Business
ACT offers college planning podcast
Standardized testing company experimenting with more podcasts, student blogs and audio diaries.
Gone are the days when a prospective college student had only the library to do research on colleges. Now topics from financial aid to course offerings are available for downloading onto an iPod or MP3 player, reports the San Bernardino County Sun .
The ACT Test site now offers a free podcast on college planning. ACT, of course, is one of the major standardized college admissions tests.
"Part of our mission is to provide college-planning tips," said Kristin Crouse, a spokesperson for ACT. "We're always looking at new ways to reach our audience. We've seen more and more companies getting into podcasts and with the audience we wanted to reach, we felt it would be a natural fit with so many kids having iPods and MP3 players."
Along with college tips, the ACT site is also preparing to launch an audio diary from students who are taking the test in April.
"It's a new technology, so we are monitoring it to see how it goes," Crouse said.
Although many public high schools have banned iPods at school, some are using them as educational tools. Some teachers put lessons on the web and students download them onto their iPods.
"We take our tests on the Internet, and we download the lesson on video and podcasts about chapters you missed if you had a game or if you miss a day," she said. "I'm an athlete so when I heard about it I was like, 'Yes!'," said Fanny Perez, a junior at Pacific High.