iTunes U and "The End of the Essay"

The campus that never sleeps. That's a tag line that Apple uses for iTunes U a free service that gives higher education institutions a way to offer audio and video content (presentations, performances, lectures, demonstrations, debates, tours, archival footage) and it's all free.

There are plenty of open courseware offerings and though it is designed for colleges, much of the content would be appropriate for professional development and selective use with students.

I'm at NJIT and we are one of the schools using iTunes U. You can get more info on using the service at our site http://itunes.njit.edu/
or Apple's site http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu/

We have 2 good series on world literature in our site and a new series called "The End of the Essay" that is 2.0 juicy in that we are hoping to have educators not only listen to the podcasts, but interact with us on our wiki and a related blog and push us in new directions with the topic and podcasts - perhaps even add user podcast content. We'd love to have you join in.

Tags: 2.0, assessment, blog, essay, media, report, research, student, web, wiki, More…writing

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Permalink Reply by pete whitfield on September 17, 2007 at 11:20pm

I love this! Thanks so much for sharing it! I found this on the site - is there more discussion following on from this?

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Permalink Reply by Ken Ronkowitz on September 30, 2007 at 12:10pm

Yes, check out the wiki site. You can add to that discussion if you register with wikispaces.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Pass on September 30, 2007 at 12:51pm

I just read the post that Pete posted to and I have one question: How important is writing to thinking? I've always thought that writing clarifies thinking. For me it does not matter if it's on paper or on computer, but writing provides me with something tangible that I can look back at as I consider my evolving thoughts. A recording just isn't the same because you can skim it as quickly. Therefore I'm not sure if the end of the essay is a good thing. What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by pete whitfield on September 30, 2007 at 1:01pm

Perhaps in my enthusiasm I've given the wrong impression Andrew. I agree entirely that writing clarifies the thought process - and the analytical process. I'm certainly not a prolific blogger or forum contributor but my dabblings have helped me achieve some focus and reflection I feel. I think what new technologies offer is certainly not the end of writing but a shift that brings in multiple methods of (enlivened) presentation and the opportunities for collaboration and discussion, whereas an essay is finite.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Pass on September 30, 2007 at 1:09pm

Pete, I don't disagree with you at all. In fact, I'm teaching an online course this semester on Organizational Development and Web 2.0. I've never before permitted students to turn in videos or other media instead of papers. But I took a risk this semester and permitted them to do so. It's still too soon to know if any students will take me up on these options. But, I'm anticipating that some will. I'm looking forward to seeing the results. While writing does promote thinking, it'll be interesting to see the kind of thinking associates with other media.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Ronkowitz on September 30, 2007 at 3:02pm

I don't think Dr. Elliot or myself think the essay is really ending totally, but I do think it will be replaced by other (call them web 2.0 applications perhaps) forms of reporting in classrooms (though certainly more slowly than the essay is being replaced online).

One thing you'll find in both our courses is that a lot of writing is done in creating these new reporting forms. Much of the research involved is "traditional" - it's the final product not being an "essay" that interest us.

Please post your thoughts at the wiki so that the discussion continues to broaden there.