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Smart Classroom
iPod Course Design
7/18/2007
Both of these design questions impact how quickly and easily the students are able to get to the data. In the end, it was decided to reformat vocabulary content so that each word was a single six to eight second file, consisting of the enunciation of the word, the same word repeated more quickly, and then the use of the word in a phrase or in context. As for metadata tagging, Middlebury technologists adopted the commonly used music format of tagging by artist, album, and track, and added another tag for describing the podcast content, plus a tag for the episode number of the podcast series. Following is a sample metadata tagging template for course podcasts that you may want to consider using. The template is from blogger Garrick Van Buren, who authors First Crack Podcast With Garrick Van Buren.Sample Metadata for Podcasts
- Title [Your Podcast Show Name] [Episode Number] [Episode Name]
- Artist [Author]
- Album [Your Podcast Show Name]
- Track [Episode Number]
- Comments [Episode Description]
- Genre: Podcast
The iTunes application has a different set of metatags for various formats (music, podcasts, television shows, radio shows, etc.). If the provided metatags are not a good fit for some of the recommended data, this metadata can be added within the description tag.
Increasing Time on Task—and Interest
According to Chapin at Middlebury, he saw immediate changes due to the language content being in the iPod format: Students increased their “time on task,” interacting with the language they were learning. Minutes previously lost in transit, waiting, talking with friends, etc., suddenly became additional practice time to spend with course content. Now, he reports, faculty regularly prepare new language recordings two to three times a week, which keeps content current. And students can create their own recordings, including poetry readings and (in the French language class) foreign-language songs. Not surprisingly, shifting to the iPod device has made listening (a necessary part of language study) more convenient and more “immersible” for Middlebury language students, and has added the punch of being able to quickly create and use language naturally and spontaneously. (To find out more about academic iPod use at Middlebury, go here.)
Returning to the evolution of iPod use at Duke University, Lynne O’Brien, director of academic technology and instructional services, notes the curriculum freshening that is occurring. For example, she points to the class,
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