The next time you see a pair of those characteristic white headphones traveling across the quad between classes, don't assume they're blasting Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band or the "Garden State" soundtrack. Their owner may be listening to something that's far from music to a student's ears: homework.
The rise of the Internet phenomenon known as podcasting has created a hot new tool for technologically-inclined educators, allowing them to offer students regularly updated audio and video downloads as class material. At colleges and universities across the country, including Tufts, professors have begun to use the technology to back up lectures and provide supplemental material to students.
"Podcast," the New Oxford English Dictionary's 2005 word of the year, is a combination of the words 'iPod' and 'broadcast.' It refers to a digital recording of a program or radio broadcast that listeners can download onto their computers or digital music players. Typically, a listener can subscribe to a podcast and automatically receive new episodes as they are updated by the host.
At Tufts, Lecturer Mike Fournier has incorporated podcasting into his Ex College course, "History of Punk Rock." According to Fournier, the technology - through which students attain their weekly listening assignments - has been essential to the course.
"Prior to podcasting, it would have been just me in my room burning CDs for hours," Fournier said. "This course wouldn't have been possible without podcast technology."
Fournier creates the podcasts using Audacity, a free, downloadable music recording program. He then uploads the files as updates to his class blog using the free hosting Web site Ourmedia.org. The process, he said, is simple.
"I'm not technically inclined, and it took me ten minutes to learn. It's super easy," said Fournier. "Before each class I put a link to the site. You click the link and you can either stream the clip or download it to your PC or iPod."
Mike Adams, a freshman in Fournier's class, said the podcasts help give him a better understanding of the material he learns in the class, which explores the social and political causes and implications of the punk rock music movement.
"You read some author describe how a band sounds, and then you listen to the exact same songs he was referring to, and you're like, 'He was right on,' or you disagree," Adams said. "But either way you get a much better perspective."
Freshman Matt Kaufman, another student in the class, agreed: "It's one thing to discuss a band's sound," Kaufman said, "but it's another to actually hear it."
In general, Fournier said, the podcasts help him keep his students involved in the material.
"It's definitely more interactive than just sitting there and listening to some jerk lecture about something for an hour and a half," Fournier said. "Then again, I guess I'm that jerk."
Kaufman said that the podcasts, along with video clips and guest speakers Fournier has incorporated into the course, have helped keep classes interesting.
"It's always enjoyable," Kaufman said. "The multimedia is certainly another way to explore a certain band."
In addition to listening assignments, Fournier offered his students a chance to learn the podcasting technology themselves.
For their first paper, which is due Monday, students have the option of writing a five-page critical essay or producing a 10-minute podcast with music clips and verbal analysis.
"'Podcasting' is definitely a big buzz word, but I think it's something a lot of people don't know about," Fournier said. "That's what the paper assignment is for; my students can produce something themselves with technology they might not have experienced before."
Mose Berkowitz, a freshman in the course, said that he plans on taking advantage of the podcast option.
"I love to take the creative route and love talking and articulating myself. This assignment is a chance to do something creative, and I might as well take advantage of that," said Berkowitz, who plans to juxtapose clips from different groups and analyze how the groups influenced each other.
"People learn in all different ways," he said. "You have to try to appeal to all of the senses."
Kaufman, on the other hand, said he'll stick with a traditional paper. "I'd rather organize my thoughts on the page and then go back and edit," Kaufman said.
Based on the success he's experienced, Fournier said he sees the potential for podcasting to play a role in other types of courses.
"It definitely lends itself to history classes," Fournier said. "If you're taking a course on American history, you can sit there and listen to FDR on your computer or iPod."
At the same time, Fournier acknowledged the risk that students could rely too heavily on podcast material and become less involved in the actual class.
"As a professor, you want kids to go to your class. It's a whole new can of worms if you offer your lectures on iPod," Fournier said.
"When you end up experiencing the material through the podcast instead of with the podcast as an aid, the podcast can end up making things less interactive," he continued.
Steve Cohen, a full-time lecturer for the education department at Tufts who focuses on methods for educating and preparing new teachers, said the technology could become an important tool for teachers, but that it cannot replace them.
"As a teacher, it gives me another tool to make things interesting," Cohen said. "But I can show you as many videos and podcasts and audio clips as I want and you may still fall asleep if I can't bring it all together well. It's how you're using the technology that makes the difference."
Cohen emphasized that while the technology allows professors to provide students with a multitude of primary sources, such as recordings of speeches and television shows, "the facts never speak for themselves."
Adams agreed that offering too much information to students through podcasts could be detrimental.
"Unless it was completely supplementary information, it would probably cause me to skip the real lectures or slack off," he said.
