PODCASTING ENHANCES LEARNING Professor Pat R. Ormond Utah
Valley University 800 West University Parkway Orem, Utah 84058
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What Podcasting Is The creation, management, and promotion of
podcasts The pod comes from Apples iPod The casting comes from
broadcasting Unique as it uses the subscriber method to deliver the
audio files through a feed program Listeners subscribe to these
feeds using podcatching software Podcasting allows anyone with a
microphone plus Internet connection to create audio files that
others can download
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Podcast! An information file that can be automatically
downloaded from the internet Ambient Medium enabling listeners to
perform other primary duties while consuming audio
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Why I Decided to Create Podcasts for My Classes Another Way to
Engage Students Allows students the flexibility to revisit a
concept Enables students to focus on the lecture, not note taking
Provides additional information and support for my students Adds
value to, but does not replace the in-class experience Makes me a
better teacher Students have different learning styles
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Shaped My Teaching to Match More Students Needs Current
learning research reports that the sensory preferences of a typical
student group break down into the following: Physical, kinesthetic,
hands-on (40 Percent) Visual (35 Percent) Auditory (25
Percent)
Involving the Physical, kinesthetic, hands-on Learner
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Involving the Visual Learner Visual (35 Percent)
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Involving the Auditory Learner Auditory (25 Percent) Guest
Speakers Voice Plus Closed Captioning
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Teaching today means connecting with your students using a
multisensory teaching approach Effective because the brain stores
visual, tactile and auditory information in separate memory
locations Thus, the more senses involved, the deeper the
learning
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Some Advantages of Podcasting Enables users to multitask Allows
time-shifting around individual schedules Designed for offline
listening Frees learning from physical constraints Reaches out to
auditory learners!
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Enables users to multitask - Learn while Commuting Driving
Exercising Gardening Studying Bathing Doing housework Waiting for
appointments Attending sporting events Relaxing
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Allows time-shifting around individual schedules Listening to
informative podcasts is a great way to learn No longer does one
need to wait in the house or in a parked car listening to the end
of a good program. You can listen to podcasts at other times and
places than when they are broadcast.
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Designed for Offline Listening Efficient Use of Time Learning
Any Time, Any Place, at Your Own Pace
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Frees learning from physical constraints Example of Enhanced
Podcast used in My Class
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Some Disadvantages of Podcasting Some students want information
quickly and reading is faster than opening and downloading media
resources Unlike blogs and wikis you cannot link directly to other
podcasts This makes podcasting a less social, and probably less
revolutionary, medium They are not designed for two-way interaction
or audience participation
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Hard to skim Currently, its difficult to search hundreds of
sound files to find a key term, exact phrase, or point of reference
Audio without closed captioning is of little benefit to those with
hearing difficulties
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Survey Results Showed Podcasts 87% said podcasts were useful
54% said podcasts improved their overall performance 75% said
shorter podcasts were better 87% would use podcasts in the future
Process Response rate (Fall 2007) = 95% (n=38/40) Process Response
rate (Spring 2008) = 91% (n=29/32)
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Podcasts were Useful Student Feedback Fall 2007 & Spring
2008 Fall 2007 (82%) 45% Strongly agree 37% Agree 15% Neither Agree
or Disagree 3% Disagree 0% Strongly Disagree Spring 2008 (93%) 34%
Very Helpful 31% Moderately Helpful 28% Helpful 3.5% Not Helpful
3.5% I Did Not Use Them
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Podcasts were Useful (87%) Fall 2007Spring 2008
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Podcasts Improved My Overall Performance Fall 2007Spring
2008
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Preferred Podcast Length between [5-15min.])
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Future Podcast Use (87%) Fall 2007
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Some Student Comments Podcasting is a great addition to the
class. I have the flexibility to learn any place and any time. I
wished my other teachers would use podcasts and blackboard like you
Podcasts were very well done and really helped me Podcasts were
REALLY helpful. They do so much to help where the book cant. It is
really nice how you go through each concept in detail. Short
podcasts are easier to sit through and find what youre looking for
Podcasts of the help sessions helped me pass the class
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Future Plans Create Podcasts for All My Classes Create Podcasts
to Enhance My Lectures Create more Lab guides HOW TOs - Create
Enhanced Podcasts - combine audio with images Create Vodcasts
(audio, images, & video)
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Tips for Improving Podcast Quality 1.Keep it short 2.Choice of
topics are important 3.Pre-class podcasts can increase excitement
4.Dont ramble; be organized 5.Verbally identify your podcast at the
beginning 6.Speak clearly 7.Dont provide too much content in a
single podcast 8.Dont duplicate material covered during class 9.Be
timely in posting classroom podcasts 10.Make it easy to subscribe
to the podcast
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Conclusion Podcasting will not replace the classroom experience
Podcasts provide educators one more way to meet todays students in
their own environment Podcasts are complementary resources that
work for many students, but not all As podcasting becomes more
prevalent, the demand for quality podcasts that can be categorized,
navigated, and indexed will increase Creating podcasts helps
instructors become more organized and more effective as teachers
While the jury technically is still out on whether Podcasts will
increase my productivity as a teacher, the evidence is clear that
it has the capability to do so; the rest is up to me.
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Questions?
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Contact Information Pat R. Ormond Utah Valley University
[email protected] 801-863-8328
Ftp://cseftp.tc.uvu.edu/ist/ormondpa