Edutainment Is Invading Higher Education

By Chris A. Heidelberg, III, PhD. Publisher & Producer

The Academy is grudgingly being dragged into the 21 Century with new technologies like iTunesU which just finished its official first year.
The arguments for using podcasts for learning is becoming increasingly easier for researchers like me. First, the old 50 mile rule for commuting for higher education has been rendered mute because of distance learning, high gas prices and higher food costs.
If a student can attend a class via the Internet through a live steam on the university's site and then is able to download the class and the entire course for free on iTunes, doesn't this make common sense.

This is one of the factor's discussed by Friedman (2005) in his seminal work The World Is Flat. This point is that the goal of using edutainment tools like gaming, simulation, and technological tools is to create a learner-centered environment (McCombs, 1997, 2005). Often many of us who work in the fields of education, communications technology and entertainment often clash along idealogical lines when it comes to the learning process. The reason that we all exist is for the learner also known as the student. Learning is and should be fun, exploratory in nature, and a journey that teaches us critical thinking and collaboration with others.

As I write this post Apple is preparing to release the a 3G version of the iPhone, and it is even more of a game changer than the original iPhone which has re-defined the smart phone. Several school including Duke University, MIT and Stanford are utilizing iTunes and many school IT departments have created platforms for the iPhone and its cousin the iPodTouch so that students can download courses from iTunesU. By the way both the iPhone and the iPodTouch also can play games which I believe will prove to be one of the most effective quantitative and qualitative assessment tools for learners. So the next time you hear someone with an innovative approach, please do not wait for it to be tested to death quantitatively. Listen to the learners, if we are making it easier and more interesting for the learner, then we have done our job.