Faculty Innovation Seminar
October 29, 2008

If you plan on attending this seminar please contact Terri Lavorgna or call the Academic Affairs Office at 471-7995 at least one day before the seminar.


Creators, Participants, and Observers:
Podcasting Offers Students More than Just a Seat in the Classroom.

PRESENTED BY:

Dr. Michael Webber, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Kathy Schmidt, Director, Faculty Innovation Center
and Juan Garcia,  Audio/Video Producer, Faculty Innovation Center

OVERVIEW:

Today’s students are often receivers of media-based instructional materials. One up and coming technology is a podcast, an audio or video file distributed to an appropriate media player over the Internet. Our students in a mechanical engineering energy class are able to go beyond being a consumer and instead are creators of podcasts. With the use of technologies, students can post podcasts of their own presentations or of their instructor. Not all of the students, however, created podcasts. Students choose either to write a research paper or to produce a podcast. Completed projects (papers and podcasts) were uploaded to the class blog. Both groups of students were given pre- and post-surveys to ascertain time commitments, skills needed, level of enjoyment, and perceptions on their learning. We will provide a comparison of these results and provide usage statistics on the blogs. Finally, peer evaluations of these products are included to provide additional insights as to the relative strengths and weaknesses of these products. We will share recommendations for those considering student developed podcasts.

 

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