March 2007

Podcasting Expands Learning Opportunities at GW

By Jamie L. Freedman

Apple Computer’s popular iPod has taken the world by storm this decade. Everywhere you look, people sporting ear buds and tiny, handheld players enjoy their favorite music and videos, thanks to rapidly advancing podcasting technology. Universities are now jumping on the bandwagon by signing on to iTunes U—a digital multimedia community for academia, enabling students to download lectures and related films and supplementary material to their personal computers, iPods, and MP3 players.

GW has quickly moved to the center of the action as an iTunes U pilot program. “We submitted a proposal to Apple in the spring of 2006 to become a member
of their prestigious iTunes U initiative,” explains P.B. Garrett, assistant vice president for academic technologies, who oversees the effort at GW. Apple performed an on-site visit and came away impressed with GW’s robust AV/IT infrastructure and technology-enhanced classrooms, as well as the University’s professional quality recording and flash studios. “We were thrilled when they announced that our proposal had been accepted, and rolled out our pilot program—Colonial Cast—this past fall, making us the first university in the Washington region, and one of the first five on the East Coast, to become an iTunes U university.”

For the fall semester, Academic Technologies outfitted six GW classrooms with audio capturing hardware to automatically record live lectures and convert them into downloadable podcasts for 24/7 access by students. A total of 13 courses are participating this spring. “What makes us absolutely unique is that GW was the first university to offer automatic course capture and upload of lecture content to the Apple iTunes U site without intervention by the professor,” states Garrett. “GW is also the only university to have created a single sign-on from the Blackboard Course Management system to iTunes U.”

Podcasting technology offers manifold advantages in the university setting. “The greatest benefit of podcasting for both students and faculty is the dissemination of material beyond the classroom, which can enhance the teaching and learning environment,” says Garrett. “Some faculty members have created two different series of podcasts, each recontextualizing highlights from the lectures. One recaps the lectures for students who may need help understanding tricky concepts. Another comes with additional material, which is recorded outside class, for advanced students who want to explore topics in greater detail. The dual podcasts have helped students with a variety of skill sets from feeling overwhelmed or simply desiring more from class.”

Podcasting has received rave reviews from students, who enjoy attending lectures and participating in class discussions without the burden of taking notes, and benefit from listening to podcasted lectures multiple times. The technology is especially useful for students whose native language is not English, who can relisten to hard- to-understand passages over and over again as needed.

Students also benefit from a vast variety of supplementary digital course material posted to the Web, such as scanned photography with explanatory text, multimedia reference materials, audio books, short films, and self-running Power Point presentations with audio. “Not only can faculty create digital content for their students, but staff can also create digital content for their departments, alumni, and the University community as a whole, distributed through the public portal of iTunes U,” says Garrett.

According to Garrett, Apple Computers predicts that podcasting will become the norm on college campuses within four years, based on the number of universities that have applied to be part of the iTunes U program. At GW, the technology is growing at rapid-fire pace. The number of podcast-enabled classrooms at GW more than doubled to 13 this spring and is expected to continue its brisk expansion in fall 2007. Growth will be fueled in part by the designation of Colonial Cast as one of five new strategic initiatives at GW slated to receive special endowment funding over the next several years.

“I am extraordinarily pleased with the incredible hard work that my staff did, and continues to do, to make it possible for our Colonial Cast pilot program to be so successful and effective,” states Garrett. “I am truly grateful for the guidance and support my department has received from Don Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs, and Craig Linebaugh, associate vice president for academic planning and chief academic operating officer for the Virginia Campus. “Without their support, we could never have achieved such great success.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu