As a member of the Education and Outreach Committee at the Association for Downloadable Media, I see the ease with which new media fits into the mold for an educational program. Sometimes I think that I’m the only one, though. It seems as if the educators I talk with are either scared by the concept of new media access for students or fearful of the perceptions about the web and web-based content.

To address some of these concerns, I am going to publish a series of posts here on the ADM blog that will:

1. Demonstrate value for teachers using downloadable media in all educational settings
2. Point out the very real advantages of using new media production tools for instruction, as study aids, and in project assignments for students
3. Look at the life skills that new media production and consumption build in those who consume them.

As an online educator for medical professionals with busy schedules, I hear all of the time from listeners about their successes in classes, performance of skills tests, and in national certification tests. They have this success because they used their non-productive downtime to feed their brain with supplemental information about their courses.

Whether its driving on a daily commute, doing chores around the house, or working out at the gym, it’s important to take advantage of these times when your body is occupied with a task but your brain is not. Adult college students are busy, most juggling family commitments, working full time jobs, and completing a full time course load at school at the same time.

And yet despite the chaos others might see in their day, by using downloadable study aids, they are not in the position of barely getting along in their studies. In my experience, the students using these resources are among the most successful students in their classes. They have mastered the secret of using downloadable, portable study aids as the perfect time managed way to get their information. Whether using an mp3 player, burned to a CD, or listening online, they can listen to just what they need to study and learn, when they have time to study it!

Whether it’s an anatomy and physiology lecture downloaded from a website or a collection of audio files demonstrating different types of heart sounds, using downloadable media during your previously brainless commute is the easiest way to study that I have found. You can download and listen to something that will help your next test, your next work project, or improve general knowledge and save some of your precious family time in the evenings for –

– GASP! –

– spending time with your family.

What do you end up with in the end? Students who are more knowledgeable, more prepared, more confident, more rested, and ultimately more successful. Heck, they might even have a marriage after going back to college.

That’s right, I said it.

Using new media resources while studying for that second college degree can save your marriage!*

(*your results may vary)