Today at 4pm I’ll be speaking to the Intro to Computing class, which is both webcasted and podcasted. Anything you’d like me to talk about?
The class is rather freeform, with instructor Americ Azevedo and his students passing the mic and interviewing guests. His class has been shaped by coursecasting where he now turns the class into a “show”.
Americ was the first person at Cal to podcast his class. Around April ‘05 I wanted to podcast a course but needed a willing instructor and thought of Americ. He’s always trying new things, and I believe he already had a personal podcast. Then he gave a call out of the blue. The rest is history. By early Fall ‘05 his course podcast was being covered by NBC local news, and made the front page of the LA Times (story link).
Should be fun to look back with Americ and talk about webcast.berkeley, iTunes U, Google Video, and beyond.
October 16, 2006 at 3:31 am |
I watched the discussion and found it quite interesting. I will say that after having watched webcasts from both Berkeley and MIT, if I had it to do over again I would definitely attend one or the other schools
There was mention of being able to subsidize the costs. A year ago I took Dr. David Attwood’s Soft Xray and Extreme UV class through Berkeley Extension. Even though I did not receive any real credit hours, I was able to ask questions and submit homeworks to be graded. I am sure there are other people that would be interested in being able to participate in such a manner. So you can watch the classes for free, but if you want to be able to submit homeworks and have them graded you would need to pay.
This may not work for all classes(especially those with labs), but it could work for some.
I will also add that being able to take Dr. Attwoods class online motivated be to go back to graduate school to work on my masters degree.
October 16, 2006 at 6:13 am |
Techbuffet – Very glad to hear that the free online courses would motivate you to attend Berkeley or MIT, and that Attwood’s course has you going back to grad school. Great testimonials.
Your idea around sustaining the lectures is intriguing. The notion of distance ed (certification or degree) has recently been raised by a group on campus, and I think free and paid can be complementary. The notion of a hybrid as you propose is well worth consideration. Thanks.