Fishing For Learning With A Podcast Net

Abstract

Communicating through the internet has quickly evolved from email, listservs, discussion boards, instant messaging, blogging and now to podcasting. Many of these communication tools have been exploited by the educational community and the latter appears to be no exception. This paper will share background on blogs and podcasts as well as real-world samples, academic examples and a plan to use podcasts as a teaching and learning tool.

Impact of class lecture webcasting on attendance and learning

“…Advocates have suggested that using webcasts and podcasts can improve cognitive understanding by increasing motivation and engagement (Oliver 2005) and can improve information processing, resulting in conceptual learning gains (Hargis and Wilson 2005). The cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer 2001) supports such expectations.…”

Podcasting in Tourism Education

“…In terms of knowledge distribution, information is based on a push approach, that is, once a subscription has been established with an RSS feed, the user will automatically receive the knowledge once the site where the source material is being held is updated (Ractham & Zhang, 2006). The fact that there is now an "always-on" culture means that the aggregator will automatically search for new feeds that have been subscribed to (Hargis & Wilson, 2005). Huann and Thong (2006) illustrate this production and publication of podcasts as a threestage process (see Figure 1).…”

“…Since Duke University in the United States successfully piloted the use of iPods with all their first year students during 2004 (Duke University, 2005), a number of other institutions have subsequently followed suit in adopting iPods and podcasting as an educational medium (Blaisdell, 2006). According to Hargis and Wilson (2005), "Podcasting can promise a unique approach to improving foundational pedagogical approaches to Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 00:39 11 June 2016 information processing and conceptual learning" (What Podcasting Promises Educators section, paragraph 1). Deal (2007) identifies three broad categories of educational podcasting.…”

“…Baird and Fisher (2006) have found that podcasts can be effective in enhancing student engagement and reflection. Indeed, Hargis and Wilson (2005) suggest that podcasting can be a shared learning experience where conceptual thoughts and ideas can be created spontaneously. This can then lead to a more progressive and reflective learning experience.…”

Use of webcasting and development of critical thinking skills

“…As Traphagan et al states (2009), webcasts or podcasts are mostly used in higher education as broadcasting lectures, delivering recordings of in-class lectures, guest lecturers and as supplementary video learning materials for self-study. Some studies have underlined that webcasting and podcasting use in higher education can develop cognitive understanding through motivation and engagement (Oliver, 2005) and information processing (Hargis and Wilson, 2005), but only a limited amount of research highlights the connection between students" transversal skills promotion and webcasting use; therefore, part of them refers only to student attitude and student behaviour (Kurtz et al, 2007;Giannakos and Vlamos, 2013).…”