Don't assume that students walking across campus with little iPod earphones dangling are listening to the latest tunes. They just might be listening to Prof. Ron Brent's calculus lecture.

That's what's made possible with new "podcatcher" software obtained for the campus under a partnership with Anystream Inc.  The software is free and downloadable for all students, although only certain classes are currently available for download.

"Anystream is providing UML with a pilot project to outfit either classrooms or faculty laptops so that they can capture their lectures," says Michael Lucas, coordinator of distance learning. The University has an ongoing relationship with the company, and the software and licensing necessary for the pilot project is offered free of charge.

So far, two classrooms - Ball 214 and Weed Lecture Hall 1 - are equipped with "full classroom capture," so that audio, video of the instructor and computer images, such as Power Point presentations, are captured. Nine classes in those rooms are now captured for students to download to their computers. Audio-only of another five classes is available via faculty laptops and selected classrooms that are outfitted to capture their lectures. 

Lucas said five additional faculty members are working with the Instructional Network team  - Lucas, Andy Alfano and Bill Suppa - to equip their laptops and gain instruction. "The easier we can make it for the faculty to capture their lectures, the more likely it will be used," says Lucas.

The company is interested in expanding the reach at UMass Lowell. "They want to look at different ways of licensing the software so we can potentially move it into every classroom," Lucas says.

To access the lectures, students need only download free software such as iTunes or myPodder. Students then subscribe to the podcast using the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed information available on the course website. After subscribing, the podcatching software will then search for and automatically download lectures from any class the student has signed up for. Those lectures can be heard, and, in some cases, watched, from the computer. If the student owns an IPod or an MP3 player, the lectures can also be downloaded to the device for listening anytime, anywhere.

The original call to begin exploring downloadable lectures came from the Council on Teaching and Learning's Teaching with Technology task force, says Lucas. It was considered another way to help students learn.

Lucas says a research opportunity exists for faculty interested in studying the impact of downloaded lectures on student learning, funded by Anystream.  Any faculty interested in learning more about that opportunity or about podcasting their lectures are encouraged to contact Lucas at ext. 4681.

Shuldman Grant Puts Video on iPod

While podcasting of 15 or so classes is now available to students, other students in physical therapy and chemistry classes are receiving iPods with instructional video loaded on them.

Mitchell Shuldman, director of Media Services, has received a professional development grant from the UMass President's Office to test the feasibility of using pre-loaded instructional videos in portable iPods or similar devices as a classroom aide. He is working with Susan O'Sullivan, physical therapy professor, and David Ryan, chemistry professor. The videos - available for many years in various formats and considered beneficial by those who viewed them and their faculty - will now be portable. "This project offers ... one further enhancement - the ability to have these digital resources with them while engaged in the course-related clinical internships for consultation and review," says Shuldman.
 
The devices were distributed to 20 students in September and will be returned at the end of semester or year, with the idea of redistributing the devices to the following year's classes.