David McRaney : Journalist

David McRaney | Journalist

Lecturecasting comes to USM

Matt Hendry travels from class to class in a world of his own, escaping to his music through his iPod, but soon his professors may be joining him.

Like many USM students, Hendry, a photojournalism junior from Jackson, Ala., rarely is without his mp3 player, and walks across campus with headphone cords dancing between his pocket and ears.

A smattering of universities across the country are catching on to how connected students like Hendry are to their music devices and have begun offering lectures in the form of mp3s. Students can download the lectures from any computer and listen to them whenever they wish, pausing and reviewing the words of the professor at their whim.

USM officials are determined not be left behind when it comes to new teaching technologies, and according to Director of USM's Learning Enhancement Center Sheri Rawls, lecturecasting may begin in earnest this spring.

"We know there is a demand for it as a reinforcement tool," said Rawls. "A grab and go lecture type thing would be popular here. We are working on a process and a possible solution toward the end of the semester and definitely by spring semester."

She added the key would be finding the easiest way to incorporate the technology and make it widely available to use without incurring loss.

But some professors aren't waiting.

Associate professor of English Michael N. Salda began lecturecasting soon after Hurricane Katrina in response to the chaos surrounding his students.

"People were missing class," said Salda, "and I wasn't going to hold it against them. Students kept asking questions about how to make up work, and they wanted to know if they could get copies of my notes. I use discussion notes, so what they were asking for wouldn't be of much use. I thought I should come up with an easy way and started in the spring."

Salda said he walks in to class with a digital recorder set to record. After class, he returns to his office, drops the recording into his computer and then places it on his website. He said the English department has been experimenting with broadcasting video since 2001.

"I wanted to do something simpler," he said. "Video is a lot of work, but this is easy and cheap."

According to Salda, his world literature class of approximately 140 students loves it.

It has been great. They know that if they miss a day, they need to listen to the mp3 of the lecture."

Salda said he asks a lot of questions about how the lecturecasting is working for his class, and they tell him it is great. "I reserve judgment," he said. "But I do know this, it is better to hear me than to just miss a class."

Salda is in good company. Newsweek reported students at Purdue University downloaded over 40,000 lectures in 2005, and Berkeley today offers a wide-variety of lectures through iTunes for anyone, even non-students to grab.

Lecturecasting is not without its opponents who fear professors may one day be lecturing to empty classrooms. But Salda was quick to point out the same was said of satellite video when it was first introduced on campus.

"Some fear that everyone will be forced to convert; that hasn't happened, and I don't see it happening," Salda said. "It is entirely supplementary, you can ignore it if you want."

Gene Wiggins, a journalism professor at USM who served as director of the school from 1981 to 2001, is a notorious stickler for attendance. He famously professes to be able to tell any student who asks exactly how many classes he or she has missed at any time during the semester. Of course, one has to agree to take an F for the course if he gets it right.

"I encourage students to take my lectures," said Wiggins "I think it is important to be in class, to see illustrations and hear examples as well as ask questions before and after class."

Despite his stance on attendance, he is not opposed to adopting lecturecasting.

"It is something we will have to get used to," he said. "It will require some dedication [from students] to listen to that lecture. It will require a little bit from both people. It may work for one and not work for another. I'm not anti any new technology."

Wiggins added, "Teachers aren't actors; I'm not sure if they can teach without an audience. They are not performing, they are teaching."

Assistant professor of library and information science Elizabeth Haynes recently received a faculty mentor grant allowing her to incorporate lecturecasting and other audiovisual presentations into her classes.

Though the project is not yet complete, she is optimistic about the future.

"The impetus was the number of online students who never come to campus," said Haynes. "We felt we needed to do a better job orientating."

She said she considers it just one more medium of delivery, and where it is appropriate to the material and instructional design, it could be a great addition to college classes because students may be more receptive to mp3-based information.

"I don't think you can communicate all of our course content, but you can communicate a lot," added Haynes.

Chief Information Officer Homer Coffman said it would be possible to integrate video and audio, including lecturecasting, into WebCT and into course management for faculty use by the end of October 2006.

"We already have a podcasting station set up in the LAC lab for faculty," said Sheri Rawls. "We will give them assistance, and explain how they work and how students will access them."

Michael Salda said he believes instructors who want to try it should be eased into the process.

"It should be left to choice. Everyone doesn't need to do this and it shouldn't be forced," said Salda. "I think it's great if they set up a lab. This is easy; anyone with a laptop and a recording device can do this."

Originally published in The Student Printz on September 28, 2007