A taxonomy of podcasts and its application to higher education

In this paper we address the uses of podcasts in higher education and we propose a taxonomy for podcasts. We describe results obtained within a study that is being conducted at the University of Minho, in Portugal, focusing on the use of podcasts and their implications towards learning in higher education. The project involves 6 lecturers from different scientific domains – Education, Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering and Biology. These lecturers created 84 podcasts in order to support their undergraduate and master courses during the 1st and 2nd semesters of 2007/ 2008 and the 1st semester of 2008/ 2009. A total of 479 students - 372 undergraduate and 107 master students - were enrolled in 20 courses. Some students were not only podcasts listeners but they also had the challenge and the opportunity to create their own podcasts (34 episodes). Podcasts were classified in different types (Informative, Feedback, Guidelines and Authentic materials), styles (formal or informal), length (short, moderate or long), purpose and medium (audio or video), according to a taxonomy proposed by the authors. The majority of podcasts was Informative (76), followed by podcasts with Feedback (30), Guidelines (9) and Authentic materials (3). Most podcasts were short (102), mainly in informal style and only 21 were vodcasts. Students´ reactions about podcasts implementation in higher education revealed their acceptance of this new tool and their receptiveness to podcasting in other courses. The majority of students found podcasts a positive resource in learning, although they did not explore one of the main advantages of this technology – portability. Lecturers also found podcasting a useful resource for learning and recognized its great potential as a pedagogical tool but stressed that it is too time consuming

Student-produced podcasts as an assessment tool: an example from Geomorphology

The emergence of user-friendly technologies has made podcasting an accessible learning tool in undergraduate teaching. In a geomorphology course, student-produced podcasts were used as part of the assessment in 2008-2010. Student groups constructed radio shows aimed at a general audience to interpret and communicate geomorphological data within the context of relevant social and environmental issues. Questionnaire results suggest that the novel format engaged students, and promoted group working, IT, language and oral communication skills, and a deeper understanding of the context of geomorphic data. For teachers, podcasting technology offers efficient teaching of oral communication, with opportunities for distance and self-directed learning

Balancing e-lectures with podcasts: a case study of an undergraduate engineering module

The work described in this paper is based on an engineering module that has run for six years (each academic year since 2004). The module is run online although the learners are campus-based students. This has provided an unusual opportunity to compare the same students’ experiences of on-campus and online courses. The course comprises a rich online environment including e-lectures, podcasts, video clips, website links, animations, background reading, formative quizzes, summative assignments and discussion boards. The e-lectures comprise a PowerPoint-like screen with a spoken audio track and other facilities, including a rolling transcript, video controls (for stopping, pausing and rewinding) and a search facility. Each e‑lecture is short (a maximum of ten minutes) and links to some of the learning materials (e.g. video clips and formative quizzes). The podcasts are mp3 audio files, each lasting approximately ten minutes, and are produced weekly and published through the virtual learning environment. This paper presents a pedagogical model that has been designed to develop a structure for combining these virtual learning elements and considers some of the opportunities provided by such innovative approaches for the enhancement of engineering teaching at undergraduate level. It presents research findings on student learning outcomes and provides suggestions for adopting the design for learning model presented in the paper

The Podcast as an Innovative Urban Planning Teaching Tool: Soft and Hard Skills between Discipline and Professional Identity

The expression didactic innovation has recently assumed an implicit reference to Distance Learning. For scholars, however, it was above all the critical questioning on learning models. The article explores the use of the podcast as a stimulus for engineering students to achieve new soft skills: to learn multidisciplinary contents related to planning and to acquire professional competences in digital aspects and feedbacks attribution. Experience took place over two years: this gave the opportunity to compare the activity carried out totally in presence and totally remotely (through online lessons and reviews), to draw from them issues for discussion and future implementations

What motivates students to use Podcasting?

Podcasting which is one of the technologies that was found for personal entertainment or for information usage, has become one of the fastest growing technologies over the past several years (Shim, Shropshire, Park, Harris, and Campbell, 2007). Currently it is used for many different subjects, from music to technology, news to foreign languages, politics to education (Lazzari, 2009). This study attempts to identify and empirically assess the motivational factors, intrinsic and extrinsic, that drive users to adopt podcast. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is employed as the base model for this study and it is modified by adding motivational factors that affect the adoption of podcast. The model is tested via a survey that was developed for the aim of this study. The structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships and the results revealed that intrinsic motivational factors have a big effect on podcast adoption

Sounds for study: Speech and language therapy students' use and perception of exercise podcasts for phonetics

Currently little is known about how students use podcasts of exercise material (as opposed to lecture material), and whether they perceive such podcasts to be beneficial. This study aimed to assess how exercise podcasts for phonetics are used and perceived by second year speech and language therapy students. Eleven podcasts of graded phonetics exercises were produced and made available to the 36 students in the cohort, who then took part in two voluntary surveys. Surveys were completed by 26 and 30 students respectively. Responses show that students tend to listen to the podcasts on a computer at home, rather than on an mp3 player when on the move. Many students also listen to the podcasts with family and friends. Students report that they found the exercise podcasts very useful for their learning. They liked the ability to repeat the recordings many times and felt that there was improvement in their confidence in transcription and in their test scores due to using them. For this subject they would prefer exercise podcasts to recordings of lectures

Podcasts na licenciatura em biologia aplicada: diversidade na tipologia e duração

A facilidade em criar podcasts, aliada às enormes potencialidades que este tipo de tecnologia oferece, têm atraído os profissionais ligados ao ensino para a exploração progressiva desta ferramenta em diferentes contextos pedagógicos e com finalidades diversas. Na Universidade do Minho, decorre um projecto que visa auscultar a receptividade à utilização pedagógica de podcasts no ensino universitário, articulando as suas especificidades e implementação com as diferentes áreas científicas da equipa do projecto. O estudo que se apresente foi conduzido no ano lectivo 2008/ 2009, numa unidade curricular da Licenciatura em Biologia Aplicada – Hereditariedade e Evolução - onde no ano lectivo transacto se tinha tentado implementar alguns podcasts simples. Esse estudo teve essencialmente um carácter exploratório, visando auscultar a aceitação discente a esta tecnologia. No presente trabalho, pretendeu-se explorar diferentes potencialidades dos ficheiros áudio, nomeadamente no que se refere à sua tipologia, duração e objectivos, e simultaneamente avaliar as reacções dos discentes à sua integração no processo de ensino/ aprendizagem. Os alunos revelaram-se receptivos e interessados em continuar a aceder a este tipo de ficheiros, principalmente a podcasts contendo conteúdos, resumos e/ ou orientações para estudo, numa clara preferência por soluções que auxiliem na compreensão dos conteúdos.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Enseignement transmissif, apprentissage actif : usages du podcasting par les étudiants universitaires

Publier des enregistrements audiovisuels de cours ou des séquences complémentaires sous forme de podcasts à l’attention des étudiants ne va pas sans poser de questions : comment utilisent-ils ces médias ? Est-ce une échappatoire au cours en présentiel ? Quels sont les impacts sur l’apprentissage ? L’investissement en temps de l’enseignant est-il rentabilisé ? Les résultats issus de recherches antérieures peuvent être qualifiés de dichotomiques : les uns arguant que le podcasting n’a pas d’effet notable, les autres concluant que l’outil opère certains effets positifs sur les résultats, la motivation ou l’anxiété. Complémentairement à ces études considérant les technologies comme des entités indépendantes des individus et des contextes, notre recherche adopte une approche centrée sur les utilisateurs afin d’analyser la manière dont les étudiants, au sein d’un dispositif donné, intègrent le podcasting dans leurs stratégies d’apprentissage. La recherche a été réalisée auprès d’étudiants provenant de douze cours de l’Université libre de Bruxelles en utilisant un questionnaire (n = 2247), des entretiens compréhensifs (n = 23) et une grille d’analyse des dispositifs pédagogiques. Le croisement de ces analyses de données permet de saisir le sens que les étudiants accordent au podcast, la manière dont ils se l’approprient et infléchissent certaines de ses modalités afin qu’il réponde au mieux à leurs besoins en termes d’apprentissage.Publishing audiovisual recordings of courses or complementary videos for students is not without asking some questions: how do students use these media? Is it a way of escaping classroom activities? What are the impacts on learning? Is it worth the teacher’s investment in time? The results of previous researches are inconsistent: some argue that podcasting has no significant effect, while others have concluded that it shows positive effects on results, motivation or anxiety. Complementing studies that consider that technologies are independent of individuals and contexts, our research takes a user-based approach in analysing how students integrate podcasting in their learning strategies. The research was conducted with students from twelve courses of the Université Libre de Bruxelles using a questionnaire (n= 2247), comprehensive interviews (n= 23) and an analysis grid of teaching devices. Crossing these data gives an understanding of the meaning of the podcasts for the students and the way that they use them to learn

Key Challenges and Opportunities for Podcasters in the Digital Age: A Critical Review

As of April 2023, more than 10, 00,000 Podcasts were streaming, and millions of people listened to them. The growth and popularity of podcasts has begun to grow tremendously in the digital age. In the last couple of years, the popularity of podcasts has magnified responses from all over the world. Many popular influencers and celebrities have started recording their own podcasts these days on various interesting topics. Many people are listening to podcasts, and it’s a significant opportunity for brands to consider podcasts in their digital marketing strategy. Now Podcasts is the business digital marketing strategy for market research companies. A Podcast can be a series of episodes, digitally programmed and formatted, focusing on a specific theme or topics like social, political, economic, cultural, religious, technology, start-ups, motivation, inspiration or anything else. Podcasts are generally free and are available on hosting platforms like Spotify, Buzzsprout, PodBean, Captivate, Transistor, Castos, SoundCloud, and many more. Podcasting was started in 2014 by Software Developer Dave Winer and MTV Video Jockey Adam Curry. The term Podcast was given by British technologist, strategic foresight consultant, broadcaster Ben Hammersley. The podcast journey began in 2004 and gained popularity in 2013 when Apple Inc. announced they hit 1 billion subscribers. This review paper highlights the key challenges and opportunities for podcasters in the digital age and also studies how podcasts play a crucial role in digital marketing strategy