Should podcasting of lectures become common use?

The newest fad in higher education seems to be right around the corner. As the popularity of podcasting grows, several universities across the nation have decided to jump on the bandwagon, making class lectures available online as podcasts, or as some have more appropriately dubbed, "coursecasting." Proponents of coursecasting are selling it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is seen as a way to participate in the culture of the students, thus helping to bridge the gap in student-teacher relationships while encouraging greater participation. Other supporters see coursecasting as a way for students to catch-up without forcing professors to slow down. Coursecasting would be the end-all to all forms of "Can you repeat that?" Coursecasting is also seen as a way to give students who are lacking background knowledge in a certain area a chance to catch up with their more knowledgeable peers. Of course, as with any change, there is a strong resistance movement. May the force be with the resistance. The widespread use of coursecasting is potentially troublesome on several levels. First, it is more than likely to do the opposite of bridging the gap between student-teacher relationships and encouraging greater participation. In an informal survey, virtually all students who welcomed the idea of coursecasting admitted that they would be more likely to skip class. A second-year student in the College of Business admitted, "Podcasting would be great. I would never have to get up and go to an 8 a.m. class again." With unfettered coursecasting, attendance will be sure to drop. The lazy, the irresponsible and the apathetic among others will start to depend on coursecasting instead of actually showing up to class. This benefits no one. There is absolutely no way that a recorded lecture can capture the benefits of interaction made possible through the dynamics of a classroom setting. The learning process is an active process and its potential would be greatly diminished if the core method of transferring knowledge became dependent on such passive means. Coursecasting would not only encourage laziness among students, it would potentially do the same among some professors. As the focus rotates more around the coursecast, a professor may be less inclined to focus on classroom instructional methods. Instead, the professor will begin to substitute leaning on the subpar learning device. If the professor rushes through important information, this is no longer the professor's concern; the student should just go back and listen to the coursecast. If the original explanation was unclear, the professor could direct the student to re-listen to the lecture over and over again via coursecast until it finally sunk in. Never mind the fact that all the student would be doing is listening to the same muddled explanation. No more "Can you repeat that?" also means no more "Can you explain that again?" As far as providing less knowledgeable students with pertinent background knowledge, coursecasting lectures would not achieve this goal to any greater extent than coming to the actual class lecture. After all, we are talking about podcasts of the lectures, not podcasting supplemental materials. Besides, if a student is missing background information, he or she cannot ask the coursecast to fill in the blanks, but he or she can ask the professor. Better yet, the student could actually read the assigned material prior to coming to lecture. After reading, if the student doesn't feel confident enough in his or knowledge of the subject, the student can easily search the internet for supplemental information on the subject. This would be much more effective. With all this said, there may be room to use some form of podcasting as an aid, but a minor aid is all it should be used for. Any use of podcasting needs to be sure that it compliments current classroom lectures and in no way would become a replacement for any part of the classroom experience, even if this replacement is only accidental.