Executive Summary of Results

The project used innovative approaches to adopting new technologies of portable media (ipods and podcasting) as a means of enhancing students’ learning and to consider new media approaches to creating cultural experiences. The instructional design plan incorporated ipods as a tool for active learning though small group discussion in large classes, and for reviewing course content for exams. Students were challenged to learn ways to create, distribute and display meaningful creative content for portable media, and in museum tours learned of previous miniature forms of cultural expressions.The ipod and podcasting proved to have a strong potential to impact student learning in both large classes and small classes by taking advantage of its use as a popular personal media device that can hold broadly shared content. The goals of the project  in the creative works were not only met but exceeded. Both approaches could be adopted for a wide range of classes.

Need for the Project

One pedagogical need was the large lecture class – to improve student interaction and motivate the student to engage in lessons and projects. The larger class this was tested on is a large lecture class that requires many different ways of trying to engage the students on an individual basis, so that their learning experience is a meaningful one.

Another pedagogical need was to allow students in the smaller art studio class and in the larger lecture class to be more involved in their learning in a way that could improvise with using new media and to experiment with new forms of production and distribution aimed specifically at podcasting.

Use of Technology

• How did the project take advantage of IU’s learning environment?
• Did the project lead to collaboration that will help IU improve or expand classroom   and online learning environment?   
• How did the project make use of instructional technology and design?

The project aimed to use NEW instructional technologies rather than existing ones, and to find innovative ways of using these by doing the following:

• Incorporating podcasts into class sessions and outside of class
• Collaborating with the IU art museum curators and staff to create a series of video podcasts that would have relevance to course projects (creating works for small screen) through podcast tours of specific miniature works in the IU Art Museum. The Art museum is a terrific on-campus resource that is not used enough in contemporary art classes. Here it was used as a way of understanding contemporary concepts by looking at similar concepts in art history from ancient to recent times across cultures. Students expanded the classroom into the cultural histories represented in museum holdings with the aid of the curators’ podcast tours.
• Utilized the TLTC resource pages concerning podcasting

At the time I started the project there were few resources for podcasting on campus, however that has greatly expanded and I encourage the use of these existing resources as well as furthering innovation in its use.

Instructional Design Plan

• What student learning outcomes were expected?
• How did your teaching plan encourage active learning, provide  feedback, address   

     respective learning styles, and build collaboration? 

• What resources were used? (campus technology support services, etc.)
• Would your project be easily understood and executed by other faculty?

Some of the student learning outcomes expected were:
Following for creative works:

• Students would be able to plan and create their own podcasts
• Students would understand some of the conceptual, technical and aesthetic challenges of creating works for small screens, for podcasting, or for works that exist outside traditional gallery spaces
• The emphasis was on what kind of experience the students and their audience would get from the content being on the ipod, and using an exhibition format in addition to publishing to an unseen audience

Following for use of ipods for exams and reading reviews

• Students would recall various major points from class or readings
• Students would be able to use review questions and imagery to launch small group discussion to understand key points of artworks
• Students would learn visual memorization tools for slide exam portions

Teaching Plans encouraged this by:

• Creating situations where students could actively participate and not just listen
• Create situations where student s could create works or enage in class discussions where the professor and their peers could see that they had learned
• Utlizing learning styles that encouraged auditory/visual etc kinesthetic learning through physical, social and cultural experience
• Creating situations and projects where students could collaborate on concept, planning, production, discussion and presentation
• Creating opportunities for students to experience and discuss the completed creative works of others in the class

Resources used:

• Resources in our own department
• Indiana University Art Museum collections and curators
• TLTC online resources for podcasting
• Graduate students in my own and other areas were enlisted for their specific video and audio skills to do a video shoots of the IU Art Museum curators discussing specific objects and artworks in the museum

The project could easily be understood and executed not only by art faculty in my own discipline but by faculty in other disciplines, adapting it to locations and content that have meaning for their own discipline. Our department has students skilled in A/V methods so we did not need to rely too much on outside resources. However our campus has many resources especially in TLTC that can assist with similar projects. Additionally, many departments have students who are skilled in using audio and video or internet technologies through their involvement in Web 2.0 culture.

Potential to Impact Student Learning

• Fostered depth of learning
• Supported efforts to improve retention
• Fostered  the learning of large numbers of students
• Has broader applications that will affect learning K-12 or community environments

The project improved student learning by:

• Allowing opportunities to understand the subject matter rather than just memorize. In the large lecture class, students used ipod reviews in smaller groups to facilitate discussion. These smaller groups and the innovative media created a more relaxed way for students to interact and discuss. The ipods had questions and images related to readings that they would have to discuss together as a small group, then bring their findings back to the larger group in larger class discussion.
• Students also could borrow the ipods or download content to their own ipods to do further review on an individual basis outside of the classroom in their own environments, for example reviewing topics or images for exam.
• Students were able to tour the IU Art Museum with the ipods and watch interviews with curators discussing specific works in the museum collection. These interviews focused on content that was related to our class projects and inspired many students to place their own ideas, practice and goals within a larger cultural and historical context.
• Students were able to create art projects that could easily be applicable to other situations where one creates works in sequences, works for small screens (such as cell phones), or works that are not meant to be experienced in traditional art gallery environments.
• The use of the ipods really encouraged active participation – not only with ‘hands on’ but with ‘minds on’ as a means of retention and inspiration/impetus to proceed with projects and learning
• Students evaluated and reflected on the use of the ipods in a survey I gave at the end of one class, as well as in class critiques.
• This kind of project could easily be expanded to a wider community – using podcasting and small screen media not just for the obvious use of access to lecture material, but as a means of using it for students to gain more meaningful, personal access to material, as a means of sharing for small group discussion (subgroups in large classes or used in small classes), and as a tool for them to share their own cultural and intellectual production

Assessment Plan

• What measure of assessment was used?
• How did your approach obtain measures of performance?
• Did you feel your measurement was accurate and effective?
• What were the student learning outcomes?

There were several measures of assessment:

• Class Art Projects: we had ‘critiques’ of student works. This included: traditional critiques in the classroom but handing the ipods along to each other to view specific works; a critique held outside the class using the ipods to view image works done for specific sites outside of the classrooms, a ‘walking’ critique where we listened and viewed works created for walks around the vicinity of the art school and then gathered to discuss the works; and finally,  student votes on the most effective works
• Lecture Class: The measure of assessment included some of the above mentioned art projects but also included an Exam, where students were asked questions related specifically to content that was reviewed in the in-class ipod small-group discussions as well as in the take-home podcasts of slides for the slide portion of the exam, or topics for the questions in the exam

The measure of performance in the artworks was whether the artwork met the project goals, which included the effectiveness of producing a work for a small screen or for specific sites or for downloading via itunes.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Students produced some excellent art works and knowledgeable responses on exams that proved to me that the intentions of this project had been met by a large portion of the class.
• Having taught the lecture class before, it was clear that the ipod works produced showed more engagement and insight, and that the responses on the exam that reflected topics reviewed in the in-class ipod discussions reflected more understanding of the content and that more students recalled major points.
• Many students also did well on the slide portion of the exam, and at least one said that the slide review on ipod helped them recall the images better.

With the creative works:

• Students planned and created their own podcasts for a successful public exhibition at the end of term at the School of Fine Arts.
• Students incorporated a range of media for their works for small screen – from very introductory image works done using photoshop, to more advanced works using video, audio, performance art, websites, and ‘locative’ artworks created for specific sites, proving that they could approach this media with a wide range of creative tools and approaches.
• Within the entire range of aesthetic quality of the work produced, all students appeared to have grasped many of the conceptual, technical and aesthetic challenges of creating works for small screens, for podcasting, or for works that exist outside traditional gallery spaces.
• Students learned/created:
• Basic recording techniques
• Video and audio editing
• Video and audio exporting for iPod
• Audio and video podcasting using
  Feeder and iTunes
• Creating and uploading files for podcasts
• Test Group podcast
• Individual and group class art projects and art exhibition using video and audio podcasts

It is hard for me to report that the measurement was 100% accurate or effective. With exams, this is more clearly accurate. However with the art projects, the measurement also takes into account creative and conceptual skills of the individual student that may or may not exceed what was taught. A student could not effectively produce the final projects without some level of comprehension of those things the project aimed to teach. They could not produce a meaningful project without a greater understanding of these things.

Plan for Colleague Development

• What mentoring activities were implemented to assist colleagues?
• How did you help to develop colleague's instructional technology skills?
• How do you think your contributions to the Knowledge Base will help colleagues  

     planning similar projects? 

• Is your project approach potentially applicable to other contexts or disciplines?
• What tips would you offer?

Colleague Mentoring in this project so far has been with the collaboration with the museum and to grad student assistants. The museum was interested as they were already interested in pursuing podcasting for their audience, and they have followed through on this. I have spoken with some art historians and other art professors who are interested in using the ipods for pedagogical purposes similar to those undertaken in this project.

Regarding colleague IT skills, the graduate students learned many skills that some used in the junior level courses they teach. I have discussed some future possibilities to use the ipods for other classes and have offered to share my skills and knowledge gained from this project with other faculty in my department.

Colleagues planning similar projects should be able to use similar approaches and consider engaging their students to use the ipods not just for replaying lectures but as a device to aid in meaningful learning experiences such as those undertaken with this project.

This project is very applicable to other disciplines, not only to those typically engaged in the production, distribution or display of cultural works, but also to disciplines interested in creating site-specific learning experiences that relate to course content.

My primary tips are to

• Make ipods or similar portable media you have for the class accessible so that students actually can use them. This is especially important for those who want to check them out to use for study purposes and for those who are trying to experiment with them as a device for cultural experiences.
• Keep on top of the latest means of creating and distributing content for portable media, these are often freeware and easy to use, with online forums and support communities. These are also likely to be the methods your students are more likely to use.
• Use the new features for podcasting on Oncourse.
• Think of other ways to use the media that might make your course content more memorable -- think outside the box. Don't just stick with the typical ways in which the media is used (even though that might be the one you ultimately choose to use). Think of ways the media has specific meaning and application to what you are teaching, and to using it to create experiences that have strongest relationships to your course content. If you are studying content that is out of the classroom, use these in those sites so the learning experience has more resonance.
• Treat portable media as social media AND as intimate, private media that can be used to promote learning in both social and private situations.
• Think about audience and location
• Consider your desired experience/outcome
• Enhance the content -- don’t simply podcast a lecture as is. Is this a supplement, a replacement, a recap for lectures?
• Podcast info and technical links: http://mypage.iu.edu/~lesharpe/podlinks.htm

Final Comments on Project Results

I met most of the goals and in some cases exceeded them.

• Discussion improved, more relaxed, had direction
• Some exam sections seemed improved -- image identifications and questions related to readings discussed using the ipods
• Many of the art projects were outstanding and of higher quality than expected. Even works done by introductory level students who had no prior art experience showed very imaginative responses to project assignments.
• Students learned the skills I had set out for them to learn.

Different approaches: I would require students to produce the podcast works faster, so they would have more chances to assess their own development and work through their own successes and failures throughout the semester before doing a larger public project.

At this time there is more critical writing about podcasting and uses of various portable media. I would definitely include some recent readings around this in the project classes.

There were some unexpected outcomes – some problematic and some good
Issues:

• Not all students into all aspects of ipod projects
• Handing out ipods proved cumbersome
• Copyright issues for podcasting
• Unforeseen needs: care of iPods, extra student help, every approach could be improved on a second round!

Pleasant surprises:

• New tools that have positive connotations for students can encourage a positive atmosphere for the class

• Students inevitably know way more about new media than I can ever hope to – they brought into discussion and production things that they had heard about and wanted to try. More than this, they brought a keen curiosity and innovative approach to the media.

• Students incorporate their own uses of media and this is always good to look out for. Some good things in this respect included their awareness of it as a ‘hip’ device to use in public. While one artwork used this in a performative way, I can see potential for this to be a positive and popular display of using portable media as a learning tool.

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Last updated: 14 December, 2007

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