Podcasting in Education

Title……………………………………………..1 Table of Contents………………………………2 “Podcasting in the

Classroom”………………...3-5 “Principle and Pedagogy: The 2 P’s of

Podcasting in the Information Technology Classroom”……....6-8

“Podcasting in the Classroom: Involving Students in Creating Podcasted Lessons”……………....9-11

Conclusion……………………………………...12

Podcasting is an automated technology that allows listeners to automatically download audio files to one’s media player. Listeners can then listen to the files from their computers or set them to automatically download to an MP3 player.

In 2004, Duke University distributed 1,650 Apple iPods to incoming freshmen. They were preloaded with an orientation schedule, academic calendar, introductions from Duke administrators, advice from current students, athletics schedules, lyrics to fight songs, and more.

By: Brian Flanagan and Brendan Calandra

WHAT IS PODCASTING?

1. Podcasts have been used primarily for recording lectures and discussions. The convenience of allowing students to listen to lectures several times allows students to improve on exam grades.

2. Podcasting is a cost-effective way to deliver instructions with out changing course curriculum or learning processes.

3. Podcasting integrates audio-dependent courses into schools such as music and foreign language courses.

After learning about podcasting this semester, I found myself wishing that my teachers had taken advantage of this useful tool during my 6 years of Spanish. Often when I left the classroom and was at home doing my homework I found myself confused on conjugation and annunciation. Had my teachers used podcasting I could have played the lesson to refresh my memory. “This flexibility can give foreign language students exposure to native speakers without having to be tied to a school language lab or stationary computer” (Flanagan et al pg 21).

Also, I can see how this tool would be extremely useful for college students who may sit through 3 or more lectures a day. Being able to record the lectures and make them portable for convenience would allow students to hear them over and over again. This would increase test scores because students would have a chance to become more familiar with the content.

Most importantly, many students are now taking online classes, and podcasts have made it possible for these students to still get the curriculum of lectures, followed by quizzes and tests.

Flanagan, B. Calandra, B. (Nov 2005). “Podcasting in the Classroom”. Learning and Leading with Technology. V 33. # 3. 28 Apr 2009.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1e/1d/f3.pdf

Creating, subscribing, and viewing students own podcasts engages them in yet another learning tool. Students often perform better on assignments when they know other kids in the class will be viewing their work.

Out of 48 students over half said once they learned how to use podcasts they looked up podcasts in their spare time about their personal interests.

Podzinger.com offers another useful tool to podcasting. Students are able to change the lecture into text form so they can search for key terms or find a certain segment in the lecture. Before podzinger.com students would have to sit and listen to the entire lecture to find a specific part.

How many students will listen to an hour lecture more than once?

Podcasts are not easily searchable.

They are hard to record many voices in interactive courses.

Video quality is poor for demonstrations.

Availability of podcasts are causing decrease in attendance.

It takes additional time for instructors to edit audio and post it.

One of the biggest concerns about teachers posting podcasted lectures online is that class attendance has dropped significantly. Out of a survey of 48 students only 3 stated they never missed class once podcasts began to be posted.

I found it very interesting that before podzinger.com students were unable to search by key terms. I can imagine this was very frustrating because if a student had a particular question about one aspect of the lecture they would have to listen to the entire lecture in order to find the area where the teacher talks about it. But, with podzinger one can transfer the entire lecture into text and search by key term.

I also did not think about the fact that if students are able to receive an entire lecture from home, of course many would not attend class. It almost seems illogical to attend the lecture when you can hear it from the comfort of your own home.

“:These devices have a tremendous consumer appeal that works to their advantage particularly for younger students who maybe impatient with other forms of teaching and learning” (Frydenberg pg 4). I liked this quote because today’s day and age the younger generations are much more appreciative of the inventive technologies that are coming out each year. Not only do we understand how to use them better than the older generations but we thrive on them to live our lives. We contact our friends, post pictures of our lives, email professors. The younger genreatios livelihood rests in technologies hands.

Frydenberg, M. (4 Feb 2008). “ Principles and Pedagogy: The Two P’s of Podcasting in the Information Technology Classroom”. Information Systems Education Journal. V6 #6. 28 Apr 2009.

http://www.isedj.org/6/6/ISEDJ.6(6).Frydenberg.pdf

Students appreciate podcasts for two main reasons….1. There is a high number of part-time students who

appreciate not having to commute to their university in order to perform assigned tasks and listen to assigned lectures.

2. Most universities have increased tuition every year but new professors are not always hired so being able to teach foreign languages and English courses through podcasts enables more students to enroll with less teachers needed.

By: Marco Lazzari

“Learning through listening is greatly appreciated by students whose learning style is mainly auditory, while visual learners benefit from seeing videos from which they can catch teacher’s expression and body language” (Lazarri pg 1)

In an experiment with 18 students, students created their own podcasts to see how it would reflect test results. 2 opposite ideas occurred.1. Part-time students stated that

the use of podcasts did not affect their grade what so ever.

2. Full time students suggested the creating of podcasts significantly affected their learning experience and test scores in a positive manner.

Personally, I am a visual and auditory learner. If I hear something enough times or see it enough times I will have it memorized. For this reason, I believe podcasts would enhance my learning. I would be able to replay lectures or videos until the information stuck with me.

I believe in the future we will see podcasts used at universities more and more. The fact that one teacher could host several online classes with out ever having her students “attend” a lecture could be very helpful. Less teacher would need to be employed at colleges which would help in profit, and to send money to other areas of the school where it is needed.

It does not make sense that the full time students benefited so much from creating their own podcasts of the exam material, where as part time students were not affected by their podcasts. It seems that in this example the podcasts failed the part time students. Perhaps they did not fully understand how to create, edit, and benefit from the podcasts as the students who were full-time.

I believe this article had an important point, that students creating, editing, and reflecting on their own podcasts enabled them to learn the material while trying something new and most importantly learning a new tool that will probably become more and more popular over time.

M. Lazzarri. (2007).“Podcasting in the Classroom: Involving Students in Creating Podcasted Lessons.” Faculty of Education Sciences.

http://greenlab1.roma2.infn.it/hcied2008/content/documents/HCIEd2007_lazzari.pdf

In conclusion, I believe podcasts are only going to become more popular. The benefits far outweigh the negatives. From at home access, to less teachers needed, and even extra help for different kinds of learners. I believe universities all around America are all going to catch on to this phenomenon and soon college level students will all be accustomed with this new wave of technology.

With the help of Podzinger.com students are now even able to translate audio or visual clips into text so they can review teachers lectures or demonstrations and even find key terms or specifics.

I wish that when I had taken foreign language podcasts had been used because I am sure it would have made it much easier to learn pronunciation and any conjugation questions I had I could just listen to that lesson. Podcasts are making it easier on teachers and students. They are also creating a more independent student because students are able to get all the course material with out ever stepping foot in a classroom, and they are able to find the answers to their own questions by listening to the teachers podcasted lectures.