Video iPod Ordered

The new video-capable 30 GB iPod is available with an education discount at $269. This is not much more than the price of a 4 GB iPod nano, yet the new iPod has nearly eight times the storage capacity and the ability to playback video (either Quicktime of MPEG4; more formats would have been a plus, but I can live with the limitation).

The simple fact is that all students love the iPod.

Those who produce education content would be wise to exploit the universal appeal of the iPod. Lectures should be made available in audio MP3 format and either Quicktime or MPEG4 video formats. Delivery of audio and video content can be through a local network, optical media or through an Internet podcast (students do not actually need an iPod to hear or view a podcast -- content can be found on the Web using a Mac or PC and played on the computer, then transferred to any portable audio or video player).

I ordered an iPod the other day from the Apple online store and expect delivery next week. I've already begun to prepare content suitable for podcasting and will report on my progress in future posts.

My vision is to provide digital lectures in three formats: MP3, WMV and Quicktime. A master lecture is created as a lossless AVI file and then converted as appropriate to other file types.

Paperless teaching promises to save students and instuctors significant time.