Gardner Campbell's Podcasting Article, “There Is Something In The Air.”

Article can be found at:

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume40/TheresSomethingintheAirPodcast/158014

There are three topics in Campbell's article that got my attention.

1. the world he paints at the beginning of the article, in which a student listens to podcasts before going to class;
2. the concept of “the explaining voice;” and
3. archiving issues.

1. The world in which students listen to podcasts before attending class.

First, I believe that the beautiful world in which the student has access and listens to several podcasts is still a dream world, at least in most universities and perhaps in most adult education classes.

One of the reasons, probably the main reason, is that professors need to produce these materials. Even when textbook companies produce podcasts, the professor still has to decide if those materials will be included in class, how the students will have access to them, how the use of podcasts will be graded, etc. Now, professors are kind of like octopi: they need to handle a lot, just like Campell mentioned in his article. They need to be up to day with what they teach and how to teach it, they need to create their own materials, write and publish, give lectures and attend conferences, etc. I will not mention names of people or institutions, but three years ago I happened to be present when a professor was asking a secretary, “can you type this for me, please?” Per the conversation, I learned that this professor and one of his/her colleagues never typed anything related to school. I still don't understand how they can live without typing their own exams, for example

But when professors get together and are willing to collaborate, students benefit a lot. Collaboration, which is still a dream in several departments, would also empower students. Because if students see that their professors are convinced that something something works for teachers, the latter would feel more comfortable teaching with new tools, like podcasting.

2. The explaining voice

Campbell says,

“There’s also considerable value in what I call “the explaining voice,” the voice that performs understanding. The explaining voice doesn’t just convey information; it shapes, out of a shared atmosphere,an intimate drama of cognitive

action in time. The explaining voice conveys microcues of hesitation, pacing, and inflection that demonstrate both cognition and metacognition. When we hear someone read with understanding, we participate in that understanding, almost as if the voice is enacting our own comprehension. In other words, the explaining voice trains the ear to listen not just for meaning but for evidence of the thought that generates meaning.”

I'm a sound/audio person. I believe that my ear is very good. I can hear a lot of what my students say in class, and sometimes I hear a sound that most people will not notice. “The explaining voice” is, in my opinion, one of the best points in this article, because if an individual doesn't have a convincing, pleasant voice, he or she will have a few listeners. Our best voice is produced when we don't think about our voice, and sometimes we don't like to hear anybody reading monotonously for us, but rather having a conversation with us. Reading and talking/conversing are different. Talking/conversing/explain will definitely get my attention faster than reading.

3. Archiving issues

I tried to listen to the supplementary audio files, but I was not able to find them. One of the problems with online only publications is that systems, servers, and code change and sometimes something is lost. The life of new, online materials sometimes is shorter than the life of old, offline documents and references. In this case, the author was responsible for keeping the archive, since the link goes to his site. A lot has changed since 2005, when the article was published. In Internet years, that's perhaps the equivalent of a decade or more. I do not get mad anymore, because materials got lost, or because the file formats are not rendered by my Mac. I have learned to accept the fact that archiving is one of the downsides of the Internet.