PennEduTech

Some companies go beyond the norm when they produce tutorials for their products.  More than just basic how-to information, some tutorials provide suggestions for applications and instructions for how to accomplish specific tasks using their products.  Apple Computer is particularly good at this, and their “Productivity Lab” section of the science website offers short videos that suggest an application for their software and then walk you through the process.

The tutorial on “Creating Enhanced Podcasts of Your Research” at http://www.apple.com/science/productivitylab/ is a prime example of this.  More than just showing you how to publicize your research, it provides 10 minutes of detailed instructions on how to create an enhanced podcast.  I could envision this being used in any number of ways in education – from instructors creating such podcasts to deliver mini-lectures that are available to their students on demand, to instructors using this tutorial as a tool when assigning students a project where they create the enhanced podcast.  The students’ podcasts could take their classmates through the details or concordant material related to a text or historical event, or could describe a scientific experiment or debate in history or even in the current journals.  The possibilities seem endless, and we’d be happy to work with any instructors who are interested in pursuing this.

If you know of other good tutorials like this one, please share them via the comments!