Why don’t students attend lectures and what can be done about it through using iPod nanos?

How can teachers encourage students to listen in lectures – and indeed to attend them? What about international students and those who have language difficulties? These were the questions which triggered a study of the beliefs of first year students about learning from lectures, and a desire to improve students’ ability to learn from lectures through providing  MP3 uploads and a classroom set of iPod nanos. Students completed a pre- and post-course evaluation which revealed their beliefs about lecture attendance and supplementing that attendance by listening to lectures on iPods for revision and re-listening.

Keywords: contemporary challenges, personalised learning, iPods, audio streaming, educational evaluation, mLearning, teaching and learning strategies