High Tech Educational Tool: the MP3

These days, the mp3 player is all the rage. Everywhere you look, you see old and young alike (still more young than old!) in their own worlds, headphones on, iPods or mp3 players attached to their arms. While entertainment is certainly the biggest reason to use an mp3 player, education is also a strong reason that’s becoming more common all the time.

On college campuses, you can no longer assume that students connected to mp3 players are merely listening to music – they could also be studying.

A growing number of instructors on college campuses throughout the United States are exploring ways to make their lectures and other material available to their students via iPods and mp3 players. Turning these devices into study aids just add to their value, and because students are seldom without their mp3 players anyway, they are highly inclined to utilize this way of studying.

Students can relisten to a lecture, especially parts they want to hear again. The mp3s allow them to revisit concepts they might not have grasped the first time around. Students now have another way to study for tough exams as well.

“It’s like having your professor in your ear, right when you need it,” Dan Schmit, an instructional technology specialist at the University of Nebraska, is quoted as saying.

What about class attendance though? If students have the ability to listen to lectures whenever they want, why would they bother going to class? Actually students recognize that there’s more to classes than just the lecture. The interaction with the other students and the personal time with the instructor are all important factors in getting a good class grade.

But this new trend toward high tech education using mp3 players is a great way to expand a student’s knowledge base. Lots of key information can be downloaded. And in addition to listening to podcast lectures, students can also create their own podcast on a certain aspect of the subject they are studying in lieu of writing a research paper.

Duke University has been taking part in a national experiment. One year Duke gave all incoming freshman a free iPod. The next year, enrolling in certain classes came with a free iPod. If the students passed the course, they were allowed to keep the iPod. How’s that for motivation?

Instead of pitting students against school administrators and teachers, utilizing mp3 players as educational tools offers a common ground that is proving beneficial to everyone concerned. In the future, we can expect to see mp3 players become as much a part of the educational landscape as computers now are. Homeschoolers too will be able to enhance their education while enjoying their iPods and mp3 players.