Whilst we are not at the level of "University Podcasting" I have FE
students who have created a series of MP3's as a "radio show" for their
assignments as part of BTEC Nat Dip Applied Science. The criteria being
assessed starts with "create a report which....." and they have done so
- just an audio rather than written report! This is supported by
paperwork which the External Verifier can see, and the reports will be
available for them to listen to as well! 

They have needed to block their show on paper, research the theories,
facts and figures they are going to present, and just like in written
media have also needed to work out the best way of presenting to ensure
they get the message across. (This has resulted in Vox Pop, Interviews,
Editorials, "Shock Jocking" and the use of music to support arguments).

I feel that students have learnt more (there is no real chance of copy
and paste from the internet) - without at least having tried to
understand it - I can hear where students are uncertain of things a lot
more easily than if the work was word processed. 

Finally and most importantly they've had fun! (The grades appear
significantly better than last year - is there a relationship here?!)

Universities, in my humble opinion, like colleges, will need to develop
and alter the way they assess and teach learners as their needs, skills,
and learning styles have changed dramatically, and continue to evolve
nearly as fast as technology.

As for general recordings with a larger listenership, we have a student
induction programme available for all new students in the Academy, a
series for UCAS applications (which university? Finance matters, Should
I study away from home?) and we are planning a podcast for parents to
supplement the "Welcome to college" thing. (The inspiration for the last
one came from my daughters primary school welcome night last September
where they played us some of the nursery songs they use in class for
numbers and letters as background music while we waited!)

Best regards
Paul Flanagan

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Academic Podcasting and everything that goes with it
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Toni Sant
Sent: 24 January 2007 18:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PODCASTING] University Podcast Collection


Many thanks to everyone who responded to my initial question.

Andy, your question is quite pertinent. The students I was speaking with
this morning wanted to know about the validity of podcasting in
academia. The simple question/s where in the vein of: "how many
universities use podcasting?" and "what sort of things do other
universities podcast?" So I reckon there's room for sharing this type of
information, even if it's mostly for the sake of getting people
interested in each other's work.

Best regards...

              ...t.s.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Academic Podcasting and everything that goes with it on behalf
of AJ Ramsden, Learning and Research Technology
Sent:	Wed 24/01/2007 4:38 PM
To:	[log in to unmask]
Cc:	
Subject:	Re: [PODCASTING] University Podcast Collection

Dear Toni,

A quick question, any idea why the students wanted this? Were they
looking to find similar discipline related material to the topic they
are studying that is podcasted from different institutions?

This dovetails with a conversations that we are having here, where it is
perceived that academic content tends to be so specific that outside the
context of the specific teaching and learning it is meaningless. Hence
it doesn't transfer very well and raises the question, should we bother
to develop / maintain a searchable portal for our podcasted material -
assuming we ever took the plunge and went for a large scale
implementation - or continue to deploy at the individual
course/organisation 
level through the VLEs

Cheers

Andy


--On 24 January 2007 13:46 +0000 Toni Sant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> This morning a couple of students asked me for a list of podcasts from
> universities, so I pointed them to this page:
>
> http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/10/free_university_1.html
>
> I have a feeling that there are many others not listed here. Does
anyone
> else on this mailing list know of any other similar directory
resource?
>
> Thanks...
>
>           ...t.s.
>
>
> =================================================
>  Dr. Toni Sant
>  Lecturer in Performance & Creative Technologies
>  School of Arts and New Media
>  The University of Hull - Scarborough Campus
>  Filey Road, Scarborough - YO11 3AZ
>  United Kingdom
>
>  Applied & Interactive Theatre Guide
>  http://www.tonisant.com/aitg/
> =================================================



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