Slashdot | Podcasts of University Lectures?

Slashdot | Podcasts of University Lectures?

A staff member from "a major university in the US" sparked a debate about the legitimacy of podcasting class lectures for students if they don't come to class. With every new technology in the educational arena comes new opportunities and new challenges (i.e. email, Internet access in the classroom, forums, blogs, social networks, and now podcasts). The question of how is typically easier to answer than the question of why. It is easy to be tempted to jump on the bandwagon of new technologies and incorporate them into the classroom without determining how it might affect the institutions philosophy of pedagogy. In regard to podcasting one must assume that what you are distributing is worth listening to or watching in the case of a video podcast. If the professor/proctor lectures are available on demand, then the format of the classroom and interactivity will change. As time-shifted media becomes more common place, the attitudes of students will change. They will want what they want when they want it, whether that be music, radio, television, movies, or classroom lectures.