It's not often that a professor tells her students to skip class. But that's what SUNY Fredonia Psychology professor Dani McKinney did to support a recent study - and its results have thrust her into the national spotlight, with stories appearing in media ranging from the "New York Times" to "New Scientist" magazine. Dr. McKinney, together with fellow Psychology professor Jennifer Dyck and student Elise Luber, '08, conducted a study which investigated the effectiveness of podcast lectures compared to their live lecture counterparts. The results have surprised some, and have people talking about what it could mean to the future of learning.

A podcast is a digital audio recording. In my classes, students use headsets to create these recordings using a free program called Audacity. We save these podcasts in a .mp3 format, so students could upload them to their ipods or mp3 players, and we can upload them onto our Google Groups discussion board. Follow the links to hear some examples of podcasts and for step-by-step directions to creating your own!