Teaching with Technology

Debra Zahay & Elisa Fredricks

 Marketing Education Review, Volume 19, No.1 (Spring 2009)

 Although this journal article refers to a Project Based Marketing class, there is no real mention of any specifics to this class outside of the introduction. The result being that this is a very versatile article regarding Podcasting, as it could have taken place in any course. The authors were interested in finding what technologies were best suited to help service the needs of students, keeping in mind how varied learning styles and multiple delivery systems can help teachers be more effective. They focused exclusively on the podcast however which they defined as” audio material in a format that can be listened to at a later date.”

Podcasting is popular in part due to the ease in which audio clips can be created, stored and distributed. Access is also a very big attraction as it is pretty much anytime anywhere, answering the “need” for 24/7 instruction. The demographics are ideal for using Podcasting with the college student population as seen below:

• 19% of 18-28 year olds own an ipod or MP3 player (assume higher ownership for college students based on socioeconomics)
• 60% of college students have downloaded music from the internet (avg. population 28%)
• 44% of college students file share (avg. population 26%)

 The authors feel that due to the ease of creating a podcast they are rather flexible and can be “semi-customized” responses to students inquires and an “enhanced hypermedia” for student support. They unfortunately did not give examples of this semi-customization. They stressed that the use of a podcast “pushes the confines of learning beyond the classroom and overrides the traditional limitation of time & space.” (Atwong & Husgtad 1997, Malhotra 2002) This would appear to be true just by the anytime anywhere nature of a podcast. They allow professors to provide insight outside the standard classroom. The pedagogy being that learning should take place in environments other than the standard 3 hour seminar, and it can have more impact, be more effective, when it occurs on the students “schedule”.

 How Did They Use the Podcast? 

• Audio only broadcasts of homework assignments early in the semester which provided students with an opportunity to interact with the medium
• Guest Speaker Notes
• Group Project meetings were recorded & posted alleviating confusion over what had to be done when and allowing non-attending members to fully participate
• Chapter summaries from the text for review and reinforcement
• Audio Files posted on Blackboard as MP3 files (non-ipod owners) and as a podcast (for ipod owners)

  Their evaluation was extraordinarily simple, students were asked the following open ended question on Blackboard:  Describe if you used the podcasts in the course and if so how? Other than the first few assignments, the use of podcasts were not required. The response was 87% positive with students reporting that the podcasts “helped them to understand and remember the material and provide a good project experience.”  By and large the students found the podcasts to be complimentary to the course material as opposed to a “substitute for the classroom experience.”  This is the outcome they had hoped for.

As they had hoped, students adapted the podcasts to their own needs using the audio to help with reviews or allowing them to take detailed notes on a subject. Some found the professor’s insights much more evident in the podcasts, the information they wished to stress being more apparent. They also allowed non residential students to make efficient use of their time by listening to podcasts while commuting.

 Some of the Lessons Learned were:

• Limit length of podcasts (about 5 min) some were just to long(no indication of what length that was)
• Indicate Length of podcast when posting so student can plan listening time accordingly
• Provide advance notification of posting (ad hoc posting was not appreciated)

 The authors indicated, and rightly so, that this was a small study (40 students) and they consider it exploratory research. They hope to continue looking into correlations between individual adaptation and learning style. I found the article helpful. It provided some concrete, discrete, examples of successful podcast integration into a course curriculum, thus extending the learning environment. Although not a how to, it was clear in intent, procedure and outcome.