Podcasting primer
Trying out a new technology, in the classroom and beyond
By Hannah Benoit
Poems. Pliés. Pics of the "Great Communicator." During spring semester 2006, Wheaton students and faculty explored multifarious uses of podcasting in teaching and learning, through a pilot initiative coordinated by staff from the college's Library and Information Services division.
About a dozen podcasting projects were launched, spanning a variety of disciplines. The podcasts included videos of ballet classes for the purpose of self-critique; videos of plays from the 10-minute play festival; audios of student poets reading their work; and a blog for a history course that offered photographs and audio clips from the Ronald Reagan presidency.
[What is podcasting anyway? Click here to find out.]
Participating faculty (even one self-confessed "media illiterate") expressed enthusiasm for the pedagogical potential of podcasting.
Take Cheryl Mrozowski, assistant professor of theatre, who taught a ballet class that included "everyone from prima ballerinas to members of the baseball team." Although there are mirrors in the dance studio, "very often, because you get caught up in the moment, you don't see yourself," Mrozowski explained. Video can therefore provide students with useful feedback. Though Mrozowski had used video in her classes before, the podcast technology added a new dimension. Students were able to study the videos of their own work on their personal computers, at their own convenience.
"It gave everyone wonderful documentation of their work," Mrozowski said, "and for the most part, people were thrilled to see they could do the work and that they'd improved" over time.
Sue Standing, professor of English and writer in residence, oversaw the poetry podcasts. Four student poets, including three seniors who wrote poetry for their senior honors projects, read and audio-recorded their work for the podcasting effort. Freshman Alexander Robinson "took the most advantage in terms of using it as a performance space," Standing said.
As for the blog about Reagan, it was a way to deliver multimedia course material for "Modern America," a course taught by history professor Alex Bloom. He asked his students to view a collection of photographs and listen to audio clips from Reagan's speeches, in an attempt to show how politicians, including the president known as the "Great Communicator," use images and rhetoric to shape the public's perceptions.
Wheaton will continue experimenting with podcasting in the fall, says Scott Hamlin, a faculty technology liaison who helped coordinate the pilot, and the college hopes to make some of the podcasts available to off-campus users later this year. In the meantime, you can get a taste of Wheaton's podcasts by listening to the student poets read their work:
"Vessel" by Amber Gailitis '06
"An Ode to Turntablism (and Records)" by Alexander J. Robinson '09
"Not Writing" by Megan Collins '06
"Hera and the Garden" by Annie Belz '06