iPod, you Pod, we all Podcast in higher ed…. Really?

Ok, the title of this post is not really informative (and won’t get me anywhere in terms of search engine optimization or in any writing classes), but I couldn’t resist…

Unless you work on another planet (or at least not anywhere near a campus), you have already heard about/seen/touched/bought an iPod.

College kids love this new kind of digital music box, because the handheld device looks cool and can hold GB of their favorite songs – or any digital files.

And, as you know, when College students love something, it’s automatically worth studying/using in higher education institutions for academic or marketing purposes.

A lot was written about the Duke iPod First-Year Experiment: Duke gave engraved iPods to every freshman in August 2004 with pre-loaded content. They’ve announced recently that they won’t renew the experiment this fall, but will provide only freshmen taking certain classes with iPods.

In “iPods and Academia: The Duke First-Year Experience,” an interesting Powerpoint presentation created for Educause Live, Tracy Futhey, Chief Information Officer at Duke, and her colleague Lynne O’Brien, Director of the University Center for Instructional Technology “discuss how iPods were used at Duke this past year, what they’ve learned so far, and how the project will be extended in the next academic year through the newly announced Duke Digital Initiative.”

Combining the attractiveness and user-friendliness of this new toy (tool, I mean ;-), the growing interest in blogs and the power of RSS, some smart people have started to produce and promote some good old web audio content (interviews, shows and even conference recordings) re-branded under the new name of Podcast, i.e. a basic mp3 file that can be downloaded to your iPod or your computer to be listened whenever you want.

Brian Niles from TargetX, a higher ed vendor that offers interactive marketing solutions, produces his “On the Road” Podcasts to promote his practice and inform prospective and current clients in a pretty entertaining way. His podcasts are a good example on how these audio files can be used as educational marketing pieces.

But, if you really want to see how your college or university can use Podcasts to communicate with all its constituents (current and prospective students, faculty/staff members, alums, etc.) in an original yet effective way, you should check out Allegheny College’s weekly Podcasts.

In the press release “Allegheny Launches Podcasts to Connect Campus, Community,” Mike Richwalsky, Allegheny College‘s web administrator and host of the weekly program, explains that, “Allegheny’s podcasts act as a high-tech supplement to the college’s other news and marketing materials.”

In his Podcasts, Richwalsky interviews students, administrators, faculty members and even alums about special events or initiatives such as commencement, internships, etc. – literally giving a voice to the College’s main constituencies…