Podcasting: A new technological tool to facilitate good practice in higher education

Vicenc Fernandez, Pep Simo, Jose M. Sallan

Department of Management, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 11 Colom Street, 08222 Terrassa, Spain

Computers & Education 53 (2009) 385–392

Link : http://www.mabrito.net/105/instructor_readings/podcasting_education.pdf

Introduction

The emergence of internet-based technological tools in the student learning process has recently improved and promoted this good practice at various levels for example, podcast. In this paper, the researchers focus on the use of podcasting in education, where it has received an amazing increase in attention over the last few years, as shown by the recent creation of iTunesU by Apple Inc and the Higher Education Podcast Repository, as well as various papers that have emphasized the usefulness of podcasting in libraries.  Basically, this paper analyses the use of podcasting to enhance the learning processes of distance students in higher education, evaluating a broad range of podcasting characteristics and determining how podcasting could improve students’ personal study according to the principles of good practice in higher education.

Objective

To analyse the use of podcasting to enhance distance students’ personal study

Methodology

The researchers developed thirteen podcasts distributed over 4 months and in which ninety distance students took part during the semester and evaluated the feelings, the perceptions, the reactions, and the suggestions of students and other teachers in relation to this tool through a permanent forum of discussion, emails, interviews and questionnaires. Established from the information obtained from all these sources, they analysed the use of podcasting in relation to the principles for good practice in higher education.

The two questionnaires sent to students at the beginning and at the end of the course were the main tools used to evaluate the usefulness of podcasting in the learning process. The researchers also developed two questionnaires to evaluate the usefulness of podcasting in higher education.

Results & Discussion

For the first questionnaire, the results show that the expectations of students regarding each feature of podcasting were very high at the beginning of the course. These results were expected due to the fact that it was the first contact with podcasting for many students. The second questionnaire was completed after listening to the last podcast on the course. Students then knew how to use the course podcasts perfectly, and were aware of their usefulness to achieve the goals of the course. The numbers in the latter result reveal how the students’ perceptions of some features of podcasting were changing over time.

Specificity

They discovered that many students had hoped that podcasts could replace traditional classes and the individual textbook study. However, the main goal of podcasting was just to simplify the learning process by offering a structured and general vision of the chapters of the textbook; therefore, the podcasts could not generate learning independently, but it was necessary to combine them with the rest of the course materials. For this reason, the students’ perception about its ‘specificity’ was not as high as at the beginning of the course. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the results of the use of podcasting do not appear as an independent product of the course, but as a part of the whole learning process.

Efficiency

The students’ assessment of this feature increased due to two reasons, according to the information obtained in the interviews:

1.       at the beginning of the course, many students did not know how podcasting worked
2.       they had some doubts about the time needed to obtain results from podcasts (e.g. did they have to take notes from the podcasts? or was listening to the podcasts enough?).

The information contained on the podcasts was easy to digest because their goal was only to introduce students to the content of the course. At the beginning of the course, students considered the podcasts to be a new way to provide more information about the topics of the course. However, they discovered that the podcasts did not add more information, but rather allowed them to manage the rest of the course materials in a more efficient manner. Consequently, the course podcasts allowed for a decrease in the feeling of information overload and an increase in the importance of the rest of the course materials.

Accesibility

Many students suggested that one of the most interesting characteristics of podcasting was that they could listen at any time and in the most convenient location. The majority of the students were undertaking a distance course because their jobs did not enable them to attend traditional courses with weekly classes. In this context, many students commented that they did not have a permanent place to study, so they appreciated all kinds of materials that could be used in different places, for example while using public transport.

Serendipity

Many students explained that they used the podcasts in two different ways:

1.         before beginning to study the chapters of the textbook in order to get a global idea about their main topics and the structure of the chapter
2.   .    after studying the chapter of the textbook.

According to questionnaires, the students commented that the use of the podcasts after studying a chapter of the textbook allowed them to check if they had understood the main topics of the chapter. In other words, the podcasts helped students to auto-assess their learning and to improve their assimilation of the content of the chapter.

In addition, According to the students, the podcasts increased their levels of motivation in two ways.

1.      students noticed that the podcasts were not fixed and pre-establish material, as teachers changed the characteristics and the contents of the podcasts according to the comments and suggestions that students made during the course.

2.      the teacher’s voice gave them an increased feeling of proximity than other materials.

These facts enhanced the feeling of a permanent contact between students and teachers, as well as of teacher’s concern regarding students’ needs. Therefore, they considered that the course podcasts took up part of the role of face-to-face lectures, increasing the feeling of contact between students and teachers. In other words, podcasting allowed for the movement of some characteristics or roles of traditional lectures to distance courses.

After reducing and analyzing this information, the researchers identified five ways in which the podcasts had helped students in their learning process:

1.  giving an overall or global vision of the chapters, reducing the time required to study and assimilate the contents, and allowing them to efficiently manage their time
2.  offering a new tool to review concepts that they had learnt during the week and during the course  before the exams
3.   increasing the feeling of proximity between students and teachers
4.   enhancing students’ motivation;
5.   allowing students to learn in different ways.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, these results suggest that podcasting is a powerful tool as complement to traditional course resources, but not regardless of them; the features of podcasting increase the feeling of permanent contact between students and teachers, increasing students’ motivation; and the use of podcasting allows people to respect diverse talents and students’ ways of learning. From these findings, motivation has been the aspect most highlighted by students on the course. They identified several reasons why podcasting had motivated them: it was the first time that they used this technological tool; it provided a different approach to study the contents of the course; it reflected a concern of teachers to students, it increased the feeling of proximity between students to teachers.