CwTI 2006

iPod, Podcasting, and Pedagogy

May 22-25, 2006

What is CwTI?

The Communicating with Technology Initiative (CwTI) focuses on technology issues that impact communication skills by providing mentoring, training workshops, and development support for faculty and students. Many faculty have already participated in the past events.

Workshop Schedule

Introducing CwTI 2006: iPod, Podcasting, and Pedagogy

As a Whitman faculty member, you may have heard students, colleagues, or others talking about “iPods” or “podcasting”. Have you found yourself wanting to understand what this “pod” stuff is about? Did you know that this technology has pedagogical uses? This year’s Communicating with Technology Initiative (CwTI) workshop will focus on iPods, podcasting and other social software¹—their possible impact on student learning in and out of the classroom.

During the iPod, Podcasting, and Pedagogy workshop, faculty participants will be introduced to the iPod and will explore its growth in popularity, examine how other academic institutions are using iPods, and consider the possibilities of using iPod technologies here at Whitman in a hands-on setting. No experience is necessary, and each participant will be equipped with his/her own iPod.

Faculty Parcitipants

Keith Farrington
Margo Scribner
Pat Keef
Juli Dunn
Zahi Zalloua
Nicole Simek
Mary Anne O'Neil
Elyse Semerdjian
Nohemy Solorzano-Thompson
John & Deborah Winter

Workshop Results

A palpable energy pervaded the CwTI 2006 workshop as ideas and enthusiasm flowed freely between faculty participants and technology staff presenters. Attending faculty members devoted an incredible amount of time and effort to producing sample podcasts on a diverse array of topics. Participants expressed interest in podcasting as yet another avenue of enhancement for their ever-evolving curricula.

Tell me more… what are “iPods”? What is “podcasting”?

Remember the Sony Walkman, the portable cassette player? Think of the iPod and other MP3 players as the new digital incarnation of the Sony Walkman. These new portable players are digital devices that allow people to listen to music and other audio (and sometimes video) content.

iPods and other similar devices are a core part of the current generation of students’ “digital” lifestyle—it is an increasingly integral tool in their thinking, and a largely unharnessed tool in their learning². Several universities (Duke, Princeton, to name a few) have experimented with pedagogical applications of these devices.

“Podcasting” is the preparation and distribution of audio (and possibly other media) files for download to digital music or multimedia players, such as the iPod. 32 million iPods were sold in 2005. The ubiquity of iPods and other similar devices make them primary targets for pedagogical use.

Learn more about iPods and podcasting:

1. Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities.

2. The current generation of students are sometimes referred to as the “Net Generation”