December 2006 / January 2007


COU Teaching with Technology award honours video podcasting innovation

Carleton University's innovative teaching program incorporating video podcasting - the first institution to offer an entire course using this medium to connect with a remarkable 3,000 regular subscribers worldwide - has been recognized with Ontario universities' top technology award.

The program was developed by Patrick Lyons, Manager of Instructional Innovation at Carleton University's Educational Development Centre (EDC), as he noticed the growing appeal of YouTube, MSN Instant Messenger, MySpace, iPods, and other Internet networking sources among students. Dr. Robert Burk, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry, had been using integrated and interactive methods of teaching using technology to ignite and retain his students' interest for chemistry. Therefore, it seemed a natural collaboration for the pair to launch a new instructional program using Internet technology.

Together they launched a video podcast of Dr. Burk's introductory Chemistry 1000 course that students could access anytime, anywhere, thereby enhancing their learning experience through portability and flexibility.

Their innovative program, Distance Course Delivery via Video on Demand and Podcasting, was awarded the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) 2006 Award for Excellence in Teaching with Technology. The winning project, announced in Ottawa recently, was among 15 submissions from universities across Ontario.



Prof. Burk in action. His CHEM 1000 lectures and demos are available for download as "vodcasts" on iTunes.

"In the five years in which COU has sponsored these awards, we have seen a remarkable growth in the sophistication and creative excellence of the submissions. This year, the winning program from Carleton University built on that progression, significantly raising the bar for excellence in teaching with technology," said Jan Donio, Executive Director, Corporate and Information Services at the Council of Ontario Universities.

The program first began with the EDC making course lectures available to students on the Internet via video on demand streaming, requiring high-speed connection. Previously, these courses had only been available outside of class on Carleton University Television (CUTV), broadcast only to subscribers in Ottawa. The video on demand streaming led to a video podcast version, making course lectures downloadable for anyone around the globe to access free of cost via iTunes. In fact, Carleton became the first institution in the world to make an entire course available as a video podcast via iTunes to anyone with an iPod or personal computer. Dr. Burk has received praise from students who have downloaded the "vodcasts" from as far away as Norway, claiming they can now understand, not merely memorize, the fundamentals of chemistry.

"The feedback from my own students has been very positive," said Dr. Burk. "It's an excellent tool for review purposes since the student can view lectures as many times as possible. So if they don't grasp something the first time around, they eventually will upon subsequent viewings. The more times they watch a given lecture, the better they do in the course academically."

According to Patrick Lyons, there are almost 3,000 subscribers around the world to Dr. Burk's chemistry "vodcasts".

"The classroom is anywhere the student chooses to be, and it's accessible to everyone, so podcasting has proven itself to be a powerful tool," said Lyons. "The medium is no longer just for entertainment, it's increasingly being used for educational purposes. As we can see by the numbers of downloads of Prof. Burk's lectures and demonstrations, there is an audience for intelligent and engaging educational content."

"The project bridges the gap between the distant and the in-class student, creating a community of learners that is unique in the world of distance education," said Donio. "Few programs allow both on-campus and distance students to experience the same lectures simultaneously or at their convenience. The Carleton program is leading the way for an entirely new learning modality."

Carleton's Educational Development Centre expects to offer more courses through "vodcasting." A natural history course was introduced this term and next semester an introductory social work course will be made available.

At the awards ceremony, an Honourable Mention went to Dr. Dana Paramskas of the University of Guelph, in collaboration with Jayne Butler, a Distance Learning Program Development Specialist with the Office of Open Learning. They were recognized for French 1120DE: Basic French: Writing, a text-enhancement tool that allows students to interact with the content in ways that are consistent with a linguistic sequence. It allows more immediate feedback to students on their progress than would be possible in a face-to-face classroom.

COU established the awards program to recognize faculty at Ontario universities who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in using technology to enhance their teaching. The award honours a learning product which utilizes technology in an innovative manner, reflecting the growing importance of technologies in enhancing the learning experience of university students.

Phil Baker, President/CEO of ORION, was among the judging panel that reviewed the award submissions. The panel also included industry and university experts in the field of learning technologies.

The $5,000 award is sponsored by IBM Canada, CGI Group and Sun Microsystems of Canada.

For more information about the awards, please visit www.cou.on.ca.

To view Dr. Burk's video podcasts, download the iTunes software free of charge at www.itunes.com and find them listed under Educational Podcasts, Carleton University.

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