Chris Zivalich (Journalism '12) and Professor James Pfrehm (Department of Modern Languages and Literatures) presented their conference paper entitled "Assigning Enhanced Podcasts as Course Final Projects" at the annual conference for the International Association of Language Learning and Technology (IALLT) held at the university in Irvine, California from June 20th - 24th.
Drawing on empirical data collected from courses taught at Ithaca College in fall 2009, and couching these data within recent scholarship on integrating technology into the curriculum, Mr. Zivalich and Prof. Pfrehm concluded that when faced with an enhanced podcast final project, students, in general, overestimated their technological skill. This overestimation likely informed the students' "underperforming approach" to the project, which resulted in a lesser degree of satisfaction with the final outcome. Therefore, Mr. Zivalich and Prof.Pfrehm argued that now more than ever, when instructors integrate technologically advanced projects into their curriculum, it is imperative that instructors: a) not overestimate their students' tech savviness; b) provide ahead of time clear guidelines, project benchmarks, rubrics of assessment, and ample examples; and c) training in the technology to be used; and d) emphasize traditional aspects of scholarship, such as organization, audience awareness, and documentation.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20110628180553971