Once again we look at the good and the ugly of incorporating technology into the classroom. This weeks focus is on audio/video and podcasts. Being able to produce instructional material in audio format or even in video may seem foreign to teachers and students alike just a few short years ago but according to King, podcasting entered the technology scene in 2004 and originally came from the independent music industry. King also notes that despite its musical beginnings, 8 out of 10 podcasts are language learning. With these statistics it proves that podcasting in Adult Education is very popular and widely used. Therefore one can assume that many if not most adults are familiar with the technology.
A podcast is an audio file such as a recorded lecture, assignment explanation, FAQ's etc. that is hosted on a server and pushed to those who have asked (subscribed) to the content. Though the technology is fairly simple, there are both pro's and con's I would like to discuss.
Podcasts are available 24/7 and students and access the information any time they want. If they are struggling with "getting" everything in a lecture or are bad note takers, a podcast will allow a student to watch a lecture as many times as they need until they have successfully grasped the intent of the lecture. There are also many options to listen to podcast such as mp3 players, computers, iPods, cell phones, iPhones, Smartphones, etc. Assignments can also be done through podcasting to better show a students competency in the material that is being learned as opposed to just writing a paper which is sometimes difficult to disect whether a student has fully grasped the material or not. Lastly, for this discussion of pro's, a professor can slice and splice a lengthy lecture or instructional video to show the most important and information parts and reduce the audio/video time to 5-8 minutes or less. This helps to bring the important information to the forefront without becoming bored or tuning out the unimportant information.
Of course, as wonderful as the podcast technology is, there are some drawbacks. There are definitely going to be some of the students who are not comfortable with this type of technology and will not embrace it. There could be some resentment in the fact that the instructor is just "making a video" and they feel disconnected from the actual person. This makes some students feel alone in their learning. Also, making a video takes talent and good speaking abilities that many people don't possess. They can be intimidated by podcasting assignments because of their personal appearance and since these are open for public scrutiny they may tend to not be comfortable speaking as open as they would otherwise. One final issue is the legal issue of content that is posted on a podcast. You must have the proper permissions prior to posting copywritten material such as songs. Without these permissions you could be guilty of breaking laws.
Podcasts can be a great tool in adult education which should be utilized. As an instructor, you should be aware of the drawbacks and be willing to accomodate or assist in area's that could hinder the learner from learning. I plan to incorporate podcasts into my future classes as the positives outway the negatives in my opinion.
Here is an example of an educational VIDEO podcast. The sky really is the limit!
You hit on one of what I think is the most significant advantages to Podcasting, the ability to pare down lectures to focus on different parts of the material. Many younger students are not good note takers. The ability to shrink a lecture into smaller, more manageable sections, makes it easier for students to review material and better understand the key learning points. Another advantage for instructors is that it allows them to develop a library that can be used for later courses. They can also use feedback from previous podcasts to improve and design classes. Again, podcasting is only one tool that is available for learning and should not be used to the exclusion of other forms of technology.
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the very informative blog. It was very helpful. Although, I agree and appreciate your point about editing and splicing the lecture to be a smaller amount. I am finding it to be a tedious and painstaking process. I am not sure that most professors would actually do that, especially if they are new to the technology.
Is there something else you would suggest to make this an easier process? Now, I clearly note that I am using a PC and it might be easier with a Mac. I had a student try to convert me to Mac; a point I am now seriously considering.
Thanks again for sharing.