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I mentioned in the last portion of the last footnote in my University article that in “More undergrads playing hooky when the classes go online,” the Chicago Tribune recently noted that the advent of technologies such as podcasting has actually decreased attendance of many classes. This unsurprisingly has caused consternation among some faculty members who have started pulling the material offline in order to restore regular attendance.

Today, an AP story came across the wire, “Nebraska Professor Uses IPod for Lectures.” Among other odds and ends, the story notes that,

The technology-savvy professor was already loading up recordings of his classes to the Internet, making lectures available to students. But this semester, students don’t have to sit at the computer to listen. The portable player allows students to take the lecture anywhere.

“I’m not worried about attendance,” Garbin said. “I think I put on a pretty good show.”

That last part is prescient as it suggests that one potential competitive advantage that traditional institutions can leverage is the performance an instructor puts on during the class. While I am not suggesting that every class needs light shows involving ceiling-high pyrotechnics synchronized with raver tracks, perhaps a tune-up on the entertainment value could be evaluated.

While there may be a legitimate argument contrasting teaching and research, if you are going to teach — and you want the students to comprehend what is being taught — why not crack some jokes or in some manner, break the ice? Some of the more lucid reading I have ever encountered involve explaining truthiness in the realm of science, or the Cargo Cult Science. However, it was done in such a easy-to-understand, non-intimidating manner that I still enjoy reciting various passages from its author Richard Feynman.

Would you pay to have someone, a seasoned speaker covered in wit like Feynman, lecture to your class? While you may have answered yes, have you settled for less? Perhaps this could be another area that an enterprise could take advantage of (i.e. compiling hundreds of entertaining, yet educational lectures). Could you imagine Chris Rock doing a stand-up session on Shakespeare? What would happen if writers from The Simpsons or South Park created episodes on the Pythagoras theorem in this manner?

Cogently tangential

While I did note that I would not update the list of institutions offering online education programs, I did come across a resource that had a similar mission: “Earning Degrees by Distance Learning” over at Degree.net. The listings are extensive and purportedly up-to-date.

And speaking of online education programs, ever heard of an open-source platform called Moodle? It is a content management system designed to enable educators the freedom and ability to effectively instruct and manage curriculum with. Similar to the detested WebCT (no, I’m not a fan).

In closing, I’d like to refer to a recent post from Arnold Kling who compared college with summer camp; noting that college is a “consumption good” which may explain why Universities have gone to pains to offer more amenities on-campus. If this really is a goal (which I suspect is), then using the Shop24 automated stores could potentially save everyone money, as shown on at least one campus. And lastly, I noticed a discussion on open-access in which the author, fade theory, mentioned my own brevity and compared it with other ideas proposed recently. Neat-o.