Number 48 January 1, 2006	A publication of Project Eagle, St. Petersburg College

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	Administration	Free Information Sources

iPods and Wikis and Blogs (Oh My!):
Recreational Products As E-Learning Tools

"The average person spends about nine hours a day using some type of media...in excess of anything we would have envisioned 10 years ago."
Mark Ransford, News Center, Ball State University, 9/23/05

In the rapidly evolving world of technological change and opportunity, three recreational products unexpectedly impacting e-learning are the Apple iPod, wiki and weblog (a.k.a.blog). This issue examines both their background and uses in the world of onlne education today.

Apple Computer's iPod

Background and Hardware

"Apple Unveils Video iPod." Report in Apple Insider, 10/12/05, about an iPod that plays video, in addition to audio, recordings. See also Apple Introduces iPod Nano, Apple news release, 9/7/05, about an iPod thinner than a pencil that holds 1000 pieces of music or 25,000 photos.
iPod. Entry in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, with a definition ("a brand of digital...player designed and marketed by Apple Computer"), plus history, development and iPod capabilities.
iPod in the Classroom. Apple's own Website on maximizing IPod use with students. It includes how-to guides, tutorials, discussions, technical support and more.
Leadership Institute Blog: iPods and iTunes in Higher Education. Weblog maintained by the Apple Digital Campus Exchange with assorted postings on the academic use of iPods.

Examples of Podcasting and Other Applications

"eLearning Utopia: iPods Meet Course Management in the Classroom." Article by Robert Viau, Georgia College & State University (GCSU) in Campus Technology, August 2005, about his use of the iPod in a WebCT managed e-course. For much more on iPod use at GSCU, see their Website devoted to that subject.
"iPods Offer Note-Taking Alternatives to Lectures." Article by Becca Garrison in The Cavalier Daily, 9/16/05, about Coursecast, a service being piloted at some Texas universities by the Pick-a-Prof company. It allows students to download MP3 files of lectures for $5 each. (Profits are split between the company and the professors.)
Podcasting. Entry in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, that provides the history and uses of the concept of podcasting, which it defines simply as "publishing programs via the Internet."
"Podcasting Made Easy." Article by Elliot Van Buskirk in ZDNetNews, 4/28/05, on the author's experience with a variety of portals and other online tools that make podcasting use easier.
"Podcasts a New Frontier of Higher Education." Article in The Daily Nebraskan, 10/4/05, about the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's distribution of an iPod to all incoming freshmen. See also a similar article, by Brock Read, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/2/05, about a Drexel University (PA) iPod giveaway program and another article, in Inside Higher Education News, 6/16/05, with an analysis of the first year of iPod use at Duke University (NC).
"Seriously, iPods Are Educational." Article by Brock Read in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/18/05. about ways colleges are investigating for academic uses of the iPod.
Podcast.net - The Podcast Directory. Popular Website that allows subject searching for available podcasts. It includes a Learning and Instruction category with hundreds of entries. Another major search tool is Yahoo Podcasts. See also Finding Podcasts Faster, an Associated Press release inTechnologyReview.com, 11/18/05, about new podcast locator tools Blinkx, Podzinger, and Podscope.
Princeton Video Podcasting. Report in Podcasting News, 10/28/05, about the addition of vodcasts (video podcasts), to Princeton University's (NJ) podcast service.

Weblogs (Blogs) and Wikis

Background

Blog. Entry in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, that defines weblog or blog as a "Web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles." They range in scope from one author (blogger) to a large community of writers. Blog Websites are collectively called the blogosphere.
"Blogging: An Introduction." Article by Bobby Hobgood on the Learn North Carolina Website about the uses of blogs in education as journal, diary, publication or administrative tool, and as a research source. A similar article is "Weblogs in Education: Bringing the World to the Liberal Arts Classroom" by Sarah Lohnes in NITLE News (2:1), Winter 2003.
"Campuses Make Way for the Worldwide Wiki." Article by Rich Seeley in Campus Technology, 10/6/05, With the noteworthy quote "Where blogs provoke debate, wikis promote cooperation," the article provides useful information about wikis in the classroom.
Intro to Weblogs. Intro to Wikis. Websites maintained by the University of Calgary (Canada) that offer a detailed look at what a blogs and wikis are, and what they can do in the context of higher education. See also Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes, a paper by Aaron Patric Campbell, Ryujoju University (Japan), in The Internet TESL Journal (4:2), 2/03, on the advantages of classroom blogging and Writing with Weblogs by Kristen Kennedy in TechLearning.com, 2/13/03, on the blog as "an emergent genre...for students to publish online."
"New Search Engines Help Users Find Blogs." Article by Vauchini Vara, copied from The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/05, reporting on new blog-searching products like Technorati, Feedster, Bloglines, IceRocket, and DayPop. (This article was also listed in the previous BEEP.)
Wiki. Entry in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia defining a wiki as a Web application that allows users to add and edit content. Also contains more information about the workings of wikis.

Examples

Blog@Case. Case Western University's (IL) Weblog hosting system for use by the university community. Includes instructions on how to set up and use a blog within the Case framework.
BPRIME Wiki. Also known as Best Practices in Mathematical Education, this wiki is a collaborative effort to collect teaching ideas and practices.
SCU Launches Student Blogs. Press release by Santa Clara University (CA), 10/11/05, about its interactive student recruitment initiative using Web-based online journals.
Teaching, Learning, and Other Uses for Wikis in Academia. Article by Julie Higdon in Campus Technology, 11/16/05, about the challenges of wiki use at the University of Southern California's Center for Scholarly Technology.
Weblogs in Higher Education. Blog "devoted to the understanding of...pedagogical and other uses of weblogs and wikis in higher education." Maintained by Ken Smith, Indiana University.
Wikipedia. Free, online encyclopedia authored and edited by just about anyone on any subject. See "Wikipedia: Teapot Tempest" by Wade Roush, Technology.com, 12/7/05, about recent misinformation in the Wikipedia that resulted in some restrictions on how information is added.

BEEP's Best Bets

Administration

"Student's Homework Site Nets Him $1.25M." Article by Corey Murray in eSchool News Online, 10/26/05, about the sale of a student-created Website SurfYourWork.com, a Web-based school management system which was highlighted in a previous BEEP.

Free Information Sources

Google Earth. Yet another Google effort that "puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop." Basic service is free, with low-cost add-ons.
"Wikibooks to Offer Free eTexts for Education." Article by Robert Brumfeld in eSchool News Online, 11/2/05, about the Wikimedia Foundation's initiative to create collaboratively written online K-20 textbooks using wiki Web publishing software it provides.

The contents of BEEP were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.