By By Mike Golz
If Web sites such as RateMyProfessor.com are not enough for students debating registering for certain classes, students may soon be able to preview professors by accessing PodCasts of lectures.
“We could have professors do a lecture so kids could audit a class to see what it’s like,” Robert Salmaggi, professor of mass media, said. “It would allow students to get a better feel for how class is being conducted.”
Salmaggi is at the forefront of an effort to obtain $4,500 from the Student Government Association to purchase equipment.
SGA will begin hearing ideas on the project this week.
Leo Petrucci, a freshman business major, wishes the proposal was approved a semester ago and PodCasts were already posted for viewing.
“That is definitely a good idea. In my situation, the classes I’m taking are horrendous,” he said. “So much that I’m thinking of transferring.”
Once cameras, microphones and editing software are obtained, Salmaggi said the Teacher Computing Center and the Hofstra Network are ready to participate in PodCasting.
“The original idea is to create programming as an alternative to radio or television,” he said. “It is still in the works. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do one.”
A PodCast refers to a collection of technologies for automatically distributing audio and video programs online via a publish-and-subscribe model.
PodCasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated “radio shows” and also gives broadcast radio or television programs a new distribution method.
Many mistakenly believe that an Apple iPod is necessary to view PodCasts, though any computer with Internet access will do, Salmaggi said.
The University’s PodCast network could include not only archived lectures of classes, but also events, such as the recent Clinton Conference.
“[PodCasts] could open up additional channels for the students at Hofstra who have an opinion or want to voice an issue,” Salmaggi said. “We want to generate programming to further their agendas as students. Its uses are limited only to the amount of things the students and faculty can do.”
If the budget is approved, the Radio Drama Club would travel around campus filming classes and events to put up on the network for viewing by students and faculty.
Salmaggi is the faculty advisor of the Radio Drama Club, which consists of 15 to 18 members, mainly aspiring writers, producers, actors and directors.
Salmaggi explained that there are two ways to structure PodCasts at the University.
One is an interactive approach where cameras are set up in a classroom or at an event, while the other is an audio recording of a professor orating a lecture.
Salmaggi believes students would find the interactive approach more engaging.
Some students feel the PodCasts would not only aid in choosing a professor, but also in succeeding in day-to-day classes.
“If you don’t understand the class, you can go online to understand it,” David Honigman, a freshman accounting major, said. “It would be good for students so they can go over it [lectures].”
According the Stanford University’s Web site, the institution has developed its own version of iTunes, known as Stanford iTunes.
The University began using the resource during the spring 2005 semester so that administrators could add course-related media to the site.The content includes music, recordings of class texts and faculty lectures.
Kristen Turso, a sophomore music major, said if auditing was available earlier, it could have completely changed her eductional career.
“It would be a good idea. There would be a lot less people dropping out of classes and you would save yourself the problem of dropping out,” she said. “I would have never taken philosophy, in fact I probably wouldn’t even be a music major [if I was able to audit a class]. That [auditing] would be amazing.”