Start talking at the back
How podcasting is making the classroom a richer place.
By Andrew Middleton and Graham McElearney
Podcasting is a rare learning technology. Once the idea has been suggested, it doesn’t take long before teachers find themselves imagining many ways to use it in the classroom. That, certainly, is the experience of the Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group (MELSiG), a UK network of teachers, learning technologists and educational developers from further and higher education.
Most ideas for using podcasts in education build on the ready availability of useful digital voices: teachers, learners, experts and public. The richness of these voices is relevant right across education, whatever the level or subject. This article describes some of the ways that podcasting is being used by those with little previous experience of learning technology.
Do we mean podcasting?
There is some confusion about what is meant by podcasting. There are strict technical definitions, of course, but the term ‘podcasting’ was rapidly adopted by real users: those who liked, quite literally, what they heard. In 2005 the editors of The New Oxford American Dictionary made ‘podcasting’ their word of the year and in doing so defined it as a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar programme, made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player.
This definition contrasts with more technical popular definitions, such as that found on Wikipedia: “A podcast (or netcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.” In a recent paper published by the Association of Learning Technologies, it was defined as “a series of multimedia files pushed to users for download via the internet”.
However, if you listen to non-technical people talking about podcasting, what appears to excite them is that you can download audio recordings from the web, and, with a little know-how, make and post your own recordings to the web. This, according to MELSiG, is enough to inspire educators to give audio and video some creative consideration. Educational podcasting, then, can be thought of as using digital audio and video to enhance learning, especially where it is published on the web or a platform that is generally accessible to the intended user community.
Finally, podcasting is usually associated with audio. Video introduces a new layer of production considerations and so a little extra thought needs to be given to video production ideas.
A richer learning environment
In the early days of educational podcasting, when it was understood only by those with a keen technical eye, podcasting was immediately seen as a way to supplement existing pedagogy. In universities, podcasting was synonymous with recording and distributing lectures.
However, there are often two ways of evaluating new and emerging technologies. The first seeks to add value to existing methods, while the second seeks to change or replace existing methods.
The second approach is about innovation and disruption: a positive idea that recognises the capacity of technology to remove or loosen constraints that may have determined teaching methods for centuries. Teachers and technologists are prompted, therefore, to wonder, now that they have this new technology, what it will let them start doing and what it will let them stop doing. It is not so much about adding value as about appreciating a new, richer, extended learning environment.
Voice before technology
Some of the best applications for digital audio have been implemented by teachers with no previous interest in learning technology. This can be seen in the development of audio feedback. Audio feedback techniques are varied, but common to them all is the idea of user-generated content. The concept is often associated with sites such as YouTube, where communities have grown around common interests because digital hardware such as camcorders have made it so easy to post digital media to the world.
By harnessing the same accessible ‘red button’ technologies (the red button for ‘record’ is all you have to understand), educators can respond personally, meaningfully and in a timely fashion to student assignments. Used in combination with more objective assessment grids, for example, tutor-student digital audio connectivity is not only easy to do, but a powerful tool for formative engagement. The recent A Word in Your Ear conference on audio feedback revealed how students and staff value the connectivity afforded by the recorded voice, noting that it re-established a tangible sense of caring that written feedback is not able to achieve.
When the MP3 recorder is in the hands of the learner the technique of audio notes reveals that learners will seek out the voices that are significant to them. Studies at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield found that students recorded not only lectures and tutorials, but also less formal conversations. Impromptu ‘corridor conversations’ were deemed particularly significant, while recorders on bedside tables captured ‘middle of the night ideas’ for projects which may otherwise have vanished with the night.
In more recent work, school students in Sheffield are trying out the same techniques. The use of audio summaries is a similar technique, in which student peer groups are asked to use the voice recording tools on their phones to capture a summary conversation following lectures. These recordings are then shared with peers via email or with the whole cohort through the virtual learning environment.
A technique that originated in schools that has been embraced by colleges and universities is the idea of the student-generated podcast assignment. This group-based project recognises how the familiar radio programme structure creates an exciting and useful framework for presenting the results of project work. The breadth of the assignment engages those who enjoy making media, being responsible for technology, writing scripts, interviewing people and presenting. Collectively, students in groups have responsibility for each other and to their other classmates too. As with other types of project work, students have something to show for their efforts, and that output inevitably involves a lot of humour somewhere along the way.
It’s good to talk
These approaches, and many others, are possible because the technology is so accessible. Often there is no need for editing, so all that is required is the press of a red button to start and stop a recorder. Audio recorders are widely available too. Free audio software such as Audacity is all you need if planning to record or edit on a PC. Apple Macs come with Garageband pre-installed. Like Audacity, Garageband has a simple interface allows you to record and layer tracks. This means it is easy to assemble various sources of audio, such as a collection of interview recordings and some title music.
Away from the PC, generally affordable MP3 recording devices are available allowing the act of recording to travel to where the act of learning is taking place. Perhaps the most important development in recent years is the availability of voice memo recording technology on mobile phones. While the term ‘voice memo’ is targeted at the business user, the quality of such applications is often excellent, whether they are in the hands of staff or students.
Rights and wrongs: copyright and ethics
As with other digital technologies in the classroom, podcasting brings some ethical and legal concerns. These will be clear to any responsible teacher, but it is worth noting that the development of digital literacy skills may be an initial unexpected outcome of any venture into educational podcasting. “What is copyright and where can you find suitable music to add to your project?” is a good topic for classroom discussion, as is “When is it not right to record someone or publish the recording to YouTube?” A fantastic resource for those looking for music with a Creative Commons licence is ccmixter.org, and the EdTechRoundup podcast is a good starting point for information on suitable release forms and ethics.
Designing educational podcasts
Educational podcasts are often opportunistic, making the most of available resources and situations. Visitors to the school, parents and friends, people from local industry or services can all be brought into the classroom in voice and spirit, even if they can’t spare the time to attend in body!
But sometimes a more designed approach needs to be taken. Student podcast projects, for example, may benefit from the use of a planning tool that requires them to come up with a title, a description and a format, the sources they will use in their research and a list of the voices they will use. They may even be expected to plan out their use of equipment and come up with a skills development strategy and plan.
For teachers, it can be useful to design podcasts together to come up with ideas that will excite the listener and to give each other support, especially in the early days. Developing skills and experience as a community can be a useful strategy for underpinning more academic work. An ideal way to go about this is to establish a school podcast channel. Not only can this provide a safe place to learn, but once you are up and running, it can provide a real focus on school activity inside school and for the community beyond if you wish.
Andrew Middleton is senior lecturer in creative development at Sheffield Hallam University
Graham McElearney is a learning technologist at the University of Sheffield