Robin Deily is an Instructional Technology Consultant and leads the LTS Client Services team supporting the engineering college. Ilena Key is and Instructional Technology Consultant for the College of Education. Jason Slipp is an Instructional Technology Consultant for the College of Business and Economics.

Ipods, a class of portable digital audio players designed and marketed by Apple, have become very popular on college campuses. Everywhere you look, you see students walking around with the trademark white earphones dangling out of their ears. However, did you know that iPods have interesting academic uses? Some colleges have even given their incoming freshmen iPods so they can get up-to-date information on campus and courses, and use them as a way to share files between their professors and fellow classmates. How could iPods affect your course? Do you think they could be used to enhance a student's learning experience? Do roll can iPods play in academia? This article summarizes information that was presented at Cybertools 2005 by Robin Deily, Ilena Key and Jason Slipp.

IPods have become very popular on college campuses. Many people think of these devices are only for entertainment. However, there are several interesting academic uses for iPods. This article will provide an overview iPods and explain some of the many academic uses for the device. What is an ipod? Ipods are a class of portable digital audio players designed and marketed by Apple that work with both MAC and PC platforms. Ipods store media (audio files, audio books, pictures, music, etc.) on a built-in hard drive, can serve as an external data storage device when connected to a computer, and can play most popular audio formats. (wikipedia., 2005). These formats include MP3, WAV, and AAC.

Ipods work with iTunes media library software, which lets users manage the music libraries on their computers and ipods. iTunes can automatically synchronize a user's iPod with specific playlists or with the entire contents of a music library each time an iPod connects to a host computer. Ipods also have PDA functions. They can synchronize a user's contacts and schedule with the address book and iCal applications on the user's Mac.

There are many ways to get content onto the iPod. However, most of the content must first be loaded into the iTunes media library software on the user's PC or MAC. Once the content is available in iTunes, the user can "sync" their iTunes with their iPod via a FireWire or USB cable. Content can come from many different sources: iTunes online music store, CDs, or self created. Users can legally download music and other digital audio (audio books, pod casts) from the iTunes online music stores as well as other participating websites. Users can also "rip" songs from their own CD's to place in iTunes as well as the iPod. Finally, users can create their own audio content by using a microphone (Belkin voice recorder) that can be purchased separately. The mic attaches to the iPod and records the user's voice. The audio can be replayed as well as saved for later use (directions below).

Some Academic Uses for iPods:

• Course content dissemination tool - Portable access to course content such as lectures, songs, historical speeches, and foreign language content distributed via the Duke Ipod content server, Itunes Music Store, Blackboard course management tool and podcasts
• Classroom recording tool - Capturing lectures, class discussions and verbal feedback.
• Field Recording Tool: Capturing field notes, interviews environmental sounds and audio data.
• Study support tool- Repeated listening and repetition of commercial and original audio content, such music, audio books, rehearsals and vocabulary lists.
• File Storage and Transfer- Simple transfer or backup mechanism, particularly for large multimedia files. 
• Podcasting/Podcatching. The ability to listen to Podcasts. Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows," and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching."
• Software (a type of aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically.
• Disseminating University Information (i.e. campus maps, registration info and campus tours).

Benefits of Academic iPod Use ( Duke University , 2005)

• Convenience for both faculty and students or portable digital courses content, and a reduced dependence on physical materials.
• Flexible location-independent access to digital multimedia course materials, including reduced dependence on lab or library locations and hours.
• Effective and easy to use tool for digital recording of interviews, field notes, small group discussions, and self recording of oral assignments.
• Greater student engagement and interest in class discussions, labs research, and independent projects.
• Enhanced support for individual learning preferences and needs.

Using the iPod to record an audio file and upload it to a Blackboard course - Create a recording by using the sound recorder device and show how to upload a file to a webpage/course management system. The basic work flow is a follows (Deily, 2005):

1. Plug the recording device into the iPod, the recording program should start automatically
2. record and save
3. Connect the iPod to your computer
4. Although the memo you recorded will probably be available through iTunes (if that's what you use for music!), you will want to access your iPod as a hard disk. To do that you need to check the iPod options from within iTunes to "enable disk use". See your iPod help, for specific instructions for your iPod model and computer operating system
5. Find the file, might be in a folder named "Recordings
6. In Blackboard (or another Course Management System) add the file to the course. Typically, the terminology would be, "upload" or "attach" the file. For example, in Blackboard, you would add content, attach the file, choose the "Special Action" to "Display Media File within the Page" . This will place the file directly on the page with the media player controls.

Things that will be different !:

• Computer platform and Operating System: PC, Mac, OS 9, OS X, XP Pro, ME, home, etc.
• Type of recording device
• Security Settings: firewalls, pop-up blockers, etc.
• Browsers: Safari, Mozilla, Firefox, Internet Explorer
• Media players: Quicktime, Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc..
• Browser plug-ins: see above
• Editing options within Blackboard differ if you are using a Mac or a PC

Resources

Podcasting

NPR Broadcast Directory: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php

Post Cast Alley: http://www.podcastalley.com/

Pod Cast Directory http://www.podcastdirectory.com/

Studies

Duke U. Will Give iPod Music Players to All Freshmen ( Carlson, 2004)

Chronicle of Higher Ed:  http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v50/i47/47a02101.htm

Duke U. Assesses iPod Experiment and Finds It Worked -- in Some Courses (Read, 2005)

Chronicle of Higher Ed: http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i43/43a02801.htm

Duke Will Scale Back its iPod Giveaway to Students (Read, 2005)

Chronicle of Higher Ed: http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i32/32a03002.htm

Duke Ipod- First Year Experiences Report (Duke, 2005)
http://www.duke.edu/ipod/

General iPod links

Apple iPod and Education site: http://www.apple.com/education/ipod/

Apple iTunes site : http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Belkin (cool accesories): http://www.belkin.com/iPod/matrix/index.asp?cid=1&lid=1&dock=y
Audible (recorded books, magazines, newspapers, podcasts): http://www.audible.com/
iLounge ( the place to be): http://www.ilounge.com/