Think like Apple, who seem to have got it right once again.
The New Scientist reported evidence suggesting that students who download lecture podcasts get substantially higher exam results than those who attend in person.
"Podcasted lectures offer students the chance to replay difficult parts of a lecture and therefore take better notes.
It isn't so much that you have a podcast, it's what you do with it", says Dani McKinney, a psychologist at the State University of New York in Fredonia, who led the study.
To find out how much students really can learn from podcast lectures alone, McKinney's team presented 64 students with a single lecture on visual perception, from an introductory psychology course.
Students who downloaded the podcast averaged a C (71%) whereas those who attended the lecture mustered only a D (62%).
But that difference vanished among students who watched the podcast but did not take notes. Students who listened to the podcast one or more times, and took notes, averaged 77%.
"I do think it's a tool.
I think that these kids are programmed differently than kids 20 years ago," she says.
Ref. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16624-itunes-university-better-than-the-real-thing.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
I love New Scientist but this is one of their 'lets get some media coverage' pieces. I had a cassette recorder (secretly as they were frowned upon) in many lectures fourteen years ago. Did I do better because I was able to later do some magic like rewind, pause, play again... I believe so. Was I wired differently like some mutant... I don't think so. I can hear the morning radio chat shows spending fifteen minutes discussing this 'funny' piece. A pinch of salt is recommended with it.
Surely it's just a matter of time before lecture halls become obsolete becasue these podcasts take over and lecture attendance dwindles. My worry would be that the ability to ask questions and promote dicussion throughout would disappear completely. Luckily for me, my final year at uni will no doubt be the same old fashioned lectured I scarcely enjoy!
Hi Greg,
It's been known for a little time in psychological fields that multiple access points can amplify memory. I met atank commander once who told me about dichotic listening. He would get orders coming in one ear from command whilst listening to his crew through the other ear. It meant during the cold war that although the British Army was outnumbered 10 to 1 by Russian Tanks, we could fire off seven rounds to their one. Unfortunately it does tend to wear the old ears out though, and tank commanders ears could only last 7-10 years. ipod tuorials are a brilliant idea. I wish they had them in my day! The youth market spends half their time with something in their ears. I wonder how this will affect their aural ability in latter years.
As Scott Taylor mentions, the only drawback is the danger of it leading to empty lecture halls and less discourse. The best ideas have arisen through open discourse and sometimes the human errors encountered as a result:
a case in point is the invention of the telephone. Interesting.
Greg Taylor
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