Wisconsin Union Blend

The use of iTunes U. for automatic feed creation has made podcasting very easy and convenient for instructors on our campus. They are very happy with this convenience. Just upload a file and POOF! the feed is updated. In the end, the only indication that the podcast tracks are available via subscription is a very tiny, grey ‘Subscribe’ button.

But we’ve learned through surveys that students are not hitting that button. The reasons are numerous:

1. Students access iTunes U. via our course management system, D2L. They are often in the system for other reasons like taking quizzes, checking grades or writing in discussion boards, so these audio and video files (I won’t call them podcasts) for their courses are never far away. Students figure, “Why do I need to subscribe when the files are just as easy to get to when I’m in D2L?”
2. iTunes U. allows the student to view or listen to the audio and video right off the servers in California. There is no need to download them to the local computer.
3. When you couple #1 and #2 with the fact that the campus has ubiquitous wireless and lots of computer labs spread throughout, students have easy access to their podcasts from pretty much anywhere on campus that has a computer. With such access, there is less need to download the files for viewing at time when you don’t have network access.
4. Students don’t want to put academic podcasts on their iPods if they don’t have to because these materials take up space that could otherwise be used for storing music or videos.
5. Most instructors are not creating materials that leverage or necessitate the portability of an iPod. Some have done audio or video flashcards that allow students to practice/learn in the field or in non-traditional learning environments, but the majority of the content can be consumed at the student’s desktop or laptop.
6. iTunes U. makes the process of feed creation so seamless that the purpose of and technology behind that ‘Subscribe’ button goes unnoticed, unused and unappreciated.
7. Finally, as a learning technology consultant, explaining the value of subscription in this environment is especially challenging. Given everything I just said, instructors wonder, “Now why should students subscribe?” I’ll address how we go about this in a later post.

So while iTunes U. makes “podcasting easier,” the fact that the ‘Subscribe’ button and RSS feed don’t get used means, to me, that this is not podcasting AND we are sacrificing the instructor and students’ understanding of the technology for what is easier and more convenient.

This bothers me.

So as Doug and I were having coffee, I said “Why is it that people always mention wikis and blogs in the same breath? They’re not the same things.” Doug was having similar conversations with other people and so he set out to write down an explanation of the differences and similarities as he saw them. And that’s the post you see here.

This is the kind of griping that we want to see in this blog. It’s okay to gripe, but try to encourage yourself and others to respond in a positive way!