The Duke iPod First-Year Experience

Ginny Cake Senior Director, Office of Information Technology

Lynne O’Brien Director of Academic Technology and Instructional Services, Perkins Library

Educause ~ Orlando, FL ~ Oct. 19, 2005

Context for 2004-05 Duke iPod projectOriginal iPod project activitiesWhat we’ve learned from the iPod projectEvolution to Duke Digital Initiative and

future plans

Overview

Duke University

Private, 4 year, Research I9 schools: undergrad and professional12,000 FTE students, 2,350 faculty

Teaching at Duke

Few distance education programsMainly traditional classroom instruction

Earlier technology experiments

Laptops, Blackboard, PDA’s, streaming media, videoconferencing and more

The Duke iPod Project

What did we do in 2004-05?

iPod Project goals for 2004-05

Mostly an experiment, “scattering seeds”Technology innovationStudent life, campus communityNew academic uses of technology

One of several projects directed toward technology goals of our University strategic plan, Building on Excellence

http://www.planning.duke.edu/

Project Participants

Duke University Office of the ProvostOffice of the Executive Vice PresidentOffice of Information TechnologyDivision of Student AffairsCenter for Instructional TechnologyApple Computer, Inc.

Pre-launch activities

Pre-loaded iPod content at factory

Custom engravingDuke Page on iTunesProject archive site:

http://www.duke.edu/ddi/ipodfye.html

Identification of pilot projects

Distribution to Freshmen

Distributed 1,599 20 GB iPods on 8/19/04 along with Belkin voice recorders and 10 free iTunes

2004-05 Academic iPod projects

EconomicsEducationEngineeringGerman LiteratureEnvironmental Studies Foreign Languages

Spanish, Turkish, Chinese

ISISMusicWritingAsian/African Language &

Literature

Cultural AnthropologyEnglishPublic PolicyReligionTheater Studies

Non-course academic usePerkins & Divinity LibrariesUniversity Writing Program

Fellows

See handout with matrix of course activities and academic goals.

What did courses do with iPods?

Portable access to course materials

Recording Lectures, discussions,

writing workshops Field notes and interviews Student performance

(spoken, sung) for review, practice, or assessment

Hands-on lab activities Hard drive for multimedia files “Podcasting” / audio blogging

Study new technologies Provide richer course content

via digital media Promote interactive, project-

based, collaborative learning Increase student engagement Foster flexible & efficient

course delivery mechanisms Support writing and research

in undergraduate curriculum

Respond to individual needs and learning preferences

iPod activities Academic goals

Computational Methods in Engineering

Students examine a graph generated by attaching an iPod to the computer and running a program to measure the audio from a song on the iPod.

Radio Theater of the Mind

Students listen on their iPods to old time radio shows recorded in the 1920’s …

… then do their own productions of the shows and podcast them on The mp3ater Project Web site.

Intermediate Spanish

Students complete oral comprehension exercises at their own pace using iPods to record their speech.

Professor Lisa Merschel recorded "audio flash cards" for students to listen to on their iPods to review pronunciation.

Students listen to a dramatic reading of the Don Juan Tenorio by Duke Spanish instructors

Economics (large lecture)

Information Science and Information Studies (small seminar)

Different ways to use recorded lectures outside of class.

The Duke iPod Project

What have we learned so far?

Evaluation focusWas iPod a stimulus to innovation in

teaching and learning?Which uses were most fruitful and should

shape planning for academic technology? How feasible was it to use iPods, and

should the experiment be continued, dropped or changed?

Evaluation strategies

Faculty and student questionnaires

Faculty and student focus groups

Classroom observations

Faculty / deans/ staff discussion sessions

Staff focus groupsFaculty project

reports

Full report at end of year available at:

http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf

Findings: Yes, they used them!

iPod use in15 fall, 33 spring courses*75% of first-year students said they used

iPod in a class or for independent support of their studies*

Recording = most widely used feature for academic purposes, although all features used in at least some ways*

Of course they listened to music!

* Includes formally designated iPod courses plus independent use

Findings: Yes, iPods drove innovation

Faculty ideas and interest exceeded expectations

Innovation with iPods prompted exploration of other new technologies

“Fun factor” and low learning curve drove class use

Faculty who previously had not experimented with IT tried new things

Findings: Internal impact

Little device made big ripple in technology infrastructure

Increased collaboration among Duke IT groups

New conversations among faculty, staff, students and administrators about technology in teaching

Findings: External impact

Significant and unanticipated publicity

Many inquiries from and opportunities for collaboration with other educational institutions

New partnerships with publishers, hardware and software vendors

Increased visibility for Duke as technology innovator

10.14.05 3p.m.

The Duke Digital Initiative

Transitioning from iPods to DDI

DDI – Overarching Goals

Innovative and effective teachingCurriculum enhancementInfrastructure developmentKnowledge sharing

Based on what we learned, Duke is now focusing this on extending parts of the experiments which seemed most promising. The Duke Digital Initiative emerged with the following goals:

DDI – How do we implement?

Year One“Experimentation”

Year TwoExtension & Transition

Year ThreeStandard Support

& Integration

Three year implementation cycle

Hands-on student use of iPods in Duke courses

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Fall 2004 Spring 2005 Fall 2005

To

tal s

tud

en

t e

nro

llme

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9 faculty 18 faculty 33 faculty

iPod use in courses

DDI – 05/06 Technology Explorations

Collaboration Tools Digital Audio – new applications Digital Images Digital Video Tablet PC’s & Handhelds

Related websites

http://cit.duke.edu/about/ipod_project.do

http://www.duke.edu/ddi/

Credits

Yvonne Belanger (evaluation)

Fred Brackett, Apple Computer (Freshman night photos)

…and the rest of the Duke iPod team