Guest speakers aren't just for class anymore

There was a time when missing a guest speaker meant borrowing notes and hoping whoever you got them from found importance in what you would have had you been there. But "times, they are a'changin'." When Patrick Seitz, Business and Technology reporter for Investors' Business Daily, visited campus October 18 and 19, students and instructors worked to document his message.

No, students didn't climb over each other to make it to class any more than they would for any other speaker. And yes, a few even took the opportunity to catch up on whatever they do when not in class, but that doesn't automatically keep them from accessing the information. Thanks to iPods, cameras, and the Internet students can listen to Seitz's lectures and see his interviews.

His lectures focused on technology reporting, what he can do as a reporter, his beat, etc. to give students an inside look at working for IBD. Given the subject matter, I, of course, found myself in another O'Neal Smitherma "fan-girl" moment, but I was more taken by the ability for others to have the same experience. (Not that everyone is as taken with tech talk as I.) In addition to his in-class lectures, Seitz agreed to an on-camera interview, appeared on the Daily Update and had lunch with students interested in technology and business reporting. And it's all available for students to download and review at their leisure. What does this say about possibilities for the future of education?

We already use Blackboard to take tests, submit assignments and communicate with classes and instructors. Some professors post Podcasts before lectures to prepare classes or to review test results without using class time. The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor's School of Dentistry, Stanford-Palo Alto and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have already signed on as iTunes universities. SMU is in the process of joining the ranks, if the contracts ever move out of legal. With all this tech, is there any reason to come anymore? Well, yes, of course there is. If nothing else, you can't ask questions if you aren't there. But for guest speakers, this is great.

We should still attend classes with guest speakers, but their knowledge is now open to other students without interrupting classes or overfilling rooms. Is a speaker coming to campus during your physics test? If all goes well, this won't be a problem. We'll be able to download the audio, video and stories from SMUDailyData.com and you can have both. While this system isn't fully in place, it holds incredible potential. No longer do we need the official university photographer to post his shots on the school's official Website. Now students, instructors or the speakers themselves can document the visit.

Imagine the crossover potential. Now, if a local business owner comes to campus to speak to a journalism class, the journalism department knows and students come in if they can. But if fully recorded, the message can extend to all journalism students, cross over to business students, any public speaking classes, and so on. The possible benefit is huge.

Seitz was interesting to me, and anyone curious about him can listen to his lectures, watch his interview and check out the October 19 Daily Update to make their own determination.