Tuning In: MCC professors use podcasts as learning tool

Kevin Bonneville

Ever since the turn of the century, the use of podcasting has become a popular way of communicating for people of all ages and backgrounds.For those who aren’t up to date on what a podcast is, it’s a regularly syndicated and published digital file that can be uploaded onto your personal computer or even a portable media player.

Some of the most popular podcasts deal with issues in sports, politics, the entertainment world, and even religion.

In recent years, however, podcasting has really picked up in the education setting.

At the college level, teachers have used podcasts to give students information on their particular course if they might have missed a day due to an absence and some use it as a preparation tool to help students prepare for an exam or quiz.

Shelley Rodrigo, an Instructional Technologist for the MCC Center for Teaching and Learning, uses podcasts for her CIS237 class, which is a web-base teaching and learning course.

Rodrigo uses the podcast to give a weekly introduction to the course material.

“I’ve gotten really good feedback from the members of the class on it,” Rodrigo said.

Despite Rodrigo’s success in her class, the use of podcasts for the most part haven’t picked up at MCC.

MCC does have its own page on iTunesU, a portion of the popular music site dedicated to university lectures and other educational tools.

Some of the featured podcasts include Rodrigo’s podcast for her class, a podcast for the class Pathophysiology 104 created by Mary Hefter, and even a podcast for the Mesa Legend.

However, MCC’s page still doesn’t stack up in terms of numbers with some of the pages that other universities and colleges are producing, with some having hundreds of podcasts.

“For some reason, the process of syndication just hasn’t picked up,” Rodrigo said.

As a result of this, Rodrigo believes that more should be done to gather more interest into podcasting and it should start at the top.

“I would like to see some of the key figures at MCC to do some podcasting, even if it’s only twice a semester,” Rodrigo said.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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