Yellowcard. Carrie Underwood. Ludacris. Class lectures?
During the spring semester, video iPods and podcasting provided three MSU courses with class materials to help students with their studies.
MSU Interactive Video Services loaned iPods to nine students for an experiment that tested the effectiveness of using the new devices for learning and how students and faculty felt about the technology.
The iPods, however, were not used in class. Students could download video files of professors lecturing, PowerPoint presentations and audio files available on ANGEL, MSU's online learning system.
Students using the iPods had to return them at the end of the semester, but until then, they could use the petite computers for whatever they chose.
"I'm really excited about the portability," said Will Brown, a graduate student in social work and one of the participants. "If I'm at a coffee shop I can watch it. I can pay more attention and be more interactive in class knowing I can access material later."
MSU joins Stanford University, Princeton University and Purdue University in using iPods for learning
Drawings were held at MSU to determine which students received iPods.
"One of my students folded her paper into an airplane hoping it would be easier to pick," said Jill Elfenbein, an associate professor of audiology and speech sciences. "Everybody's excited about it."
The students aren't the only ones who are excited by the use of iPods.
"It's a new tool, and I very much enjoy the advantages of new technology for teaching," Elfenbein said. "This technology is going to give the students increased mobility."
Sally Rypkema, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, said she doesn't think the iPods would keep students from coming to class, but it creates a lot more flexibility.
"What if next winter, bird flu takes over campus?" Rypkema said. "Conceivably, students could stay in touch with the class from another location."
Each professor recorded about three roughly 10-minute video test files and a couple of audio files for students to download. Classes in social work, advertising and audiology and speech sciences participated in the project, which was launched by Interactive Video Services.
The project is funded by MSU Libraries, Computing, & Technology, which approved the project in January. Fifteen iPods, including three for faculty, were purchased for less than $300 each for the project.
Dave Gift, vice provost for the department, said the survey's purpose was to develop standard university support for podcasting. Gift said podcasting already is offered in isolated cases across campus in which faculty from different departments create audio files for their classes from their own Web space, ANGEL or other college servers.
"Old study techniques are (attending) lecture and taking notes … or using tape recorders to record the lecture," Gift said. "This is something similar except that with video iPods, now we have the ability to package up little videos that might be useful to students so they can review the content over and over."
Participating in the survey did not affect students' grades. They could withdraw at any time, but they had to return the iPods.
"We're going to have a mixed reaction because folks in our classrooms are representative of the population," said Dave Collins, the Interactive Video Services multi-media producer who leads the podcasting project. "Some are eager to use new technology and others would rather use pencil and paper."
For more information, visit www.podcast.msu.edu.
