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Interview
Podcasting and Education
A conversation with Rice University's Jeffrey Daniel Frey
1/16/2008
Is podcasting spreading like wildfire across campuses, or does it just seem like it? Can good podcasts on your school's site boost enrollment? How can educators get started in podcasting on a budget? What's the first rule to follow in considering whether or not to create a podcast?Campus Technology spoke with Jeffrey Daniel Frey, the Web services manager for enterprise applications in the Information Technology Department at Rice University. Jeff writes, speaks and consults on podcasting, as well as teaching a podcasting course to the community through Rice's School of Continuing Studies. He talked about some of the misconceptions about podcasting, as well as how he sees podcasting as a way to boost recruiting efforts.
Campus Technology: Let's start by talking generally about podcasting in education. You've done a lot with podcasting, and you write and speak and consult on the topic. What do you see happening out there?
Jeffrey Daniel Frey: One of main thrusts is people who say that they need to podcast, but why? Doing something for the sake of technology doesn't work. The first thing I look at is the "why?" I ask people, what's the benefit? What are the metrics out there? What are you trying to say?
CT: What are some things that people are doing with podcasts in education?
JDF: In my "whys" of podcasting, I list about five things. First is that people are podcasting their courses. That's just a given. If you're doing a podcast at a university, you're going to either record the whole [lecture], or pieces and parts…
Beyond that, if I look across podcasting… it comes back to the audience. My top five reasons for podcasting are for faculty, staff, students, development alumni, and--really the main reason--enrollment and recruiting.
There are different reasons for podcasting. Faculty want to share information… For staff, the reason is usually training. That's what a university does, it teaches. So what better way to disseminate information than to put it together in a podcast, so you don't have to send people all at once to a seminar?
Students, of course, are doing everything. They're doing podcasts themselves and putting them out there. With development alumni, it's raising money, connecting with alumni, making sure they know how they can get involved: that's a big portion of podcasting.
But the number one reason is really recruitment and enrollment.
CT: So podcasting really can increase enrollment?
JDF: That's what I see happening. When you think about it, all of the things I just talked about help with that as well. When you do a podcast and put it out there, [no matter who the intended audience is], potential students are looking at it and saying, oh yeah, that's interesting.
No matter how you're doing it, because it's a technology that potential students are picking up on and can grasp very quickly, that can happen.
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