Blogpost #2

I was having breakfast this morning with an old friend. We were reminiscing about what life was like when we were in college in the early 1980’s…

We didn’t have email, cell phones, or even an answering machine. My parents called every Sunday at a designated time, so if I wanted to talk with them that week, I had to be in my room. Nobody had a microwave in the dorm – they were monstrously huge beasts. As big as those microwaves were, they were miniscule compared to the college computer. It took up all of an enormous room. In my computer programming class we went on a little field trip to actually see the computer and stare in awe.

Ironically, after this morning’s conversation, I came across a Newsweek article titled Professor in Your Pocket about current college students and technology. Peg Tyre writes about how some professors are course-casting their lectures and students can upload them onto their iPods. It’s a great way for students to make sure they don’t miss a single word their professor says, right? I would love to have course casts of all my classes.

The problem, of course, is that some students find it a little too easy to miss class and some parents don’t like the idea that they are paying a lot of money for their children to listen to lectures on iPod rather than attending class. Even though the technology is new, I don’t think that the problem of skipping classes is new. It’s just that years ago, we had to go to the trouble of copying someone else’s notes.

The really great news is that as this use of technology takes hold, professors are finding creative ways to enhance student learning rather than having course casting become a way to enable skipping class. For example, one professor makes listening to the course casting mandatory prior to class and then uses the class as a time for students to discuss the material. Another professor makes sure that each of the lectures he gives contains key visual information so that students who don’t physically attend will wish that they had.

Along the same lines, I think that libraries could really benefit from podcasting their programs. The Lansing Public Library website has a nice explanation of podcasting and how their users can use it. I think that it would not only provide people who might be homebound, or otherwise unable to attend, with the opportunity to hear the program, but it might also provide incentive for those who can attend programs to do so, in order to get the full experience. If nothing else, having podcasts available through the library website would help send the message that the library is staying current with the various interests and needs of users.