Mothkovich_Final_Reflection



**Brief Summary **

 Working with iTunesU this semester has been a real adventure. Like most young people today, I already had experience using iTunes and subscribing to podcasts. As someone who both works with technology and is a graduate student, I knew that iTunesU had a great deal of potential at USCA. Professors, staff, and student organizations could use iTunesU to distribute course information and other university-related news quickly and easily. Students would be able to access the information easily through iTunes on a Mac, PC, iPod, iPad, iPhone as well as other portable mp3 devices. I think the internship has been a success and although there is still a lot of room for growth and development I believe I have done a great job at getting some colleagues enthused and involved in using iTunesU and other emerging technologies in their curricula.

**Experiences with Mentor **

 During the course of the internship this semester, my mentor has been Mr. Keith Pierce, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Instructional Services. I have learned a lot working with Keith, not only about the iTunesU interface but also about the studio and the recording process as well. I began the internship by sitting down with Keith and learning about how iTunesU is set up at the University of South Carolina and USCA and how one can access the administrator section of the program. After learning about accessing the special section and how to upload and manage files, I then began the process of targeting certain faculty and staff members who had expressed interest to me before about using iTunesU and/or podcasting technology in their classrooms or offices. Keith was also very helpful in giving me leads on who may be interested in using such technology on campus.

**Lessons Learned During Internship **

 I think I have made a great deal of progress during my internship. At the beginning of the semester there were very few active users of iTunesU on the USCA campus and now I have a long list of professors and staff members who are either using iTunesU or are interested in beginning to use it (see Final Presentation for list of faculty and staff members). During the internship, I have learned a lot not only about new software but also about working with faculty members and helping them integrate technology into their curricula. For example, when I spoke with professors about my internship and what I was doing with iTunesU, many of them were interested but were unsure of how they would be able to use such technology. Therefore, I had to learn to explain technology to the faculty members in a way that would demonstrate its ability to help them in the classroom. Sure, some professors were interested in using technology simply because it seemed new or "cool" to do so, but the vast majority were interested in using technology that would provide some obvious, tangible benefit.

 One of the biggest lessons I had to learn (well, I am still working on it, actually) was patience! After I was able to speak with many professors and staff members and had a few of them who were already on board with the project, I had to wait for a good time for them to contact me to set up dates and times for recordings. Then, because of everyone’s hectic schedules, it was difficult to find times when we could meet. However, once we were able to meet and complete some recordings, there were still some “delays”. After I received a recording, whether audio or video, there were still many issues I had to work through. This was a little frustrating at first because I thought it would be easy to upload the files to iTunesU quickly. However, I had to create a new section and category in iTunesU if one did not yet exist. Then, I had to upload the videos, find an image to upload with it, check/edit the permissions to the files to be sure that nobody could manage the files who should not have such permissions. Also, for many of the audio files there were problems such as too much background noise or miscellaneous sounds in the recording that needed to be eliminated. Thus, another important lesson I learned was how to properly use software applications such as Audacity to edit audio files. I was able to easily edit the files to remove unwanted noise, trim files that were too long, and so on. Although it was actually fun to work with editing the files, it was also very time consuming. I found myself investing many hours into completing just a few podcasts at a time. So, again, learning to be patient and take things slowly was very important.

**Difficulties **

 Although I believe that overall my internship has been a great success, there certainly were some difficulties and obstacles to overcome and from which to learn. Most of the difficulties that I encountered were related more to people than to technology. Although there were a few technological glitches here or there, I am accustomed to finding solutions for those issues. Dealing with people can be much harder! That is not to say that I did not enjoy my interaction with the faculty and staff members because I most certainly did. However, there were so many different “issues” that each person had with iTunesU that there was not a “one size fits all”-solution. For example, some faculty members were interested in using iTunesU but were not very enthusiastic about placing their lectures on an open iTunesU site so that anyone could access them. Although most of the professors did not say so directly, I got the feeling that many of them were uncomfortable simply with the idea of strangers listening to (and perhaps judging) their material. When I told these same professors that there was a way to password protect the podcasts by making students log in with their Blackboard usernames and passwords, many of them seemed more open and enthused about the prospect. I thought that was interesting, as a student who can log in and access the lecture could always download the lecture and share it with others if he or she wanted. However, I think that posting the podcasts through the Blackboard username-protected portion of iTunesU gives some faculty a false sense of confidentiality.

 On a related note, I think many of the professors with whom I spoke simply did not enjoy listening to their own lectures and/or videos. I know it can be uncomfortable to hear oneself on a video (using Jing and Audacity and Camtasia in the Ed. Tech. Program has taught me that), I think it is important to be able to listen to oneself and try to critique oneself as well as solicit feedback from others, including students and colleagues. Although uncomfortable to do so, receiving such feedback from posted material could help a faculty or staff member really “polish” his or her lectures or presentations.

 Another difficulty I encountered during the internship was simply timing. When I began my internship, the semester had already begun. Thus, even though I was able to discuss iTunesU with many faculty and staff members, a lot of them wanted to plan how to use it in future semesters, rather than try to learn something new and change their plans mid-semester. I can understand faculty and staff being overwhelmed during the middle of the semester and not wanting to take on anything “new”, but I was able to find many individuals who were very excited about the prospect of using a new technology to communicate with others and I’m very grateful for that. I think many of the staff members thought it would look good on their resume to be able to say that they have experience working with podcasts-designing them, creating them, sharing them with others, and so on. On the other hand, there were many who used iPods and iPhones to listen to podcasts and were thrilled about being able to create podcasts of their own. The timing of the internship was not something I could control, of course, but I had to start somewhere and that just means that I may have more and more who are interested in using podcasts in future semesters, which is fine with me.

**Successes **

 I think that overall the entire internship was a success. My job was to educate others about iTunesU and to see if I could find some faculty and staff on campus who would be interested in using it. I was able to achieve those two goals. Also, when I was working with some faculty and staff on podcasting, others would hear about iTunesU by word of mouth and would approach me for more information. So, although I think podcasting is not something that will spread like wildfire quickly overtaking the campus, I think it is heartening to see the number of faculty and staff who are so interested in using new tools to try to reach a broader audience of students, staff, and members of the public. For example, by posting the Wellness Center podcast series on iTunesU, not only will students be able to access the material, but also many of the senior citizens and other members of the public who use the facility. Perhaps when they visit the iTunesU site they will find some other podcasts that will catch their interest as well. Therefore, iTunesU can be thought of not only as a way to disseminate course information but also as a marketing tool for USCA.

 Also, on a personal note, I thought it was great to be able to work with iTunesU while also preparing a presentation on Universal Design for Learning. iTunesU offers a great way to offer multiple means of representation for teachers. Teachers can post pdf files for reading, audio files for listening, video files for watching. Those professors who also use Blackboard can allow their students to create audio, video, or other documents to upload to iTunesU so that there are multiple means of expression and engagement as well. Although iTunesU is not the only way to teach it is another way to teach, which can be just as important. As nicely stated in the article “Do Podcasts Help Students Learn?” (Roscorla, 2010), “the more ways a professor can present ideas, the better chance he has of infecting students with enthusiasm about what they’re learning”.

**Things I Would Have Done Differently **

 I cannot say there is a great deal about my internship that I would have done differently if I had the opportunity. I think I did a great job overall. However, there are a few things that perhaps I would have changed. For example, perhaps instead of emailing and/or calling professors and staff members to schedule sit-down meetings to discuss iTunesU, I would probably try to be more casual about the idea. I think when I sat down with many of my colleagues that the idea of iTunesU took on a more serious aura, which I did not want it to have. Of course, the real reason why I was scheduling such meetings was because I knew I had to make progress with my internship. It was important for me to find some faculty and staff members to get on board and it was important for me to get the hours I needed to meet the 100-hour minimum. However, I think if I could simply have thrown in the idea in a casual conversation when I bumped into someone in the hall, for example, more faculty and staff may have been more open to the idea. I can see myself now saying, “Oh-you mean you have never heard of iTunesU? Really? Well you have to try it-so many faculty and students love it! I’ll swing by your office sometime and show it to you!” I think a lot more professors would have thought, “Oh, well-I need to learn more about this!” But, of course, that kind of approach is something I can take now, especially since I have so many people on board already.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> Also, I think maybe I should have included more staff members in iTunesU. I believe during the internship I may have initially focused more on recruiting faculty members to use iTunesU. There were already some podcasts on iTunesU from the Academic Success Center and I did not want faculty members believing that iTunesU was just something for staff. So, I spoke with many faculty members and while I did also include many different staff members, I think the vast majority of those who are on board for next semester are faculty. Having said that, now that many more faculty are going to be using iTunesU I think it may be a good idea to approach the Admissions Office, Financial Aid Office and so on to see if perhaps I can get more staff interested in using iTunesU. As I mentioned before, using iTunesU could be a great way to market USCA and could be a great way to recruit future students. Again, iTunesU could just be another tool that the Admissions Office could add to its collection of resources. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Overall, I am very happy with the results of my internship. I believe I am fully in the swing of things and now can upload more podcasts and create new categories more quickly and easily since I am more accustomed to the process. Now that I have generated interest in iTunesU I know that the work will not end simply because this internship does, but I look forward to continuing to work with the faculty and staff in using this great tool in the future.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Work Cited

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Roscorla, T. (2010, November 03). Do podcasts help students learn?. Retrieved from [] **