iTunes U / Podcasting
Description
Podcasting has enormous educational uses. According to EDUCAUSE’s The
Horizon Report –2006, podcasting, is “at the
leading edge of a wave that will last for the next several years
and beyond.” Instructional podcasts can include class lectures,
presentations, material complementary to course content, and student
reviews for exams. Podcasts work equally well on both Macs and
PCs, and do not require having an iPod or other MP3 device to work.
UA on iTunes U provides access to a wide range of UA digital audio and video content via the iTunes Store. Many of the podcasts that were available through the Learning Technology Center's Podcasting at the UA website are included in the UA on iTunes U. Since announcing the UA on iTunes U more members of the campus community have begun podcasting. For example, the UA Phoenix Mars Mission, the College of Engineering and the College of Law are adding outstanding content regularly.
Key Advantages
For instructors:
- Podcasting has little or no costs associated with it
- If you are teaching a distance course, podcasting will connect you in new ways to your students
- Faculty can make special podcasts in which they highlight course content that they want students to master. This can be especially helpful to students studying for exams
For students:
- Podcasting has little or no costs associated with it
- Podcasting enables students to learn outside the classroom
- Students can listen to your podcasts on-the-go by syncing your podcasts to their iPods and playing through their car radio or listening as they walk across campus. In addition, some cell phones now come MP3-enabled
Key Features
- Podcasts can be subscribed to, and played on, an individual’s computer using free, readily available software
- Students can podcast course exercises and assignments
- Podcasting takes advantage of small, easy-to-use devices that people already carry to capture and share personal experiences
Innovative Uses
- A professor in Soil, Water & Environmental Sciences is podcasting reviews for exams
- A professor in Near Eastern Studies is podcasting her lectures
- A professor in the School of Information Resources & Library Science creates weekly podcasts that complement course content, introduces new material, and reviews relevant information from professional literature
- A physician in the Department of Pediatrics has begun “pediatric podcasts” as a curriculum on general pediatric topics relevant to the Continuity Clinic experience
Getting Started
Review the Faculty
Podcasting Tip Sheet to
decide what sort of podcasts you’d like to do. Contact Stuart
Glogoff, LTS Senior Consultant at stuartg@email.arizona.edu to
discuss any questions you may have, or complete a Service Request
Form to request a Podcast.
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What People Are Saying
- “It provides an added dimension of discussion.”
- "It offered a sense of student/teacher
interaction (normally found in regular classroom settings)
in a virtual environment."
- Quick Start
- Request a Podcast
- Podcasting FAQs
- UA on iTunes U FAQs
-
Resources
- Faculty Podcasting Tip Sheet
- Steps to Creating a Podcast using Audacity
- Instructional Podcasting
- UA on iTunes U information



