TECHNOLOGY

There's been plenty of "buzz" in the media the past two years following the School of Dentistry's partnership with Apple, Inc. that enables students to listen to classroom lectures on their iPods or other portable listening devices.

The School was the first professional school in the nation that partnered with the company to offer education-related content. [DentalUM, Fall 2005, pages 6-7.]

A milestone was reached this spring when the number of dental and dental hygiene classroom lectures recorded and available as podcasts for review surpassed 1,000. At press time, the number exceeded 1,130.

The audio recordings, or podcasts, are available at a special School of Dentistry Web site, "Learning via iTunes U." Dental and dental hygiene and graduate students can listen by logging on to the site using their valid U-M names and passwords.

Downloading of classroom lectures has steadily increased.

Since course lectures have been available for downloading beginning two years ago, School of Dentistry students have been to the Web site approximately 30,000 times to listen to lectures.

Recently, a new feature was added - videos.

Building on the success of the audio-only files, the videos are very short, typically three or four minutes, and focus on a specific topic that is clinically relevant. By comparison, the audio-only files can be 30, 60, or even 90 minutes in length.

"Because this process is entirely student driven, it's impressive to see how active the different classes have been," said Dr. Lynn Johnson, the School's director of Dental Informatics.

For example, by August, the Class of 2008 had created 286 different podcasts for downloading and listening; the Class of 2009, 431 tracks; and the Class of 2010, 388 tracks, bringing the total to 1,105. Add to that 26 dental hygiene podcasts, and the number increases to 1,131.

Among class lectures recorded by the Class of 2008 that are available for listening include 66 in Integrated Medical Sciences III.

In that category, a student can scroll down and see the list of all 66 lectures by School of Dentistry faculty members and the time of each lecture.

When a student finds a lecture of interest, he or she simply clicks, waits for the material to be downloaded, and then clicks "start" on their listening device. Students listen to the lectures anywhere and at any time - in their apartments, automobiles, while walking on campus, or even working out.

Johnson, however, continues to be emphatic about one point.

"These recordings are not designed to replace going to class," she said. "Instead, they're to be considered a 'safety net' allowing students to hone in on any topic they may have missed while in the classroom or want to review prior to taking a test."