Life @ Otis : Faculty Life : Faculty Development

Jeanne Willette

2005-2008 Faculty Technology Grant



In the summer of 2006 Joan Takayama-Ogawa and I received a Fletcher Jones grant to devise new ways of supplementing education with new technology. The two of us developed a series of Enhanced Podcasts for our paired classes, Introduction to Visual Culture and English Development II. These Enhanced Podcasts were made for ESL students who need to improve their language skills in English, by listening to the Podcasts, taking notes on the information, and learning though repetition. We worked for 13 days for approximately 8 hours a day in The Teaching Learning Center with Kathleen Forrest, Coordinator of the TLC.



Otis College of Art and Design had just been accepted by Apple as an early adapter of this new technology, making Joan and myself among the first educators in the nation to create Enhanced Podcasts. What is “Enhanced Podcasting?” It is a union of an audio track with still images. “Enhanced” could also refer to the amount of time, effort, and, ultimately, satisfaction involved in the process. Enhanced Podcasting is less than a year old and enables the listener of a Podcast to also see relevant words and images, designed to reinforce the verbal script. Two different sets of Enhanced Podcasts were made. One set, connected to the Introduction to Visual Culture Course, supplements student knowledge of course materials. The second set, connected to the English Development II course, are information literacy Podcasts, used to aid in the process of researching and writing assigned papers. The Enhanced Podcasts also give the students an opportunity to review major concepts presented in the lectures and research techniques, complete with images and additional information.



For a futher description on the process: "How to Podcast," As Told by a Novice