Spring Break
The Daily OrangeClasses to go digital with new podcast service
By Kyle Austin
Posted: 2/27/07, 10:17 PM EST Section: News
When students switch on their iPods, they are faced with a choice to listen to thousands of different songs. But now, educators are giving them a different choice - what class to study for.
Numerous campuses across the country are beginning to use podcasts as educational tools to provide digital content to students at their convenience.
Podcasts are bits of audio or video that can be downloaded and played through either a computer or an MP3 player. Despite the fact that the word podcast is derived from the word iPod, podcasts are compatible with all MP3 players.
Syracuse University is among the schools beginning to experiment with podcasts. Both the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and SU Project Advance have signed contracts with Apple Inc. These contracts will allow them to use Apple software to provide podcasts to students.
Apple offers podcasts through a service called iTunesU, a program that allows universities to distribute educational podcasts through iTunes software. iTunes is the leading provider of legally downloaded media in the United States, including music, movies and television.
Newhouse hopes to offer podcasting technology to its staff by the end of April, said Chris Aliberto, director of Computing Services at Newhouse.
"We are in the process of essentially just figuring out the best way to implement it," he said.
Rob Pusch, the instructional designer for Project Advance, said podcasts will make his program's information distribution method cheaper and more efficient.
Project Advance allows SU courses to be taught in more than 130 high schools across the region. The project trains high school teachers to instruct the courses as adjunct faculty and equips them with the appropriate information to pass on to students.
As of now, the digital information required to teach those courses is burned onto CDs and shipped to high schools in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine and Michigan.
Numerous campuses across the country are beginning to use podcasts as educational tools to provide digital content to students at their convenience.
Podcasts are bits of audio or video that can be downloaded and played through either a computer or an MP3 player. Despite the fact that the word podcast is derived from the word iPod, podcasts are compatible with all MP3 players.
Syracuse University is among the schools beginning to experiment with podcasts. Both the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and SU Project Advance have signed contracts with Apple Inc. These contracts will allow them to use Apple software to provide podcasts to students.
Apple offers podcasts through a service called iTunesU, a program that allows universities to distribute educational podcasts through iTunes software. iTunes is the leading provider of legally downloaded media in the United States, including music, movies and television.
Newhouse hopes to offer podcasting technology to its staff by the end of April, said Chris Aliberto, director of Computing Services at Newhouse.
"We are in the process of essentially just figuring out the best way to implement it," he said.
Rob Pusch, the instructional designer for Project Advance, said podcasts will make his program's information distribution method cheaper and more efficient.
Project Advance allows SU courses to be taught in more than 130 high schools across the region. The project trains high school teachers to instruct the courses as adjunct faculty and equips them with the appropriate information to pass on to students.
As of now, the digital information required to teach those courses is burned onto CDs and shipped to high schools in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine and Michigan.
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