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Learning “Anytime/Anyplace”

Wisconsin Executive MBA students are busy people. They juggle demanding jobs with attending classes. This fall, the process was just a little easier for them. One of the modules in the Executive MBA program was supported via enhanced podcasts.

(A bit of technospeak for the digitally challenged: In podcasting, multimedia files are played back on mobile devices or personal computers. The term is a combination of “broadcasting” and “iPod,” which is the most common device used. Standard iPods or similar devices handle audio files, while upgraded devices handle visual material such as PowerPoint slides or, as in this case, video of lectures, to produce enhanced podcasts.)

Management Professor Randall B. Dunham, who has earned a national reputation for innovative use of instructional technology, developed “enhanced podcasts” for his course in “Leading Effective Change.” Students can view material related to the course on their Windows or Mac computers or via video iPods. “It’s the closest thing to ‘anytime/anyplace’ there is,” Dunham said. “Students have complete control of how, when, and where their instruction is delivered. If there’s a part of my lecture they don’t quite get the first time, they can just rewind and play it again.”

Users have found the delivery system helpful, allowing them to watch and listen to lectures while on long flights for business trips, for example. Executive MBA student Larry Clemen, program manager at John Deere Davenport Works, enjoyed being able to listen to lectures while driving: “Obviously, I didn’t watch the video,” he said. Others have listened to the podcasts while mowing the lawn or running on the treadmill. (Talk about multi-tasking.)

Executive MBA student Andrew J. DeMarco, vice president, sales and marketing for Navitus Health Solutions, said he found the most surprising aspect of the podcasts to be the ease of use. “In no time, I forgot I was using a device the size of a deck of cards to see the professor,“ he said. DeMarco even shared podcasts with work colleagues to help them gain perspectives about change management and motivation. “It was much more powerful than giving them a book to read,” he said.

Dunham first experimented with delivering instruction via podcasting last spring in a management course for undergraduates. He’s excited about the technology’s potential and said the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the top schools in the nation in terms of higher education applications of podcasting. As Dunham views it: “We can sit back and wait until the technology changes around us or be a part of it.”

Examples of Dunham’s podcasts can be viewed at http://podcasts.bus.wisc.edu/rdunham/samples. The Wisconsin Executive MBA program is one of two Enterprise MBA programs offered by the School of Business. For more information, go to www.bus.wisc.edu/execmba.