Lecturer Drops Lectures For Podcasts

A lecturer in microbiology at Bradford University in the United Kingdom has said he will eliminate traditional lectures from his biochemistry course and replace them with podcasts. Students in Bill Ashraf’s class will review the podcasts on their own time. They will submit questions to Ashraf through text messages, and he will respond to those inquiries on his blog. In addition, students needing to meet with Ashraf will be able to check his schedule online and make appointments with the professor through the Web. “Some lecture classes have 250 students,” said Ashraf, “so I question the effectiveness of a didactic lecture for an hour.” He said the new format will be especially beneficial for distance and part-time students and those with less flexible schedules.

BBC, 26 May 2006