Update: For those of you who tried the link and found it broken, it has been fixed now. Sorry about that.
My colleagues at FIT are at it again. Not content to merely use podcasting as part of their art history courses, they are trying out screencasting, using Camtasia to provide audiovisual tours of art works. Very cool.
What I’d like to know, though, is whether one can use RSS enclosures to publish a Quicktime video to a video iPod this way. Will the iPod know what to do with the video? If so, then this would be a great way to broadcast visually intensive learning content.
It can definitely be done, although it’s a little bit complicated. A fairly simple guide (Mac-centric, of course, as is usual in the world of video!) is here http://playlistmag.com/features/2005/07/howtovodcast/index.php?lsrc=mwtoprss .
But I think a more interesting question than “can we do it?” is “why should we do it?” There will always be a technical solution (of varying difficulty) to technical problems. But I’m much more curious about what pedagogical problem this technology could solve. What are the benefits of having video content a student can carry around with her?
I’ve been thinking about this, and the more I consider, the more it seems like a question that needs to be explored a lot more fully. It’s easy to walk, or ride the subway, or drive, and listen to audio, but it’s not so useful (and even dangerous) to do some of those activities while watching material.
But there are certainly some useful applications–I’m thinking in terms of maps, or guided tours (whether of a museum, or a neighborhood, or a region), or supplemental visual material linked to a specific location.
Any of these, though, would work a lot better if the video material could be truly interactive (which is not possible right now with the video ipod). Rather than passive consumption of video, if students could actually call up links as they need to follow them–with a huge range available–and even (blue-skying) have the device itself somehow interact with the environment…”Ipod, scan this building and give me pictures of other buildings which were built by the same architect.” Or “Ipod, show me the preliminary sketches that led to this painting. No, not those–wasn’t there something similar by Raphael? Yes, that’s it.” Or “Ipod, this bird is foraging just like that one from last week. Call up the lecture about genus Aegypius again.”
Obviously, I’m imagining something far beyond the reach of current technology (I’m thinking of a tricorder!). But I’m sure there’s a middle ground somewhere–as a writing and literature teacher, I’m not sure where. But I’d want to figure out first what need teachers have for visual content that walks around, and then find the best way to give it to them.
Thanks for the URL, Joe.
Regarding the pedagogy, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with location-specific needs. Imagine, for example, being able to pull up a video in the middle of an engineering lab to see how the parts are supposed to fit together. Or a video of the building you are looking at being constructed. Or a screencast of a painting, highlighting certain features, as you are looking at the real thing in the gallery.
Regarding the interactive part, I think you could get a lot of what you’re looking for (sans voice interface)with present and near-future technology. Substitute a PSP for an iPod and you can have interactivity. Add wireless Internet and you can have search. Add a GPS and you can have location awareness.
Michael:
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head regarding instructional use. One case just tossed about involved procedural knowledge for RNs/LPNs in training. Need to practice how to give an injection? As long as you have your syringe (and your orange, don’t forget that) handy, watch your iPod video for a refresher, then plunge at will. A similiar case could be made in terms of performance support – provide just in time guided performance of a task that is non-routine (I’m thinking bomb squad here – “cut the green wire; DO NOT cut the red wire first)and not easily internalized.
As for the art scenario – aside from calling attention to detail in a particular frame, there could be compare/contrast exercises via the iPod (“just what did George Washington look like? Here’s Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt Peale, C.W. Peale, Houdon – which are idealized? Which are considered life-like?”)
…and so it goes
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