Before any college embarks on a campuswide podcasting project, officials will undoubtedly ask a simple question: If we put lecture recordings online, will students bother listening to them?
There’s reason to think that question might be answered in the affirmative. According to the Associated Press, a growing number of teenagers are now using their MP3 players as study aids. The numbers are still smallish — listening to podcasts and audio texts represents only about 5 percent of what teens do on their iPods, according to a recent study by the Harrison Group — but they’re growing steadily. So by the time students get to college, they may already have had some experience putting their MP3 players to academic use. —Brock Read
