Political junkies at Weber State University are getting their presidential election fix podcast-style, as two professors keep them up to date on campus, via individual MP3 players.

Leah Murray and Thom Kuehls, both professors in the political science and philosophy department at WSU, put out a new edition of their podcast every time they feel candidates for the upcoming election do something worthy of note. The podcast isn't focusing on any particular candidate but is geared toward educating people about the election process.

"We use it as an extension of our teaching," Kuehls said. "We try to explain things like we do in our classes, rather than trying to push a particular position on an issue."

At first, the trend, called "Politics on Fridays," was expected to be weekly, but it turned into more of a chance to keep students in the fray at random or whenever interesting topics come up, such as debates, conventions and primary elections. Each episode gets about 200 downloads, some from students required to keep up with the pair.

The "hot" political season, Murray said, was a good reason to get people involved, and making it available through podcasting only increases the scope of listeners.

"The benefit, I think, to this medium is that students — or anyone for that matter, but I'm thinking of students here — can download this and listen to political conversations while running or working out or driving their car," she said. "It frees up the time factor."

The political podcast isn't the only time students have been immersed in learning while using the latest technology. WSU Spanish professor Tony Spanos has been using podcasts to help his students experience native language speakers for the past three years.

"Students like it and it brings spontaneity and something new to the classroom," he said. The idea is different for some students, but Spanos believes it helps them expand their repertoire.

"The benefit is that students don't have to be sitting at their computers or in class all the time to be learning," he said. "They can be learning on the go. (Podcasts) make learning mobile."

This year alone, WSU has published at least 35 new episodes, including various speeches, discussions, lectures and chats heard on campus. Those episodes have experienced about 6,600 downloads, on and off campus, said university spokesman Travis Clemens.

"We make it available to anyone and with a link on the university's home page, it's easy for people who are drawn to that sort of thing," he said. Since 2005, when podcasting began at WSU, Clemens said the site has seen about 25,000 downloads.

"It's nothing like iTunes, which gets that many or more in a day, but it's a new technology for us and it's useful," he said.

Previews and follows to various presidential elections, officiated by Murray and Kuehls, are among the most popular podcasts at WSU, but others include interviews with local political leaders, various campus-wide lectures and presentations, as well as Spanos' student-created podcasts.

Murray and Kuehls' next podcast is due out a week before the general election "to rehash what we've been through up to now with the presidential election," Kuehls said. A link to their discussion, and those they've had in the past, is available at weber.edu.

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