Bravo for the Duke iPod Experiment
It was a daring experiment, and one that caught immediate criticism because
some saw the university as “giving away toys” to the incoming freshman
class. Well, iPods are ‘toys’ in a sense, and of course they were
mostly used for entertainment. But some pretty interesting lessons were learned.
And it was just the start. Next fall, incoming freshman at one university are
each getting their own personal gigabyte key fob drive and there are probably
many initiatives I haven’t learned of yet. There’s no doubt that
we’ll all be carrying everything we have access to with us, all of the
time, in the not-to-distant future. So, let’s take a look at what Duke
learned before we go off doing bigger and better things.
What did Duke get for the estimated $500k that the iPod project cost? Well,
if you read the entire report--Duke
iPod First-Year Experience,--it’s clear that the university really
got its money’s worth. Sure, some of the popular media characterized it
as an unwarranted waste of money, pandering to students’ addiction to
technology toys. But those same people probably don’t understand what
an “experiment” is in the first place. Much of what was learned
could have been predicted, but now we know. That’s worth a lot.
Useful despite inadequacies.
Experiments are learning tools. In my opinion, the most important thing learned
was that despite the fact that the iPod itself has limitations as a learning
tool, it was still successfully used in many ways. Sure, the only way to input
data was synchronization. And, there were no pre-existing tools for instructors
to load text and audio, together, into the device. And the iPod could use a
better microphone for academic recording quality, d’oh! Whatever the limitations,
seventy-five percent of first year students either used the iPod in class, for
academic purposes, or outside of class to support academic purposes.
Five major categories of academic usages.
What did the faculty do with the iPods?
· They used iPods as course content dissemination tools--basically, virtual
access to class content wherever students were.
· iPods were used in the classroom to record lectures, discussions, and
feedback: “It was great. I didn’t have to write down all the comments
my group said about my paper because I could just download it off my iPod onto
my iTunes and listen to it from there.” (Duke report, page 7)
· Likewise, they were used in ‘the field’ to take notes, record
interviews, even the sounds of various environments. (A major point: Needs a
better microphone!)
· They were also used as digital flash cards for repetitive listening
to audio content.
· And they were useful for backing up or carrying around large multimedia
files: “I love my iPod. I had a music seminar . . . and had to memorize
various symphonies and concertos for a listening final. My prof had no idea
what an iPod was but I used it every day until I learned all of the listed recordings.”
(Duke report, page 10)