Podcasting: A Teaching with Technology White Paper

By Ashley Deal, via the Educause site.

This is an excellent paper on podcasting and useful for novice and expert alike. For the beginner there is a brief exploration about what podcasting is, what it stands for and what’s so special about it. This is then followed by a discussion relating to context of use (preparation material, recording in class lecture). the article refers and makes use of data provided through institutions engaged in researching this area. Some good ideas for teaching with podcasts and a nice refreshing emphasis on student authored podcasting as a learning experience. Good stuff.

On the perceived concern over students missing lectures: “Most students perceive lecture podcasts as a tool for review, rather than as a replacement for attending lectures (Malan, 2007). A small percentage of students indicate that the availability of recorded lectures might make them more likely to miss class, but none of the studies we reviewed report a significant impact on overall attendance (Brittain, Glowacki, Van Ittersum, and Johnson, 2006; Lane, 2006; Malan, 2007).”

On improved performance: “Many students who use recorded lectures for review believe the practice has a positive impact on their performance. In the UM study, 85% of survey respondents who used the lecture archives believed it had a positive effect on exam grades (Brittain et al., 2006). Learning outcomes and”.

“But one of the most surprising findings from these studies—and the most consistently reported—is that a majority of students report using lecture podcasts at home or on a computer, rather than in a mobile environment with a portable device. ” This echoes findings from a recent study by UHs’ Trevor Barker. I’m not that surprised but would be interested in seeing whether lectures are listened to on iPods and the like for those students who have to commute over great distances. But concentrating on these findings does miss the point. Whether students live on or near or far from campus the key element with regards to podcasting is that we are providing flexibility and choice of learning. Mobile learning in its true sense.

In relation to the above “From these studies, we have learned that RSS subscription is a convenient way to download frequently published material, and its availability increases the likelihood that students will download audio/video lecture files.”. This subscription element is the very essence of podcasting.

And on student created podcasting and developing learning communities: “At various points in the semester, students were required to produce a “podcast pair” (two 5-minute podcasts). In the first podcast, the student read a brief passage from a novel. In the second, the student was instructed to provide “discussion of that passage: why the student chose it, what details were most important, what themes and issues the passage raised, and how the passage related to the rest of the novel” All students were then required to listen to several of their classmates’ podcasts related to the current reading assignment before coming to class.”.

“In other words, their goals for the podcast assignments were not only for the students to read, analyze, and comment on the readings, but also for them to engage in a dialogue with their peers.”.

Obviously a great deal more is covered in the paper. Worth reading!

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