon, and Jill Trites. "In Your Ear, On the Air, For Your Eye: Podcasting and Wikis as Tools of Universal Instructional Design" 2006 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant Program proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2006. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2006/jensen.pdf.
myU. "Undergrad Portal. Portal II. Prototypes." University of Minnesota. https://www.myu.umn.edu/metadot/index.pl?iid=746540&isa=Category.
Office of Information Technology. "Gopher TV." University of Minnesota. http://gophertv.micro.umn.edu/gophertv/.
School of Public Health. "Tune in to Our Podcasts and Blogs." University of Minnesota. http://www.sph.umn.edu/podcast/home.html.
University of Minnesota. "Freshman Survival Skills. Alcohol and College Life: The Course." University of Minnesota. http://www.collegelife.umn.edu/course.shtm.
University of Minnesota Extension Service. "Supporting Military Families in Minnesota." University of Minnesota. http://www.parenting.umn.edu/militaryKids/index.htm.
Readings
Educational
Vess, Deborah L. "History to Go: Why iTeach with iPods." The History Teacher 39, no. 4 (August 2006): 479–492.
Vess describes a pilot project she conducted with a cohort of eight graduate students in her historical methods and interpretations course. Vess prepared enhanced podcasts introducing students to research tools and data sets; students could click on links embedded in the podcasts to visit the sites or use the tools and then return to the presentation at their leisure (p. 481). She also provided each student with a photo iPod and a microphone set-up that enabled him or her to record research notes, oral history interviews, and entire presentations using the iPod voice memo tool. They could then share these recordings with their peers as discussion prompts and with the instructor for assessment (pp. 480–486). At least one student enhanced his presentations with chapters, illustrations, and embedded links to primary documents as well.
The iPods did provide a tool that helped students to become more reflective and self-aware practitioners: in addition to the required presentations and data analysis activities many students also recorded practice discussions; observations made in the archive, museum, or library; and developmental notes in preparation for writing course papers. The iPods also improved some students' writing skills: reading their written work enabled students to identify logical, mechanical, and stylistic errors more readily (p. 486); facilitated the development of community among the students (p. 488); and (along with a course blogging activity) created an environment in which students were challenged to "process information in more ways than one" (p. 487). The primary challenges noted by both Vess and her students were (a) the need for training before they could use technology effectively in their projects and (b) the additional time required for students to develop projects using unfamiliar authoring tools (p. 489).
Informative
Manning, Susan, with Dan Balzer and Kris Smith. "The Promise of Podcasting." University of Illinois/Illinois Online Network (ION) Pointers & Clickers 6, no. 2 (2005). http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/
pointersclickers/2005_03/Podcasting2005.pdf.
Manning and colleagues provide an overview of some instructional applications in which podcasting might prove particularly appropriate—for example, as a "listening tool" in disciplines as diverse as language learning, speech/language/hearing pathology, music, etc.; and as "connecting commentary" contextualizing course content in discussions of current events or emerging research in the field, etc. (pp. 3-4). Throughout Manning is attentive to both the strengths of the medium (e.g., the "value of voice") and its weaknesses (and the challenges of generating and distributing podcasts).
Varvel, Jr., Virgil E. "The Making of a Podcast (Part 1)." University of Illinois/Illinois Online Network (ION) Pointers and Clickers 8, no. 2 (2007). http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/
resources/pointersclickers/2007_03/index.asp.
Varvel provides a useful introduction to the podcast production workflow, and includes particularly useful questions to consider in determining whether podcasts are appropriate to your goals, planning and preparing for recording, acquiring audio, considering copyright, and other topics of interest to instructors. In a forthcoming expansion of the article Varvel will describe three methods for generating and updating the XML file that drives RSS ("really simple syndication"), the technology that makes podcasting possible.
Millennial Learners
Madden, Mary. "Podcast Downloading." Pew Internet & American Life Project Data Memo, November 2006. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Podcasting.pdf.
Whereas previous Pew studies have focused on the podcast-downloading and -listening behaviors of iPod/MP3 player owners, researchers in this 2006 study looked at such behaviors among Internet users as a whole and found that 14 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds had downloaded a podcast in an August 2006 survey—up from 10 percent in a survey conducted over February-April 2006 (p. 2). However, few of the respondents of any age group would be described as regular podcast subscribers; only 1% reported that they "download a podcast on a typical day" (p. 1).
Oblinger, Diane. "Boomers, Gen-Xers, & Millennials: Understanding the New Students." EDUCAUSE Review 38, no. 4 (July/August 2003): 36–40, 42, 44–5, and 47. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0342.pdf.
Oblinger describes some presumed traits of the so-called Millennial or Net Generation learner, students who came of age in or after the year 2000 and have grown up with computers and the increasing ubiquity of the Internet. Using ten attitudes attributed to Millennial learners by Jason Frand ("The information Age Mindset: Changes in Students and Implications for Higher Learning," EDUCAUSE Review, September–October 2000), Oblinger derives implications for the development of curricula intended to address the needs and interests of Net Generation students, including strong preferences for "experiential, interactive, and authentic learning" experiences (p. 44) and a desire to "stay connected" 24–7 (ibid.). Some of the traits and implications identified in this piece are usefully complicated by research findings presented by Patsy Moskal and Charles Dziuban in a November 2006 Sloan-C online conference presentation, "Reactive Behavior, Ambivalence, and the Generations: Emerging Patterns in Student Evaluation of Blended Learning" (accessible via the "November 16, 2006 Online Session" link at http://www.blendedteaching.org/
Blended_Online_Seminars).
Rainie, Lee, and Mary Madden. "Podcasting." Pew Internet & American Life Project Data Memo, April 2005. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_podcasting2005.pdf.
In this study, one of several conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project to look at podcast usage, researchers investigated the podcast downloading/listening behavior of iPod/MP3 player owners. In a February-March 2005 survey, they found that 19 percent of students Oblinger would categorize as Millennial learners (18- to 28-year-olds) own iPods or other MP3 players (p. 2). Of these, "nearly half . . . have downloaded podcasts, compared to about 20 percent of the owners of iPods/MP3 players over age 29 who have done so" (ibid.). More importantly for instructors concerned with access and the burden that instructional podcasting might impose on students who lack access to high-speed Internet connections, there was no statistically significant difference between the podcast-downloading behavior of those who download over broadband and those who do so over dial-up—33 percent of iPod owners with broadband downloaded podcasts versus 28 percent who used dial-up (ibid.).
Technical
Apple Inc. "Making a Video Podcast." Apple Inc., 2007. http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/imovie/im3-10.html.
This is a brief step-by-step video tutorial detailing how to create a video podcast with Apple's iMovie application.
Farkas, Bart. "Creating a Podcast." In Secrets of Podcasting: Audio Blogging for the Masses. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2005. http://www.peachpit.com/articles/
printerfriendly
.asp?p=413667&rl=1.
Although there are any number of free podcasting tutorials available on the Web, this sample chapter from Bart Farkas's book is particularly useful. He describes the hardware in which prospective podcasters may wish to invest to maximize the quality of their recordings (the advantages and disadvantages of different types of microphones, whether a preamp may be a necessary purchase, etc.). He also provides an illustrated overview of how to set up a computer and manage recording, editing, and publishing a podcast using two popular applications on two different platforms (Apple's GarageBand and Audacity, a free open source recording application, on Macintosh and Windows). However, be aware that this chapter was originally published in 2005, so the details of some procedures may have changed owing to software upgrades (when in doubt, consult program documentation).
In addition to a useful step-by-step guide, Farkas also includes practical advice on planning (addressing questions of discussion format, tone, and style), preparing (outlining and scripting each recording), and sharing recordings (with particular attention to licensing/intellectual property issues).
Torrone, Phillip. "How to Make Enhanced Podcasts." Make: Technology on Your Time (January 3, 2006). http://www.makezine.com/extras/43.html.
Torrone provides a very useful overview of the enhanced podcast format (i.e., advanced audio coding, also known as AAC-encoded M4A/B/P audio files) and illustrations of how the files appear on the color iPod and in iTunes on both Macintosh and Windows platforms (the only platforms that currently support AAC-encoded files). Torrone then goes on to describe a step-by-step process for preparing, assembling, and compiling an enhanced podcast (complete with side discussions on optimizing image, link, and chapter displays); choosing an appropriate output format; and dealing with other design-related issues.
