Podcasting in Higher Education:
A New and Useful Tool
Prepared for:
Professor Michael Perry
BISM 2100/07
Kennesaw State University
Prepared by
The Finance Fanatics:
Maria Mercado, Team Manager
Lester Seely, Research Coordinator
Lori Fallin, Video Presentation Coordinator
Roberto Chidiac, Webmaster
Knolan Smith, Formal Report Writer
November 27, 2006
Introduction
Any person that has been to Apple’s iTunes Music Store, cnet.com, ewired.com, businessweek.com, or any website that deals in contemporary technology has heard the word “podcast.” Many will probably assume that the word directly implies a recording played on Apple’s iPod or a similar portable music player. This is incorrect. Podcasts time-shift radio shows, audio blogs, and other previously live or unrepeated programming with disregard to the media system they consumed on. Today, ‘podcast’ refers to any audio file, or audio file with pictures, or vodcast, that has been uploaded to the Internet for public download and has the ability to regularly update on a subscriber’s computer automatically. “Vodcast” refers to any video file that has been uploaded to the web in a format compatible with an iPod (because this is the most popular portable video player) (en.wikipedia.org, 2006). It is worth pointing out that, under its current definition, file-sharing programs like Grokster and BitTorrent can be used as podcast URL aggregators.
History of Podcasting
The inventions of podcasts and podcasting are credited to three software engineers: Adam Curry, Tristan Louis, and Dave Winer. In 2001, they started to tinker with the Really Simple Syndication (hereafter RSS) function embedded in XML. In 2003, they developed the RSS feed into a tool capable to "automate the delivery and syncing of content to portable audio players.” (Van Orden, 2005) Podcasts were not designed for a specific format; it is incidental that they started in mp3 form, the dominant audio compression of the time. This is evident in that the basis of podcasting, the RSS markups in XML, remains unchanged even when podcasting now incorporates pictures, chapters, videos, and whole movies.
‘Podcast’ is a phrase first used by Ben Hammersly in an article published by The Guardian 12 February, 2004; Mr. Hammersly used the phrase as a synonym for “audio-blogs or amateur radio shows.” (Fine, 2005) This idea of rebroadcasting radio shows is basic to understanding podcasts: they are a time shifted program. Time shifting is when a program’s broadcast is recorded at one point in time and listened to at another point in time. It is not hard to recognize the need for this kind of technology; the fact that RSS code allows subscribers to automatically download a new episode is important. In our Information Age, people want information when they want it. This instant readiness has little correlation to the traditional news broadcasting of television or radio. These traditional broadcasts are put on air when the greatest number of people will have the time to listen to them: generally on the way to work, during lunch, on the way home, or right before sleep (Jantsch, 2006). Podcasts have the convenience of being listened to or viewed whenever the subscriber wishes.
Since it’s modest beginning as a medium for “audio-blogs and amateur radio shows,” podcasting has grown to encapsulate 9 million US adults, approximately 13% of men and 9% of women; this is truly amazing, given how new podcasting is (Rincon, 2006). In contrast, for the week of November 6, NBC had 9.8 million viewers (Stetler, 2006). Podcasting is not as popular as NBC, but NBC has had a license to broadcast since 1 July, 1941 (Brainyhistory.com, 2006). As the graph in Figure1.1 shows, podcasting is growing at a geometric rate. And although this information only stands for FeedBurner, a podcasts aggregator, it parallels the statistics for the large majority of other online sites (Kevin 2.0, 2006). This previous phenomenal growth rate is usual for internet-based products. The spread of information is so rapid that previous generations are astounded.
Figure 1.1
Downloading Podcasts
The most popular medium for podcasts is far and away the iTunes Music Store (hereafter iMS), with 65,000+ podcasts (Dick, 2006). Another popular website, feedburner.com, hosts a little over 79,000 ‘feeds,’ which are links to podcasts. Feedburner.com provides a browsing tool for the iMS; their feeds aggregate the iMS and also their own original podcasts (feedburner.com, 2006) The iMS has organized their podcasts into 15 different categories, with Business and Education named. Clicking on Podcasts à Education à Higher Education brings up the following podcasts endorsed or authored by: UC Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton, which are all in the Top 25. Clicking on Podcasts à Business à Management & Marketing brings up a number of tutorials on how to be a better manager or marketer; number one on the list is the Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business School University Press’ IdeaCast: “Breakthrough Ideas and Commentary from the Leading Thinkers in Business and Management (apple.com/itunes).”
Curiously, Apple does not charge for its audio podcasts; unusual for a software company, but in-line with Apple’s offerings of other non-copyrighted material. The “Higher Education” sub-category on iMS, as mentioned above, has just under 100 “Featured” audio podcasts. Video podcasts, sometimes referred to as “vodcasts,” are charged per episode or per season. The reason is not hard to define: video podcasts on iMS are copyrighted movies or TV shows. If you want to find a specific podcast, you must search for it (apple.com/itunes).
Podcasting in Business
Obviously there are more uses to a podcast than just entertainment. Suppose a business start-up cannot afford ads on television during times when their message would be heard by their target audience. Let’s assume that this business sold a radically new and innovative headphone system that reproduced digital sound incredibly life-like. Obviously, this new product is aimed at the audiophile who listens to his music on the go or through headphones. This company could record a commercial on a consumer video camera, edit it using readily available programs, format it with QuickTime, and upload it to a server as a vodcast. The company now needs to publish their vodcast with Google’s advertising algorithm, an audiophile website, feedburner.com, or the iMS. Any choice will be for a fraction of the cost of a broadcast commercial.
The quality of a consumer video camera is nullified by the screen size of an iPod. Most consumers, for the purposes of on-line videos, are used to streams from the web. The upper limit of quality for these streaming videos is the bandwidth of their uplink, be it a modem, DSL, cable, or however they connect. An iPod, encoded correctly, can deliver higher quality picture then their CRT televisions and the same quality sound heard on high-end mass commercial home stereos (iPod Technical Specifications).
Business applications are not limited to a new form of commercials. They can be tourism videos, employee training videos, conference recording, recordings of important departmental meetings, recordings of important Board Meetings, et cetera. These recordings would be easily posted to the company’s server for the employees to download and view at their first opportunity. Companies can also podcast important public information messages, viewable at any time that the consumer chooses. International Business Machines, Real Networks, Apple Computer, Oracle Systems, Disney, General Motors, all these companies have posted videos to inform the public about current events in their respective companies (Rumford, 2005).
A novel idea is podcasting shareholders’ meetings. Business-podcasting.com hawks an idea for a company to inform stockholders on weekly or bi-weekly podcasts. They claim that contemporary stockholders have a need to know so great that they should be informed of daily activities for the companies they hold stock in. Whether or not this idea takes flight, the possibility exists for stockholders to download a vodcast of their annual reports instead of attending a four-hour long meeting (business-podcasting.com, 2006). This idea of podcasting weekly or daily activities is exactly what educators are seizing upon for their courses.
Podcasting Technology
Suppose that a professor has created a remarkable, enjoyable PowerPoint, not very likely it’s PowerPoint, but assume. He can convert his PowerPoint slides into pictures, make these pictures into an iPhoto album, publish the album on his .mac account, give his students the feed, and download it onto their iPods. Thus, the professor has created a podcast. If the professor created the presentation to automatically transition from slide to slide, or if he just wanted to make a vodcast of the same PowerPoint as above, he can use Camtasia Studio to capture the presentation for iPod video playback (techsmith.com, 2006).
Camtasia Studio “watches” the slideshow as it would happen on a screen and creates a video file of the presentation. Perceived difficulties, the iPod’s screen size and acceptable file formats, are addressed by the program. The iPod’s small screen does not create as much of a problem as one might think, if you consider that a nominal classroom projection screen is 10 feet wide and an iPod’s screen is 320x240 pixels. The smaller screen size is overcome by the user holding the screen as close as he or she wants. The fonts on the presentation, rather in Camtasia’s video, are automatically optimized for the iPod’s screen. You can also choose resolution and font size if you wish. File formats have frustrated many people who have tried to encode video for the iPod since Apple did not publish specifications as soon as they released the video iPod. Thankfully, Apple has now released acceptable codes and file formats, and Camtasia’s encoder complies with Apple’s specifications (docs.info.apple.com, 2005).
Podcasting and the Environment
Disposal of electronic goods presents a few environmental issues. If a consumer throws away their iPod in the trash, that iPod will most likely end up in a landfill. The minerals used in constructing the iPod’s innards are not kind to the environment; the biggest concerns are the LCD screens and batteries. Rechargeable batteries used to be Ni-Cad, nickel-cadmium, Ni-MH, Nickel Metal Hydride, and the current rechargeable battery is a Li-ion, Lithium ion, cell. The minerals in these batteries are not kind to the natural processes they touch; the EPA forbids them to be thrown away. Any rechargeable battery will have some sort of recycling program, published on the EPA’s toll-free number (1-800-424-9346); some retailers are providing collection points. The Home Depot, cellular service providers, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart all accept old dry cell batteries (ehso.com, 1998-2006). These retailers all forward the used batteries to the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC). Alkaline batteries, generally any non-rechargeable battery, do not have a recycle program and must be thrown away. The LCD screens that an iPod uses, as well as the rest of an iPod, can be donated to an electronics recycling company (rbrc.org, 2006). The iPod can also be sold or parted out, selling each component of the iPod separately for greater net profit, on eBay. If you want to hire a company to get rid of your old iPods, or any old electronics, pcdisposal.com is an EPA certified company that does all the work for you, including pick-up (pcdisposal.com, 2006).
Podcasting in Education
A professor’s concern might be that he is losing his right to intellectual property. His hard-earned knowledge of his subject is suddenly free and available for anyone who comes across the podcast he published. There are few discussions of this issue readily available, but a rebuttal of that concern is easy to analyze. The purpose of a university is to educate. Universities constantly claim they do not discriminate who they educate; the only reason for entrance exams and tuition, fees, and discriminatory charges is the amount of space they have available for classes. Since professors are employees of that university, they are of the same mindset. It would follow that any new way to educate more people without spending vast amounts of money would be welcomed by universities. And if a professor was still worried about receiving proper credit, he need only insert end credits for the proper sources. Kennesaw State University is in the process of building, but those millions of dollars could be pared down to the thousands if podcasting technology caught on.
Of course, to have education solely by podacasting, a radical paradigm shift of contemporary society would have to exist. Your undergraduate degree is, sadly, only as good as the name on the paper and the university you attended. Not the university you listened to on the internet. A graduate’s declared major is largely immaterial unless it is vastly different from the wanted position (a financial company would not care if you were the valedictorian from your biology college). This is not to say that podcasting in education is not worth pursuing. Podcasting can add a vital part to courses.
WebCT and Blackboard, online programs that securely publish course related material, are used heavily by our universities. The University System of Georgia uses WebCT and has recently upgraded to WebCT Vista, perhaps to mesh that much easier with Windows Vista. There were, inevitably, some professors that did not support the incorporation of WebCT into their courses. An argument that could have been presented was that students would “go to class online.” They would follow the course’s progress through WebCT’s online publication. They would not attend class for this reason, and subsequently would not learn the required material. WebCT has now been shown to only enrich a student’s understanding of the course he or she is taking. Online documents supplement, not replace, professors professing in the classroom. There are, of course, a few students who have decided to “go to class online,” their learning and progress shows this. It is their own fault and problem.
Podcasting will do the same as WebCT, only better. Students can currently review a course related document on their laptops or desktops, use the discussion boards, and send WebCT emails to the professor. These resources are limited to the computers on which they are downloaded. Not every student can afford a laptop, or even has one; some students do not have printers and print out their papers at Kinko’s or the library. However, iTunes is free for download and an iTunes account, needed for a subscription to a podcast, is free. This time-saving and affordable program is yet another reason why universities should implement the use of podcasting into their curriculum.
The fact that podcasting is predominantly aggregated by iTunes is very important to educators. iTunes is and, according to Apple, will be free to download. All of Apple’s audio podcasts are free and will remain free (docs.info.apple.com, 2005). It is also free to upload podcasts provided you have an account with the iMS. A professor could offer his lectures on the iMS with no extra charges to be paid by his students.
If a professor used Camstasia’s Studio to make a video of his PowerPoint, he would need to find a server to publish his podcast on. The simplest choice would be his college’s or university’s server. The server would not need any hardware modifications, and most likely, would only need to have a new page created to provide the RSS feeds for the podcasts, or the professor could put those feeds on his class’s Web-CT page. He could even put the feeds and podcasts on the class webpage.
The very first obstacle to overcome is bandwidth. If a university published it’s podcasts to internal servers, bandwidth is limited to the capabilities of its own system. This might require hardware upgrades, but this is not a viable argument to adoption of podcasting because the half-life of computer hardware is already so short. If a university published it’s podcasts on an external server, such as the iMS, bandwidth would be limited to the university’s uplink to their ISP. This argument is viable, bandwidth is expensive; but all university internet functionaries would benefit from more bandwidth.
One of the authors recently heard a professor from the Coles College of Business advance another argument. This author asked the professor what they thought of incorporating podcasting into their course, and the professor replied: I think it’d be a good idea. But then, I’d have to learn how to do something else. I’ve had to learn how to do so many new things for the guise of progress. I really don’t want to learn something else of dubious value.[1] This viewpoint is endemic to the baby-boomer generation. “Technology is fine; don’t make it different just because you want to. And if you make it different, I’ll have to learn how to do something else.” Opposition to new technology through wanton slothful attitudes is not a viewpoint that universities should give any weight to when considering whether or not to implement podcasting in curricula.
There have been many new technologies that that were considered cool at the time of opposition, ignored by teachers, and are now considered commodities. An example of this has been the use the Internet for researching purposes. It contains numerous amounts of information, but many teachers still feel that only books are a true resource to in a classroom. What many do not realize is that Internet resources are just as authentic as traditional print resources. Wikipedia.org was found to be as trustworthy as the Encyclopedia Britannica (Giles, 2005). Resistance to change for the sake of the status quo has been thus proved as foolhardy.
Recommendation
Based on the team’s research and analysis, The Finance Fanatics recommends that professors incorporate podcasting into their courses to the best of each professor’s ability. Not only is it affordable for students, but it will enhance student creativity and interaction.
Many students in college are on a tight budget that may not allow them to purchase premium laptops or computers. Purchasing a $200-$400 iPod is impractical for many college students’ budget. Because podcasts are offered for free by Apple, the only piece of equipment a student would likely be required to purchase is a microphone. And this is only if he or she wanted to author a podcast themselves. Cheap microphones are available in stores like Wal-Mart or Best Buy for under $10 (Fryer, 2005). Universities might also purchase software programs to make it easier for professors to author podcasts. But, this will benefit a student’s budget and increase their, the student’s and the professor’s, technological knowledge for the future.
College is a time when students must allow their creativity to flourish, and it is where they begin to think “outside the box.” Podcasting can allow them to be creative in their classes and create projects that involve more than just rote essays and cookie-cutter exams. Instead, they can share virtually with their professors and classmates, through vodcasts or podcasts, any bit of information and understanding they have obtained from class. With podcasting, students can view podcasts from, and publish podcasts for, a different class period or a different college or a different university
If students are meant to broaden their knowledge and views on the world, they would best be able to achieve this through the use of podcasting. College is a new chapter in a person’s life that should allow them to be exposed to newer and better resources and ideas other than those they received from secondary schooling. They could be able to interact with peers, and professionals from their chosen field, who might offer them new and more current viewpoints on a subject. Podcasting is the best new tool to enhance learning and retention of subject matter for higher education.
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