Podcasting for pedagogic purposes

Not fair. Someone is trying to steal my title of 'most rubbish name for podcasting web resource'. No matter, they have failed. Podcasting for Pedagogic Purposes (it's bad, but not that bad) is a wiki based, I think, at the University of Chester. It contains various links and materials related to podcasting - including a contribution from our very own Nigel Holt. Thanks to Ian for sending me the link.

Linked from the PPP wiki is Reflections on Educational Podcasting (way down the crap name register, that one): a blog associated with a podcasting project at Sheffield Hallam. There is also notice of a podcasting conference in Oxford on April 3rd.

I did, in fairness, attempt to change the title of this blog, but just couldn't come up with any decent puns (I gave up when the name 'Pod Stewart' raced maniacally through my head). Any suggestions would be welcome...

Blackboard 9

I'm just posting this as an experiment to see whether this blog might be able to do the job of Minerva's Owl. It's just a quick follow up to Ian and Joe's comments on Blackboard 9. I've had a quick look at the promotional screencast and it looks to me like Blackboard have finally entered the 21st century. Up to now their new releases have felt like increasingly convoluted efforts to make an old-fashioned filing system look and feel a bit like a Web 2.0 application. This version certainly looks like a dramatic shift (as you say, Ian, it will mean significant retraining), but I think it's one that we should adopt as quickly as is reasonable.

Screencasts and academic writing

Anyone reading this was probably at the VLE meeeting today where Richard Stamp and Roger Heaton demonstrated their work so far on the Beacon projects. I was struck particularly by Roger's writing support screencasts: short films demonstrating correct referencing, compiling bibliographies etc. I think they could work really well across the board, and I wonder whether the University should think about producing some generic screencasts which could simply be copied into individual module sites. These could be supplemented by subject-specific materials, but this approach would at least prevent people reinventing the wheel every time they wanted to show how to create a correct in-text reference using Harvard, for example. The same, I think, could go for demonstrations of how to use library databases - I wonder how many Times Digital Archive films are already in existence - each representing a fair chunk of one staff member's time...?

Pedr report

I'm just working on my report for the T+L Committee (and dreaming of quarts and pint pots as I try to squeeze hours of interview material into about 1,500 words). Anyway, the 'long' version allowed me to draw up a list of observations and recommendations. Feel free to a) have a quick look, b) send observations, or c) sensibly get on with marking / rewriting your entire programme / preparing for next semester etc. etc.

You'll notice I've used the horrible acronym PSC to denote 'podcasts and screencasts'. I had to keep it within the word limit somehow...

General issues

• The decision to use PSC should be driven by specific pedagogical issues
• PSC use does not imply m-learning
• PSC should not replicate existing T+L methods
• Podcasting of lectures is of limited value

Student experience

• PSC has recognised pedagogical benefits
• Students view PSC very positively
• However, PSCs work best alongside other learning and teaching styles
• New students are receptive to the use of PSC
• Students are anxious about distance learning

Staff use and experience

• PSCs are being used in a diverse ways across the institution
• PSC use is expanding
• PSCs work effectively as assessment tools
• Wider use of PSC for staff IT training should be considered
• Staff need basic technical skills, but trial-and-error development should not be discouraged
• The production of optional PSC material may be an inefficient use of staff time

Institutional issues

• PSC use should be facilitated and encouraged, where staff feel it is appropriate
• Peer-based and early-adopter driven modes of dissemination have worked well and should continue to be encouraged (e.g. PedR projects; Beacon scheme)
• BSU should invest in low-cost peripherals, especially headphones
• Effective IT support is imperative
• IT support for e-learning needs to be matched by awareness of pedagogical contexts
• A digital divide among staff should be avoided, and student expectation needs to be managed
• Training in basic production techniques, informed by pedagogic as well as technical issues, should be available to all staff
• PSC could also be included in IT training workshops

Podcasts for feedback

Just looking again at a study (in Salmon and Edirisingha) in which podcasts were used to provide feedback to students. The project (run by Derek France and Chris Ribchester at the University of Chester) was odd in that there appeared to be no set limits to the length of the feedback - and the files ranged from 2 to 14 minutes (!) long (cunningly, the grades were announced at the end of the podcast). However, student responses were generally positive, with many saying it actually felt more personal than written feedback, but also that it was more emotionally taxing. The authors conclude that it could work especially well as a technique for oral presentations, performances etc.

Anyone got experience of something similar?

Podcasting for Learning in Universities

I've just finished reading Gilly Salmon and Palitha Edirisingha, eds. (2008), Podcasting for Learning in Universities. It covers some introductory techniques, but is primarily a collection of research reports from a number of institutions. I won't give a detailed review, but here are a few themes that emerge from it:

Again, podcasting doesn't seem to lead to m-learning
Across all the studies collected in the book, only between 7% and 16% of participants downloaded podcasts onto MP3 players. This matches my reading of other published studies in which I have only found one which didn't note the lack of desire to put the podcasts onto portable devices.

There is an interesting essay by David Bell ('The University in your Pocket') in which he critiques the notion that mobile learning is necessarily a positive development. He suggests that the desire to fill student's 'empty time' with educational material both runs against their own desire to separate work and leisure, but also reinforces a problematic ideological pressure to demand constant productivity. In other words, it reinforces the notion that moments of silence or emptyness are simply wasted time. It's an interesting take, I think.

Another point which emerged from the studies (and which cropped up in my focus groups) was that students have sense of different media being more or less appropriate to learning. From this angle, they accessed podcasts on computer because the computer was a medium which they associated with learning, unlike the iPod - which they associated with entertainment. One study found students 'preferred to give podcasts their undivided attention'. Another chapter discusses this in the light of educational research (e.g. Salomon, 1984), which suggest that student motivation is often driven by their expectations about their chances of learning effectively via any given medium.


Podcasts are popular
All the reports found that students liked the use of podcasts. Unsurpisingly, they were wary of podcasts replacing face-to-face teaching; however, many were clear about the specific pedagogical benefits of podcasting as opposed to conventional methods. Again, this is something I found in my focus groups.


The term 'podcast' is woolly
I think some people are still sticklers for the idea that a podcast isn't a podcast if it's not delivered via a feed. Salmon and Edirisingha reject this, and are happy to use the term to define any audio (or audiovisual) file which is available via an online platform as a podcast. I tend to agree with them. However, I did find my jaw heading floorwards when I read one study in which two 'podcasts' were broadcast 'via speakers during face-to-face sessions called workshops' [sic]. Whether the tutors attended these sessions (silently), we don't know. In fairness, the authors did admit they had 'perhaps distorted the concept of podcasts by not offering them for download'....

Lots of people use them in lots of different ways
Examples in the book include recorded lectures, preparatory material, videos of lab sessions, iWalks (for fieldtrips), assessment feedback, software training etc. Some seemed to work better than others, but Salmon and Edirisingha were probably right in stating the basic principle that one should 'make the decision to use podcasts ... based on a teaching and learning problem, challenge or issue that you have identified.'

Overall, it's an interesting collection of studies - some illuminating, some pretty weird. I'd say, however, that it is probably of more use to people interested in the pedagogical debates than those just trying to start out.

Videos and m-learning elsewhere

As a subscriber to the Learning Development and Innovation Moodle at Staffordshire, I've been receiving a bunch of postings to a discussion board on mobile learning. A lot of the work is being carried out at FE colleges, and there are discussions on a range of e-learning initiatives (including a rather heated debate on the merits, or otherwise, of using Second Life for teaching). One feature that is evident among the m-learning pilots is that they invariably seem to involve providing learners with the necessary devices (here, for example, students were provided with 60gb Zen Vision media players). This, in itself, creates problems regarding both replication and the extent to which such pilots reflect 'real world' contexts (although we could probably assume most students will have portable video players some point down the line). To repeat an earlier point though, my question is whether it is the rich media element or the mobility that really counts here.

At the moment, what seems important to me is that rich media facilitates access to content outside the conventional classroom, and that learners can review this content in their own time and as often as they want. This (especially the ability to review content) continues to be the aspect of podcasting which students I've spoken to identify as most useful. I'm still not convinced that the portability or otherwise of that content is especially relevant here. However, I will try to foreground this as an issue with my last set of discussions with students.