From CUNY Academic Commons

Contents

Introduction

As Queensborough embarks on an Academies approach to teaching and learning, Podcasts will be among the important support mechanisms needed to make them a success. Our pedagogical objectives for this pilot project are to take full advantage of what Podcasting has to offer. This includes providing recordings to enhance face-to-face classes, partly online (hybrid) classes, and fully-online (asynchronous) classes. Areas needing this higher level of support include both credit bearing courses, and orientation offerings such as Introduction to College Life (ST-100/101). In addition, we will utilize the public portion of iTunesU to promote the College, its events, its faculty, and its programs of study.

Presently the College’s Academic Computing Center (ACC) is working with a number of departments to produce Podcasts. The English, Foreign Languages, & Health Education departments are all working on Podcasting projects. Samples can be viewed at: http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/podcasts/ Queensborough’s Presidential Lecture Series and its Art Gallery are also using Podcasts as a means of preserving and presenting.

The college has a media server where image, audio, and video files are stored and accessed for classroom, Web site, and Podcast delivery. These include media in the MP3, WMA/WMV and FLV formats. Currently, faculty members record their classes in various ways. An ACC staff member then uploads the file to the College media server and sends a link for use on Blackboard or other Course Web site.

Adding iTunesU to the mix, Queensborough will reach a much wider audience with publically available materials, while providing a more standardized method of access for the private materials those available only through login to our courses.


Objectives

Queensborough will strive to:

  • Provide a simple and consistent means for Faculty to create Podcasts
  • Enhance audio Podcasts where possible with imagery, and, where value would be added, produce video Podcasts.
  • Develop adjunct / alternative materials that can be used by all teachers of a subject or related subject.
  • Provide demonstrations and practice problems to enhance the understanding of new or difficult topics.
  • Properly categorize or tag (Metadata) Podcasts so that they can be found and organized easily by Podcasting software and directories.

Spring 2008 Initiatives

Queensborough has a number of enthusiastic faculty members who are preparing Podcasts for delivery either this semester or during the summer. The following Podcasts are either planned or underway:
María Mercedes Franco – Assistant Professor, Mathematics and Computer Science

Title: Making the learning visible – reflections on service learning
Description: Footage for this video/trailer will be obtained during Spring 2008 from three major events organized by Queensborough’s service learning team: QCC’s first service learning conference –Feb. 29; a student panel where former service learning students from across the disciplines will reflect on their experiences –April 21; and a service learning recognition ceremony where students, faculty, staff and community partners will come together to celebrate and reflect on past and current service learning experiences –May 14.

Title: Service learning – Education in action
Description: Service learning students currently enrolled in this course are working on the assessment of a basic mathematics course as a service to the mathematics department, which in turn is interested in the assessment because of ‘Middle States’. The students will present their findings in class, first, and then at the 4th Annual QCC Honors Conference. The video and PowerPoint slides with audio will be later presented to the Basic Math Committee and to the Middle States Assessment committee.

Title: Service Learning 101
Description: Because of the service learning (SL) component of the course, students must be instructed about this pedagogy in very general terms: what SL is (formal definition), what SL is not (it is not an internship, it is not service in exchange for extra credit…), purpose, etc. The instructor would like to introduce her students to SL without sacrificing lecture time.

Title: How to write a reflective essay

Description: Because of its WI designation and service learning component, several writing assignments in this course call for reflections. Students have a hard time distinguishing reflective writing from other forms of writing. The instructor has struggle with this for a while and would like to provide basic instruction about reflective writing without sacrificing lecture time.

Dr. Alicia Sinclair – Assistant Professor, Health, Physical Education & Dance=

Title: Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) & Health
Description: During this lecture I will introduce students to Cardiovascular Disease: what it is; it’s causes; prevention and treatment.

Anthony Kolios – Associate Professor, Business

Title: Solution to Homework Assignment
Description: During this presentation we will demonstrate a simple technique that helps novice programming students transition from “I do not know what to do” to creating a very simple computer program. (Visual Basic)

Dr. Philip Pecorino – Professor, Social Sciences

Title: Introduction / Instructional Modules
Description: During each of these introductions students will learn about the contents of the module and what is expected of them in terms of the exercises and their attitude or approach to the issues.

Module Topics:

MODULE 0: ORIENTATION

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

MODULE 2: The Greeks

MODULE 3: Philosophy of Religion

MODULE 4: Metaphysics and Epistemology

MODULE 5: MID COURSE EVALUATIONS AND CHANGES

MODULE 6: The Mind-Body Problem and Freedom and Determinism

MODULE 7: Ethics

MODULE 8: Social and Political Philosophy

MODULE 9: What is Philosophy?

Dr. Lisa Mertz – Assistant Professor, Health, Physical Education & Dance (Massage Therapy)

Title: Clinical Topics for Massage Therapy
Description: This lecture/demonstration will present some fundamentals of body mechanics for massage therapists.

Dr. Jean Darcy – Associate Professor, English

Title: ePortfolio Group Interaction
Description: Students upload their literacy narratives to e-Portfolio, communicate and group with each other over e-Portfolio, and then present them to each other using e-Portfolio.

Title: How a Podcast Affects Student Research
Description: Students doing the research in archives and putting together their papers after listening to an existing Podcast: George Washington.

Title: How Media Influences the Message
Description: Compare the way media influences the message: Al Gore and clips from “An Inconvenient Truth” with Thoreau’s “Walden” for American Literature.

Dr. Lorena Ellis – Foreign Languages and Literatures

Title: German Language Vocabulary
Description: German language with illustration and/or text. Vocabulary, expressions, stories with illustrations, etc.

Dr. Frank Cotty – Associate Professor, Biology

Title: Anatomy and Physiology laboratory guide
Description: Video, for students to use as review of the activities after the lab; Audio for students to use in laboratory, as a guide.