I’ve been privately griping at iTunes for years.

There’s just something that rubs the wrong way with me about an online service that requires a credit card number or paypal account to sign in to look through free stuff. Yes, free stuff. The non-DRM podcast directory and iTunesU are both behind the same “Please Get An Account” wall as the m4p music downloads.

This had lead to me sitting on a Disney Digital Copy (Prince Caspian, if it matters) for quite a while now, thinking I needed an account to use the iTunes version (and the usability of the file over time is WORSE in Windows Media, but that’s a rant that can wait). And also thinking I needed a credit card number I was willing to hand over to get said account.

So, it’s November. I’ve had the disc set for over nine months. Because of Disney policy, Digital Copies expire unless claimed within a year of the DVD being released. (This is stupid, IMO, for several reasons I shall not go into here.)

For Prince Caspian, this date is in very early December. As far as I was concerned, today was Claim It, Or Don’t Claim It day.

It turns out Digital Copies work like gift certificates. Including the whole ‘can get you an account without a credit card’ policy.

Personally, I think this needed to be in great big type in the DVD packaging, since setting up a not-card-linked account for a kid using Disney movies and then passing on the account name and password upon reaching a reasonable age for responsible use of the account would be a better idea than sticking the Digital Copy on a parental iTunes account the kid the DVD was purchased for will eventually lose access to.

Anyhow, this means I finally have an iTunes account.

It also means I now have an insanely large iTunesU download queue. (Let’s not discuss the podcast queue just yet. That one’s still growing.)

The Open University has an insane amount of stuff up in iTunesU. So do many other schools.

There’s a seminary with beginning Hebrew and Greek courses up – including video if you’ve got the hard drive space.

There’s an entire course on museum design over time.

There’s even an entire course on dealing with disabilities in a church.

I do have some gripes with it, which I’ll likely discuss at length once I’ve had a few more experiences dealing with the interface – and have actually looked at what I’ve downloaded, as some of my problems are with labeling – but overall I’m pleased with finally having access.

I just wish Disney had thought to tell me the DVD I got as a late Christmas present would have given me access to all this months ago, when the Greek and Roman historical, architectural, and art history courses and downloads would have been extremely useful.

No membership, no registration, no sign-up, nor Apple ID, is required to download and/or listen for free, courses from the best universities in the U.S. through iTunesU*.

I had the chance to listen to one of the pioneers of the World Wide Web (www), Tim Berners-Lee, discuss how he went about his invention:

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.open.ac.uk.2083662357.02083533016.2084429476?i=1422721526

And the following commencement speech is very engaging:

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.stanford.edu.1292029264.01292029270.1292047512?i=1314990017

These are only two of the thousands of open courses and educational materials accessible through iTunesU. For those who love education this is a gold mine. It should work quiet well as an eye opener.

You can watch An Introduction to iTunes U visiting this page http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/

Questo que lotro…, salud!

*  Download and install iTunes first http://www.apple.com/itunes/

“Have you heard of iTunes U? Well, if you are interested in learning in innovative ways, you should have a look. You can read about it here, but the basic concept is that universities can upload content for distribution on iTunes, generally for free. You will need to have iTunes (which is also free), but that’s all. On the front page of the iTunes Store, scroll to the bottom where you will find a link to iTunes U, and after that you are right into the content …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 18 October]

While browsing, once again, through iTunes U I stumbled upon some cool primary source documents.  Well, they’re not documents, but videos!  Thanks to the librarians over @ Sinclair Library, students have access to a whole lot of resources that they can download and use for free.

A few tracks to look out for:

• The Beginning of Motion Pictures 1886 (2:51)
• Alaska Proclaimed 49th State 1959 (:59)
• The Wright Brothers Wilbur and Orville 1903 (3:04)
• Early Television 1937 (1:03)
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombed 1945 (3:28)

What can I do with these media resources?  Some ideas:

• Power point presentations – score points with your professor and peers by including video clips.  They’ll thank you for mixing it up. Don’t forget to talk about its significance to your topic!
• Reference a video clip in a paper.  This counts as a resource, and can be even more valuable than anything you can find in a book!  Better yet, try writing a short paper solely on a video clip.

For more information about how to use primary resources, the folks over at dohistory.org have some good things to say. Well, they have a few good things to ask yourself when working with them.

Need help accessing the Voyager?  Want to renew materials before they become overdue? Confused about how to access full-text articles?  Well look no further, UH libraries has some nifty video tutorials for the everyday user!  Download them to your iPod or IPhone and learn, on-the-go, how to access resources @ the library.  Start learning by logging on.

Already logged on?  Go here for direct access.

Download this podcast (29:53) by Frank Turner of Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library here. Turner describes the life and writings of Tocqueville and comments on his influence in American political life.

Curious about the text?

Read Democracy in America, v.1 in full-text from GoogleBooks.  Or check the holdings @ Hamilton Library:

• JK216 .T713 2004
• JK216 .T7 2002
• JK216.T6513 2000

Image Source http://zcache.com

Let’s review the facts.

On June 22, 2009 I responded to Clif Mim’s Professional Development Meme with the following four summer PD goals:

My Goals:

1. Complete the last two video podcasts for the grant project I have remaining and submit them to the funding partners.
2. Record audio and or video of summer PD and upload to the CMSCE Rutgers iTunes U account for archiving.
3. Continue building the UDL4ALL Ning – add resources, build community, cultivate conversations.
4. Add to my iTouch the Future series of posts.

Now, before you judge me, stop and think about how hectic your summer has been. Think about all the time you spent with your family and friends. Think about all the work you did. Think about all you actually were able to accomplish.

Let’s cut to the chase. Here’s the breakdown of the excuses for not accomplishing any of my goals:

1. I didn’t finish the video project because during my two-week vacation when I was going to work on it (this is funny, right?) I had to manually code the Center’s fall 2009-2010 catalog (link).
2. The sessions I intended on UStreaming were in fact recorded, I even uploaded them to Blip.tv . But when I went to convert and edit them down to import into iTunesU I ran into all sorts of errors that I just abandoned after a while.
3. I did add a bit to the UDL4ALL Ning but not as much as I had planned. I have no excuse for this one.
4. Blogging about the iPodTouch apps became less of a priority for me as my interests went elsewhere. I bookmarked many great resources and explored many great educational applications this summer though.

Though I did not comply with the 7th rule of this Meme in that I did not achieve my goals by September 7th, I do feel that I have developed professionally. Sometimes our priorities shift. Things happen.

I’m getting ready to welcome a new cohort of educators into the Center’s 21st Century Learning Initiative. I’m looking forward to the 3rd year of the INCLUDE grant and helping districts use the UDL framework to help students reach their objectives. I’m looking forward to traveling around New Jersey and the country to various conferences to speak about technology trends in education and exchange ideas with fellow ed-techies.

I’m looking forward to ANOTHER great year. How about you?

Mobile news and mobile news strategies are constantly being touted as the next big thing – delivering mobile content to the always-on consumer is a big dream for many.

Dominic Ponsford’s Is iPhone App future of local news? in  Press Gazette states that

Some 50 Mobile Local News applications are now live in the US on the Apple App Store, according to Inergize Digital and DoApp Inc (via Editor and Publisher.

Dominic rightly says that it’s an interesting idea and only a matter of time before someone does it in the UK.

But this is where a crucial issue comes in – how many local or hyperlocal news outlets can develop this kind of thing?

I was looking back through my bookmarks and found this link to Standford’s iTunesU course on iPhone Application Programming.

Yes this is only one platform, but a very interesting one – particularly given you can use the same technology to create news apps for the iTouch.

This Tuesday, July 14,  will be the second of three keynotes I will be presenting for the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). As I mentioned in my post about the first keynote , I’ve set aside a section on my wiki for the slide decks and resources I’ll be sharing and I will be embedding the UStreams there as well. I’ve established #NJEA as the Twitter hashtag already and on 7/5/09 Tweeters in the Twitterverse began using the hashtag in any conversation related to these Technology Institutes.

Please consider joining the UStream one or both of the remaining Institutes. They begin on Tuesday mornings at 9:15AM EST. I truly feel these New Jersey educators would benefit from your input on how you use portable devices in the classroom.  Tweet a link using the #NJEA hashtag, leave a comment here, join us in the UStream.

Thanks for your support. –Lisa

We’ll be trying:

Poll Everwhere
http://chacha.com/

We’ll be watching:

Did You Know 3.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

Abbott and Costello Video
http://teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=3963&title=Abbot_and_Costello_Maths_Problem

Intel Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEo7uCUXA8

We’ll be talking about:

How to use the wealth of material available to educators and students in iTunesU, on sites like Teachertube.com, and many others. We’ll also be taking a look at boxes like the iPodTouch and netbooks.

By Stefanie Panke
Editor, Social Software in Education

The 21^st annual World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (ED-MEDIA) attracted 1200 participants from 65 countries. A diverse crowd, including K-12 teachers, university faculty members, researchers, software developers, instructional designers, administrators and multimedia authors, came together at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel from the 22^nd to 26^th of June with a common goal: to share the latest ideas on e-learning and e-teaching in various educational settings and at the same time enjoy the aloha spirit of tropical Oahu, Hawaii.

Organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), the annual conference takes place at varying locations in the US, Europe and Canada. Thanks to funding by the German Academic Exchange Agency, I was able to join my colleagues in Hawaii to present two current research projects on social tagging and blended learning and en passant absorb the international flair and information overflow that go together with a packed conference program.

The attendees experienced a full program. In addition to various invited lectures, 210 full papers and 235 brief papers were presented, complemented by numerous symposiums, round tables, workshops and an extensive poster session. The conference proves to be exceedingly competitive with an acceptance ratio for full paper submissions of 37%, and 56% for brief papers. Eleven submissions were honored with an outstanding paper award. My favorite was the work of Grace Lin and Curt Bonk on the community Wikibooks, which can be downloaded from their project page.

Beginning with Hawaiian chants to welcome the participants at the official conference opening and the local adage that “the voice is the highest gift we can give to other people,” audio learning and sonic media formed a recurring topic. The keynote of Tara Brabazon challenged the widely held perception that “more media are always better media” and argued for carefully developed sonic material as a motivating learning format. She illustrated her point with examples and evaluation results from a course on methods of media research (see YouTube excerpt below). Case study reports from George Washington University and Chicago’s DePaul University on iTunesU raised questions about the integration into learning management systems, single-sign-on-procedures and access management.

Among the invited lectures, I was particularly interested in the contribution of New York Times reporter Alex Wright, who reflected upon the history of hypertext. The author’s web site offers further information on The Web that Wasn’t. Alan Levine, vice-president of the Austin based New Media Consortium, clearly was the darling of the audience. Unfortunately, his talk took place in parallel to my own presentation on social tagging, but Alan has created a web site with his slides and hyperlink collection that gives a vivid overview on “50+ Web 2.0 ways to tell a story.”

A leitmotif of several keynotes was the conflict between open constructivist learning environments on one side versus instructional design models and design principles derived from cognitive psychology on the other. Stephen Downes advocated the learning paradigm of connectivism and praised self-organized learning networks that provide, share, re-use and re-arrange content. For those interested in further information on connectivism, an open content class starts in August 2009. This radical turn to free flowing, egalitarian knowledge networks was not a palatable idea for everyone. As an antagonist to Downes, David Merrill presented his “Pebble in the Pond” instructional design model that — similar to “ADDIE” (analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) — foresees clear steps and predictable learning outcomes. Tom Reeves, in turn, dedicated his keynote to a comprehensive criticism of multimedia principles derived from the cognitive load theory, picking up on an article by Kirschner, Sweller & Clark (2006), “Why Minimal Guidance Does Not Work . . . .” The audience, in particular the practitioners, reacted to this debate true to the Goethe verse “Prophet left, prophet right, the world child in the middle.” As Steve Swithenby, director of the Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics at Open University (UK) posted in the ED-MEDIA blog: “Well, actually, I want to do both and everything in between. I can’t see that either is the pattern for future learning – both are part of the ways in which learning will occur.”

With blog, twitter feed, flickr group and ning community, the conference was ringing with a many-voiced orchestra of social software tools. Gary Marks, member of the AACE international headquarters and initiator of the new ED-MEDIA community site, announced that he has planned several activities to foster interaction. So far, however, the few contributions are dedicated to potential leisure activities on Hawaii. The presentation “Who We Are” by Xavier Ochoa, Gonzalo Méndez, and Erik Duval offered a review on existing community ties of ED-MEDIA through a content analysis of paper submissions from the last 10 years. An interactive representation of the results is available online.

Twitter seems to have developed into a ubiquitous companion of conference talks. Whether the short messages add to the academic discourse and democratize ex cathedra lectures or divert the attention from the presenter, replacing substance with senseless character strings, is a controversial discussion. Accordingly, twitter received mixed responses among the conference attendees and presenters. In the end, 180 users joined the collective micro-blogging and produced approximately 2500 postings — an overview may be found at Twapper. As a follow-up to this year’s ED-MEDIA, participants were invited to take part in an online survey, designed by the Austrian/German twitter research duo Martin Ebner and Wolfgang Reinhardt. The results will hopefully further the understanding of the pros and cons of integrating microblogging in e-learning conference events.

The AACE used ED-MEDIA as an occasion to announce plans for future growth. Already responsible for three of the largest world-wide conferences on teaching and learning (ED-MEDIA, E-LEARN and SITE), the organization extends its catalog with two new formats. A virtual conference called GlobalTime will make its debut in February 2011. Additionally, the new face-to-face conference GlobalLearn targets the Asian and Pacific regions.

Is ED-MEDIA worth a visit? The sheer size of the event leads to a great breadth of topics, which often obstructs an in-depth discussion of specific issues. At the same time, there is no better way to gain an overview of multiple current trends in compact form. Another plus, all AACE conference contributions are accessible online through the Education and Information Technology Library. The next ED-MEDIA will take place in Toronto, Canada, from June 28 to July 2, 2010.

Screen Capture

I was shocked to find out about iTunes U. First off, how had I not heard of this yet? How did I miss this. I guess being 4 years out of college would contribute.  Second, are Universities really letting their the public have access to the education their students are paying for? Wow! WOW! WWWOOOWW! It is sort of amazing, giving access to knowledge and education for free to the masses (well, at least the masses that can get a hold of iTunes).  And what threat does it really provide to the University? People will still pay $40,000 / year to go to Stanford, because the knowledge they gain is not the primary investment. Sadly, with the way our world works, he primary reason you are willing to pay thousands of dollars is not for the lectures, but for the degree you will hang on your wall and the transcripts you will send to grad school/future employers so you can make your share of money in the future. Provide your family with food. And buy that boat you have always wanted. People will never stop paying for the name of the University and for the degree. So why not put the lecturers online? 

As using it as a substitute for going to class, walking through campus in your PJs, and interacting with others. Probably not my first choice and recommendations for others. But for us nerds out there, or for curious kids who can’t afford to college, listening to a Stanford podcast on Physics is pretty damn rad. 

Apple does some intriguing things. Check iTunes U out. Maybe listen to David Lynch talk about Consciousness, Creativity, and The Brain.  

Talk about putting some pressure on the lecturers and professors. Knowing it can be streamed on iTunes by all of the world that has access to technology.

Clif's Avatar 2008

My first face-to-face meeting with Clif was as the Bogger’s Cafe at NECC08. He was easy to spot. I saw the skin on his laptop and immediately recognized the person that I had been communicating with for many months on Twitter with. I rather enjoyed those first few minutes — connecting a voice with the written word — attaching facial expressions with observations longer than 140 characters.

Clif happened also to be the last person that I saw at the Austin airport before I caught my flight back to New Jersey last June. I’ve since shared some time with one of his graduate classes, shared bookmarks, Tweets and perhaps even some Plurks with him. But I have not seen him face-to face since last June and I am very much looking forward to chatting with him at NECC09.

About a month ago, Clif tagged me in this PD Meme and I promised him that though I didn’t have time to write about it then, I would eventually have a chance to write out my summer goals and tag others to do so as well. I certainly don’t want to arrive in our Nation’s Capitol without having fulfilled my promise to my friend Clif.

Directions:

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

Rules: (NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.)

1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09
6. Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Goals:

1. Complete the last two video podcasts for the grant project I have remaining and submit them to the funding partners.
2. Record audio and or video of summer PD and upload to the CMSCE Rutgers iTunes U account for archiving.
3. Continue building the UDL4ALL Ning – add resources, build community, cultivate conversations.
4. Add to my iTouch the Future series of posts.

I tag:

Lucy Gray
David Truss
John Pederson
Liz Davis
Christy Tvarok Green

The UN has launched a tuition-free open university. Much like the iTunesU, University of the People supports the idea of a globally accessible free education. So far unaccredited, the institution offers just two programs, one in business and economics and one in computer science. It will be interesting to see how much development, recognition and popularity this project might gain.

For hundreds of millions of people around the world higher education is no more than a dream, Shai Reshef, the founder of the University of the People, told reporters. They are constrained by finances, the lack of institutions in their region, or they are not able to leave home to study at a university for personal reasons.

Mr. Reshef said that this University opened the gate to these people to continue their studies from home and at minimal cost by using open-source technology, open course materials, e-learning methods and peer-to-peer teaching.

Admission opened just over two weeks ago and without any promotion some 200 students from 52 countries have already registered, with a high school diploma and a sufficient level of English as entry requirements.

Students will be placed in classes of 20, after which they can log on to a weekly lecture, discuss its themes with their peers and take a test all online. There are voluntary professors, post-graduate students and students in other classes who can also offer advice and consultation.

The only charge to students is a $15 to $50 admission fee, depending on their country of origin, and a processing fee for every test ranging from $10 to $100. For the University to sustain its operation, it needs 15,000 students and $6 million, of which Mr. Reshef has donated $1 million of his own money.

[Via PSFK]

Mike Posner – “Take Off Your Halo”

If You Enjoy The Music Videos Above & After The Jump (‘read more’)… CLICK HERE  & Download Mike Posner & The Brain Trust’s Extremely Hot Mixtape On ITunes Or Go To www.tinyurl.com/mikeposnerfreecd  It’s Been The #1 Free Download On ITunes For Weeks Now!  I’m Telling You Mike Posner Is Gonna Blow UP!  Check Him Out!! 

Mike Posner – “Cooler Than Me”

Ce mardi 26 mai, avec mes collègues du Réseau Interfacultaire de Soutien “Enseignement et Technologies”, nous présentions aux enseignant-e-s et assistant-e-s de l’UNIL la procédure de conseil et de production mise en place. Une vingtaine de personnes de toutes les facultés sont venues pour prendre des renseignements et poser leurs questions.

Nous avons rédigé un guide pédagogique qui est à présent disponible en ligne. Des ressources complémentaires ainsi qu’un petit quizz sont aussi à disposition.

Voici aussi les 3 exemples de podcasts que nous avons présentés pour donner quelques idées:

• Un cours d’histologie pour les vétérinaires de l’Université de Zürich. Des photos haute définition de coupes histologiques sont commentées et annotées par l’enseignante. Chaque épisode dure entre 2 et 5 minutes. Les étudiant-e-s peuvent les utiliser pour revoir la matière vue au cours, un peu comme un atlas d’histologie, une banque de ressources consultables en ligne. Le cours est en suisse-allemand désolé, mais l’exemple est assez parlant. Ça nous a permis d’insister sur l’importance de produire de courts épisodes en complémentarité avec le cours qui se déroule en classe.
• Le cours d’économie de Mr Danthine en HEC à l’UNIL dont la particularité est de s’adresser à 700 étudiant-e-s de BAC1… Les épisodes sont enregistrés en studio et présentent chacun une notion ou théorie assez complexe. Les étudiant-e-s sont invité-e-s ensuite à les consulter avant les cours, ils/elles peuvent aussi poser leurs questions via un forum de discussion. Vu que les étudiant-e-s ont vu la matière à l’avance, le cours est davantage basé sur des questions/réponses et des discussions. Encore une fois, la complémentarité entre le podcast et le cours en présence est mise en avant.
• Un cours d’éthique appliquée (attention ce lien s’ouvre avec le logiciel iTunes) créé par la BBC en collaboration avec l’Open University et disponible sur iTunesU. L’intérêt de cette série de podcasts est de proposer des ressources complémentaires pour des étudiant-e-s en philosophie. Plutôt que de proposer des conférences d’expert-e-s qui ne sont pas toujours bien adaptées à des cours, il s’agit plutôt ici d’interviews sur des questions précises d’éthique (le droit d’avoir un enfant, la liberté d’expression, l’utilisation d’animaux de laboratoire, etc.). Les épisodes durent entre 15 et 20 minutes et sont plus vivants et interactifs qu’une longue conférence d’une heure trente. Ces ressources peuvent aussi être mieux intégrées dans les cours de l’Open University qui a des étudiant-e-s à distance dans le monde entier.

Plusieurs personnes se sont montrées intéressées à créer des podcasts et ont déjà pris contact avec mes collègues ingénieur-e-s pédagogiques. La fin du semestre approche… créer des podcasts pour la rentrée peut être une belle activité de vacances

NB: Les deux autres articles de ce blog traitant aussi des podcasts se trouvent ici et ici.

I use TeacherTube now and then, mainly because it’s not blocked at my school, so I was interested to see this week a new possibility,  TeacherTube My Site. The idea here is that you can use the TeacherTube site to create you own branded school site, no ads, your own content securely in your environment.

It’s been something I’ve been interested in for  a while: an easy way for users within the school to share content they’ve created (video, audio, text) with the school in an interface that made sense, was searchable, attractive and just worked, and worked within the school network.

It seems pretty expensive at $5000US for 1000 users, and I’m not sure it would handle audio and text at all. Apple Itunes offers a similar thing for audio and maybe video? with ItunesU The first company to bring this together in a unified way for schools will do well.

Un paper académico publicado por Computers & Education, titulado “iTunes University and the classroom: Can podcasts replace Professors?“ recoge una interesante experiencia desarrollada mediante el uso de iTunes University: un grupo de treinta y dos alumnos recibió una clase presencial tradicional de unos veinticinco minutos, tomando apuntes con un profesor que utilizaba una presentación que les fue facilitada, mientras otro grupo equivalente recibió la misma clase pero impartida a través de un podcast, sin contacto directo con el profesor, y con la presentación sincronizada para aquellos que tenían reproductores con capacidad de vídeo o con indicaciones de cambio de diapositiva para los que no. Una semana después, tras pedir a los estudiantes que tomasen nota de sus períodos de estudio y metodologías empleadas para ello, se les hizo un examen de cuarenta preguntas tipo test sobre los contenidos de la sesión.

El resultado resulta llamativo: en ausencia de diferencias significativas en los resultados de los alumnos en exámenes de admisión y cualificación, el grupo que recibió la clase vía podcast recibió puntuaciones significativamente más altas que las de aquellos que acudieron a la clase presencial. Dentro del grupo de usuarios de podcast, los estudiantes con calificaciones más elevadas correspondieron a aquellos que tomaron apuntes adicionales al escuchar la grabación, mientras que aquellos que simplemente escucharon la grabación obtuvieron notas similares en el test de diferencia de medias a las de los alumnos que acudieron a clase y tomaron apuntes en ella.

¿Conclusiones? Teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones del experimento, todo parece indicar que la fijación del conocimiento en clases magistrales se produce en la toma de apuntes y en su posterior estudio, pero que la presencia del profesor no supone una ventaja más allá de la posibilidad de solicitar una aclaración o que modere la velocidad para facilitar la toma de apuntes. La sustitución del profesor por un podcast, en el que el alumno puede manejar la velocidad mediante la pausa y escuchar la clase varias veces si lo desea, parece que podría incluso plantear una ventaja. Obviamente, las conclusiones no están validadas para cualquier tipo de contenido, edad o nivel académico, y se extienden únicamente a materias impartidas mediante la metodología de clase magistral, pero no por ello dejan de ser interesantes: para muchos contenidos, podría resultar que el formato de comunicación ideal no fuese la interacción directa con el profesor, sino con un medio, como elpodcast, sobre el que el alumno mantiene un mayor nivel de control. Esto abre vías para un gran número de posibilidades, que van desde el poder asistir a las clases del profesor que escojas – como ya ocurre en muchos casos en iTunesU – hasta el planteamiento de un uso más eficiente del tiempo de interacción en clase: formatos menos pasivos e unidireccionales, más centrados en el aporte de los alumnos y en la interiorización de los conceptos a través de su manejo en discusiones activas y en su preparación.

iTunes U is part of the iTunes store featuring lectures and audiobooks from universities and museums, all available for free. Learning and Teaching Scotland, in typically trailblazing fashion, are leading the charge to add videos aimed at teachers developing and supporting 3-18 education and the new Scottish Primary curriculum, ‘Curriculum for Excellence’. While not games-based, exploiting iTunes in this way is an effective way of using current leisure software for the delivery of educational materials, and could be a conduit for pupil-focussed materials as well as teacher support.

To access the videos you’ll first need to download the free iTunes software, then go to the LTS section on iTunes U.

Dans un article écrit il y a quelques semaines, j’annonçais une suite à mes réflexions à propos de l’usage des podcasts. Tout d’abord, une brève revue de la littérature récente sur le sujet m’a permis de retenir plusieurs choses.

A propos des usages des podcasts par les étudiant-e-s:

• Les étudiant-e-s regardent et écoutent davantage les podcasts devant leur ordinateur à la maison qu’avec un appareil mobile (Deal, 2007). Il semblerait donc qu’utiliser les podcasts pour écouter ses cours “à tout moment et en tout lieu” relève un peu du mythe…
• Les étudiant-e-s connaissent peu l’usage des podcasts et des fils RSS (Lee, Miller, & Newnham, 2009). Au niveau d’une université, il peut donc être utile de leur proposer des séances de formation à l’usage de leur baladeur et au principe des agrégateurs de fils RSS, voire même à la production de podcasts.
• Selon les étudiant-e-s, 6 à 10 minutes sont une durée raisonnable pour un podcast (Frydenberg, 2008). Réécouter un cours de 90 minutes n’est pas efficace quand le passage qu’on veut réécouter ne dure que 5 ou 10 minutes.
• La présence en classe ne diminue pas si la baladodiffusion est utilisée comme une partie complémentaire du cours (Deal, 2007; McKinney, Dyck, & Luber, 2009). Par “complémentaire”, il faut entendre le fait que le podcast apporte des informations différentes de celles qui sont données au cours ou propose des activités d’apprentissage à part entière.

À propos de l’efficacité pédagogique de l’usage des podcasts:

• La baladodiffusion peut être très efficace lorsque les étudiant-e-s créent des contenus pour leurs pairs (Dale & Pymm, 2009; Lazzari, 2009). Le but de ces contenus peut être par exemple de “faire apprendre quelque chose à leurs collègues”.
• Les podcasts aident les étudiant-e-s à structurer leurs notes et à réviser (McKinney et coll., 2009). Cela rassure aussi les étudiant-e-s de pouvoir vérifier si leurs notes sont exactes.
• Le fait de pouvoir réviser et étudier en réécoutant certaines parties de cours diminue l’anxiété des étudiants pendant les périodes d’examens (Evans, 2008).
• Selon Fernandez, Simo et Sallan (2009), les podcasts:
  • offrent une meilleure vision d’ensemble de la matière aux étudiant-e-s;
  • donnent une opportunité de revoir des explications de concepts mal compris;
  • augmentent le sentiment de proximité de l’enseignant-e pour les étudiant-e-s;
  • ont un effet positif sur la motivation des étudiant-e-s;
  • permettent aux étudiant-e-s d’étudier de différentes façons.

Ensuite, dans les textes que j’ai listés ci-dessous, de nombreuses expériences d’usages variés sont décrites. L’usage le plus fréquent des podcasts consiste à enregistrer un cours ou des parties d’un cours, en enregistrant ou non le défilement des dias, et de les rendre disponibles pour les étudiant-e-s ensuite. Lorsque tout un cours est enregistré, il est préférable de supprimer les parties non essentielles et de les couper en plusieurs fichiers. Cependant, d’autres usages permettent aussi d’apporter une plus-value aux cours:

• Certaines manipulations de laboratoire peuvent être mises à disposition des étudiant-e-s en vidéos commentées avant des travaux pratiques pour leur montrer comment utiliser tel ou tel matériel ou quelles sont les consignes de sécurité.
• En médecine ou en droit, les podcasts peuvent servir à la présentation de cas qui seront traités ensuite lors de discussions en classe.
• L’enregistrement de présentations faites lors de colloques par l’enseignant-e peut donner accès à du matériel complémentaire généralement peu accessible aux étudiant-e-s.
• Avant la présentation de leur travail en classe, les étudiant-e-s peuvent s’exercer chez eux en enregistrant un podcast que l’enseignant-e peut consulter et sur lequel il/elle peut apporter un feedback spécifique.
• Certaines courtes explications théoriques peuvent être proposées à l’écoute aux étudiant-e-s avant un cours. La durée du cours peut alors être mise à profit pour favoriser les questions et la discussion.
• Dans certaines disciplines ou l’audition est une compétence importante à développer, les podcasts peuvent être utilisés pour entraîner les étudiant-e-s: en médecine pour écouter le battement cardiaque, en langues pour s’entraîner à comprendre différents accents étrangers, etc.
• Donner une copie du fichier PowerPoint en même temps que le podcast peut finalement permettre aux étudiant-e-s de les consulter sans l’audio ou d’y prendre des notes.

Enfin, parmi les nombreux articles qui sont publiés depuis 3-4 ans à propos du podcasting, j’ai sélectionné les quelques suivants:

Wenn man täglich im Internet arbeitet, stöbert…ja irgendwie zum Teil auch lebt, dann vergisst man oft, dass nicht jeder so intensiv mit dem Medium arbeitet oder dass manche Sachen einfach nicht so selbstverständlich sind, wie man annimmt.

Gestern war der Auftakt für mein Seminar zum “KaffeePod” und ich muss sagen, trotz des wirklichen kleinen Raumes (“Ihre heutige Challenge: Pressen Sie 25 Leute auf gefühlte 15 qm”) und den üblichen Teilnehmer-/Wartelisten-Gerangel war es ein guter Start. Während meiner Vorstellung des Konzepts habe ich natürlich – stolz wie Oskar -  von der geplanten Kooperation mit iTunesU berichtet. Die Uni Augsburg wird ja mit Apple zusammenarbeiten und es ist geplant, interessante Inhalte aus Lehre und Forschung auch aus Augsburg über iTunesU zu distribuieren. Klar, dass da der KaffeePod auch mitmischt. Als ich eben so darüber im Seminar berichte, sehe ich in viele fragende Gesichter und ich musste mal eben selbst nachfragen: “Wer von euch kennt denn iTunesU?” Überwiegend betretenes Schweigen. Auf meine Nachfrage, wer denn iTunes (ohne “U”) kennt, kam dann begeistertes Kopfnicken. AHA! In meiner Vorstellung war iTunesU natürlich schon wieder jedem, der irgendwie einen Fuß in die Uni setzt, bekannt. Kurzer Realitätscheck. So ist das wohl nicht.

Die Erkenntnis für mich ist jedenfalls, dass es wirklich sinnvoll ist, sich eine realistische Vorstellung von dem zu machen, was die Zielgruppe (z.B. bei einem Vortrag o.ä.) wirklich wissen kann oder ob das, was man so berichtet an dem Alltag derjenigen völlig vorbei geht. Ist ja auch nicht schlimm, wenn man was nicht weiß! Ich weiß so vieles nicht und kann ganz entspannt damit leben. Zum Beispiel habe ich nur wenig Ahnung von z.B. handwerklichen Sachen (wie Langzeitleser meines Blogs bestätigen können ) – bloß wenn das Ziel ist, für andere Inhalte verständlich aufzubereiten, ist es wichtig zu wissen, wo ich den Zuhörer oder Leser abholen muss. Haben wir wieder was gelernt..!

Kurzer Hinweis: Viele andere haben schon über iTunesU berichtet, z.B. hier, hier und hier.