“There was actually more revising with the podcasts than would have been normal for a standard term paper, and students were much more careful.”
Julian Lombardi, Assistant Vice President,
Academic Services and Technology
Duke University: Campus Demand Drives Development of iTunes U
Since faculty and students were already familiar with and using iTunes, Earp’s and Mitchell’s teams saw that the technology would give pervasive access to academic content, without the need to create, manage, and provide training for a new tool. Also, using iTunes and iPod would give Duke the opportunity to move quickly with its goal of providing pervasive access to academic content.
Increased Student Adoption Expands Initiative
With the addition of a Belkin TuneTalk recorder to an iPod, Lombardi says every user had the ability to create a podcast. “At that point the iPod truly became a portable content creation and consumption device,” he says. “Students could post content to iTunes U, and they could distribute it to faculty and their peers.”
Students’ enthusiastic acceptance of podcasting and iTunes U rapidly accelerated the faculty’s technology adoption, Lombardi adds. “After giving an iPod to each freshman the first year, the second year we only distributed them to students enrolled in courses using iPod. An Italian course that used iPods was packed, while the professor teaching without iPods couldn’t get enough students to hold a class. What that says to me was that Duke’s commitment to technology innovation and general course relevance gave our students a reason for wanting to be in this new and exciting learning environment.”
iPod, iTunes U Transform Teaching
More than 80 courses in several schools on campus — including humanities, social studies, and sciences — now make iPod players a requirement. Additionally, Duke’s iTunes U site offers a rich blend of digital content to thousands of visitors each month. Duke’s Fuqua School of Business also has launched an iTunes U site, where users and the public can download speeches, interviews, and conference presentations.
“Our instructors tell us that the use of iPod has transformed the way they use media in their classes,” says Earp. “The ease of having everything in your iPod when you go to your class — to be able to cue up music, films, lectures, and other content — really makes the in-class teaching experience go much more smoothly. Faculty members say that once their content becomes digital, they spend much less time on the ‘logistical’ stuff.”
Lombardi says Duke’s faculty continually shares stories about the improvements they’ve seen in students’ work. “One professor assigned a term paper in the form of a podcast,” Lombardi reveals. “The quality of the podcasts exceeded anything this professor had seen in all previous years of assigning written papers. Because the podcasts would be available to all students in the class, the professor believes peer-pressure played a significant role in ensuring high quality projects. There was actually more revising with the podcasts than would have been normal for a standard term paper, and students were much more careful.”
Technology Innovation = Competitive Advantage
Duke University has always sought ways to differentiate itself with innovative educational initiatives, and the use of leading-edge technologies. As Lombardi, Earp, and Mitchell look towards the future, they see iPod and iTunes U as the keys to delivering a competitive advantage to Duke.
“The whole iTunes U concept is one that resonates across campus,” Lombardi says. “I can’t envision any other ‘forcing’ functions that would have led to the broad scale distribution of these technologies, and the positioning that Duke now has internationally. Fortunately, Tracy had the insight to see that this first-rate consumer product — the iPod — has tremendous potential at many levels. Their persistent, widespread use, semester after semester, speaks to the success of this program.”
*The mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and represents neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.
