Borg’s Blog

One of the greatest challenges in teaching undergraduate students is accommodating diverse learning styles but doing so is can improve learning (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). Yet its hard work. There are very few opportunities to learn how and there is much to do within our own disciplines. What is one to do?

The beauty of Blackboard courses is they are available 7/24. Its available whenever students want to study and you’d e surprised when that is. Many of our students are actually working online while you and I are snoring like a buzz-saw. So it makes sense to make content available in Blackboard.

Adding content means more than posting syllabi, assignments, and scores. That’s filing. Adding content requires inserting nuggets of information online that are traditionally presented in lecture and text. It means entering into the exciting world of multimedia. But it doesn’t mean you need to become a creator of multimedia programs. You’ll have greater success as a wise consumer of multimedia and one of the best places to shop is the iTunes store.

This podcast shows you how to shop and neatly tuck your purchases away into your Blackboard course. The best thing about this is you don’t have to bring your wallet or purse. Everything you need is free.

One thing we know about undergraduate students today is they are consumers of electronic gadgets. They grew up watching television, playing video games, and listening to MP3 players while skating around the park. They can relate to podcasts and use them in ways we may not fully understand yet. We can accommodate diverse ways of learning by putting the content in students’ hands and iPods.