Using Podcasts For Athletic Trainers

Radford University Exercise, Sport and Health Education professors Drs. Angela Mickle and Michael Moore have been using iTunes U  podcasts to distribute video to students learning to perform athletic training tests and exercises. Students in the program must learn to perform hundreds of tests, and podcasting provides a way to distribute instructor-produced videos to them in a way not possible before. 

Short videos are created from still images and video (taken with student actors), text and voiceover using Apple's Final Cut Pro, and are then made available to the students in iTunes U. They can then be downloaded and viewed as often as needed until the student learns how to perform the tests. Further, the iPod makes it possible for students to take these materials with them anywhere, so that they can watch a given procedure being done while they attempt it themselves.

This approach has proven far more expedient than videotape or pictures in a manual, and while watching it done live is important, being able to watch a live recording with narration is even better for studying and practice purposes.