Sunday, October 24, 2010

Podcasts- Ups and Downs

Just recently, I enrolled in two Management courses online. Crucial Conversations and Managing Professional Relationships are both incredibly useful courses for both my personal and professional life. The information we have covered in the past two weeks have really opened my eyes to various mistakes I have been making in relationships and serious conversations.
Now that so many universities are relying more on the online world, podcasts have become increasingly popular. The professor will tape his or herself giving a 45 min. to 1 hour lecture and post it online.
This way, the students can view the podcasts on their own time. Some other advantages to online courses and podcasts are the flexibility to work with them. If students do not fully comprehend a concept, they can go back and review the video and brush up on the notes they missed.
However, in my opinion, online courses are not the most beneficial way to learn a new subject. Podcasts, being one of the main problems, are sometimes very difficult to work. The videos I view for my online courses can only adapt with certain Internet sources and they work differently depending on whether you own a Mac or a PC. If the Internet is running slow, so will the podcast. Also, there is something to be said about getting up in the morning and actually attending a class, rather than lying in bed viewing the professor from your screen. There is no way I could make this a habit for the rest of my college courses. It is difficult for me to become motivated to work on these online courses from the comfort of my own room. When questions arise, I must e-mail the professor rather than raising my hand in the classroom. Also, podcasts do not allow any feedback, discussion or class engagement.
Technology is really a wonderful thing. But I never want to replace it with ideas and traditions that have worked so well for me in the past. I guess I am more of a personable and social person and in some ways I feel as though, technology can hinder that. I have enjoyed getting to know several of my professors at OSU and would much rather converse with them face to face than through podcasts.

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree with you. Laying in my bed is not class time at all. I want to get up and get out of bed for a reason. I want to attend class and not be lazy. I think that podcasts promote laziness for students, which can also lead to weight gain. Isn't there a campaign going on right not to fight weight gain in young students? Don't you think this crosses paths with it? I do.

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  2. I totally agree with the idea of getting out of bed and going to class every day, however, wouldn't it be nice if all professors recorded their lectures for later viewing? That way you still had to attend class, but if you didn't understand something you could review it again.

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