techNOcool

The New York Times has an article about "classroom capture" systems - software that captures the audio of a lecture along with a powerpoint slide, and at the touch of a button bundles it all together on a server for students to view later. It specifically mentions Tegrity and Echo, with costs of $10,000 - $100,000 per year, depending on options and school size.

These systems have been around for quite some time. But they're gaining in popularity for a couple of good reasons. They're easy for the professors to use, often requiring only that the professor start and stop the recording with a simple click. And the availability of wifi on players like the Zune, iPod Touch, and iPhone, combined with the larger screens of those devices, has made viewing the recorded lectures very convenient for the students. Schools with large commuting populations, especially, are seeing big demand for this.

Will Allegheny ever see a similar demand? We already know that a number of professors use Powerpoint slides in class and that students like professors making those available online. But at the moment, I don't hear a clamoring for the whole lecture online. I think that may be partly because students don't realize what's possible. Once they hear of their friends at larger schools downloading full lecture audio with their powerpoints I think the demand will trickle down to us.

Will we be ready, able, or willing to meet that demand?