Evaluation of the use of educational podcasts as a collaborative learning tool taking into consideration participation in its creation

Abstract

This paper analyses the result of applying podcasts as a teaching-learning tool for university students. Using a quantitative methodology, with a descriptive and correlational design, Levene's inferential t-test for equality of variances was used to compare two groups of students to assess if there are differences regarding the academic, design, usability and learning variables, in order to verify the differences between students creating the contents and those only listening to the end result. A sample of 461 students was used in this research, distributed in two groups. In the first group, the teaching staff oversaw preparing and carrying out the dynamics of the podcast. In the second group, the students collaboratively created the podcast. To analyse the differences between the two groups, the Educational Innovation Questionnaire (CINNE) was applied, based on the Podcast Evaluation Questionnaire, QAEP (Alarcón and Blanca, 2020), and the SUS Scale (Brooke, 2013). The results indicate significant differences (99.95% CI 99.95%) between the groups in the usability and design dimensions. No gender differences were found. In conclusion, this research paper has confirmed the effectiveness of using podcasts as a didactic strategy, in particular regarding its accessibility, use, and design by students.