Bear in a can? I am missing the reference.... but your concerns about the time it takes are well-founded, I think.
I am going to move this message and make it into the start of a new thread on the dangers/weaknesses of podcasting. This is clearly a topic with "legs".
...r
Richard Smith
Posts made by Richard Smith
Heather,
I just mentioned in a post to Wai-Leng that we might want to start up the "dangers" thread earlier than later so we can capture some of these thoughts. Certainly "backlash" could be a problem. Clearly students equipped to download podcasts are also equipped to download a lot of other, less desireable, material.
iTunesU, which our university is starting to use, could be placed inside a campus/institutional firewall, which might help a bit. But I never underestimate people's ability to fear the unknown.
...r
I just mentioned in a post to Wai-Leng that we might want to start up the "dangers" thread earlier than later so we can capture some of these thoughts. Certainly "backlash" could be a problem. Clearly students equipped to download podcasts are also equipped to download a lot of other, less desireable, material.
iTunesU, which our university is starting to use, could be placed inside a campus/institutional firewall, which might help a bit. But I never underestimate people's ability to fear the unknown.
...r
Wai-Leng,
I wonder if we should move part of this discussion to the thread (which I haven't started yet) on the downside/dangers of podcasts. Certainly technical failure can be a problem.
On the plus side, I can imagine a CD-mailout of several podcast episodes might be a way to get around slow/no connections. While it might lack the immediacy of online distribution, it would be cheap and would bring multimedia content to those who might otherwise lack it.
...r
I wonder if we should move part of this discussion to the thread (which I haven't started yet) on the downside/dangers of podcasts. Certainly technical failure can be a problem.
On the plus side, I can imagine a CD-mailout of several podcast episodes might be a way to get around slow/no connections. While it might lack the immediacy of online distribution, it would be cheap and would bring multimedia content to those who might otherwise lack it.
...r
You ask about the "why" - we've started a second thread on the (potential) benefits of podcasts and hopefully some of the WHYs are going to emerge there.
Julia has already mentioned some of the advantages of podcasts, but I'd like to just expand a bit on the comments you mention here, Nick:
"I have to admit that podcasting to me sounds like new skin for the old ceremony. In language learning (hybrid) we have been providing sound files for a very long time. I remember providing "sound files" on cassette for students to listen to in their cars and on the bus as far back as the early 90s. I wonder what the difference is between those files and podcasts, leaving aside the issue of greater ease of manipulation."
The "equivalence" to cassettes is an easy critique, I think, and one I heard at a recent meeting in our faculty. I think it is inaccurate, however. You've already highlighted "manipulation" as a benefit, but I think the manipulation benefits might be actually quite important, and have more power than a first impression might reveal. Here are some benefits from digital audio/enhanced podcasts that I see:
- flipping "chapters" allows for a browse and almost search function that is not possible with linear media like cassettes. This opens the tool up to more serious use as an exploratory device and makes it more useful as a study tool. The chapter markers, in my case, are the powerpoint slides that accompany the lecture. When viewed on a desktop or laptop computer (or even on the tiny screen of the iPodvideo) they add something, however small, that the cassette didn't have.
- copying the files happens a) more quickly and b) with automation, depending on the type of software.
* The speed is a non-trivial addition, as it means that people are likely to make copies rather than listen in the library or wherever they got the tapes from. And they might make copies for other students, or make a "mashup" of bits and pieces.
* With RSS those copies happen automatically, over the network and we should never underestimate the power of an effective "push" technology (e.g., email).
- while most people think of podcasts as being solely audio files, in fact there is support in the standard for other items, like PDF and JPEG and MOV (MP4). The power of moving pictures, documents that can be viewed on a computer or printed, shouldn't be underestimated, either. I have found the "screencast" to be an amazing supplement to flipping slides. A simple way to take advantage of this is to take students on a "web tour".
- while underutilized at present, the iTunes U software, for example, includes hooks for student uploads as well as professors. This can be a bidirectional technology even if it doesn't look particularly like that right now. I suspect in the long term that the platform won't be the iPod but the mobile phone, which has a microphone, camera, text input.... you can probably see where that is heading.
Anyway, while acknowledging that there are considerable challenges in realizing these potentials, I do think we need to peel back the surface and look beyond the skin of "audio distribution technology" .
...r
"I have to admit that podcasting to me sounds like new skin for the old ceremony. In language learning (hybrid) we have been providing sound files for a very long time. I remember providing "sound files" on cassette for students to listen to in their cars and on the bus as far back as the early 90s. I wonder what the difference is between those files and podcasts, leaving aside the issue of greater ease of manipulation."
The "equivalence" to cassettes is an easy critique, I think, and one I heard at a recent meeting in our faculty. I think it is inaccurate, however. You've already highlighted "manipulation" as a benefit, but I think the manipulation benefits might be actually quite important, and have more power than a first impression might reveal. Here are some benefits from digital audio/enhanced podcasts that I see:
- flipping "chapters" allows for a browse and almost search function that is not possible with linear media like cassettes. This opens the tool up to more serious use as an exploratory device and makes it more useful as a study tool. The chapter markers, in my case, are the powerpoint slides that accompany the lecture. When viewed on a desktop or laptop computer (or even on the tiny screen of the iPodvideo) they add something, however small, that the cassette didn't have.
- copying the files happens a) more quickly and b) with automation, depending on the type of software.
* The speed is a non-trivial addition, as it means that people are likely to make copies rather than listen in the library or wherever they got the tapes from. And they might make copies for other students, or make a "mashup" of bits and pieces.
* With RSS those copies happen automatically, over the network and we should never underestimate the power of an effective "push" technology (e.g., email).
- while most people think of podcasts as being solely audio files, in fact there is support in the standard for other items, like PDF and JPEG and MOV (MP4). The power of moving pictures, documents that can be viewed on a computer or printed, shouldn't be underestimated, either. I have found the "screencast" to be an amazing supplement to flipping slides. A simple way to take advantage of this is to take students on a "web tour".
- while underutilized at present, the iTunes U software, for example, includes hooks for student uploads as well as professors. This can be a bidirectional technology even if it doesn't look particularly like that right now. I suspect in the long term that the platform won't be the iPod but the mobile phone, which has a microphone, camera, text input.... you can probably see where that is heading.
Anyway, while acknowledging that there are considerable challenges in realizing these potentials, I do think we need to peel back the surface and look beyond the skin of "audio distribution technology" .
...r