Podcasting in Education

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With podcasts, you can still take advantage of the benefits of e-Learning, without losing those essential elements of classroom education (Weobong, 2016). This statement is found in the article titled A Guide to Using Podcasts for Employee Training. Throughout the readings for this week, the topic was centralized to podcasting and its benefits to online learning as a supplementary resource for training and educational purposes. Furthermore, according to Weobong (2016) the rising popularity of podcasting adds proof that the simple, inexpensive nature of setting up a podcast and an audience's want for personalized and accessible content can create alternative and effective teaching methods.

I myself, am a late adopter to podcasts and have only started to explore them in recent years. But I do see the appeal in that whatever your personal or professional interests may be, there is more than likely a podcast or similar longform media that fits what you would like to listen to. It stands to reason then, that if individual interests can have a platform through podcasts, education-based and training initiatives can also have a space to thrive in audio form. As an instructional technologist, I like the idea of creating audio-based versions of lectures or discussion on social media or an LMS for students/learners to access at their convenience and not losing out on quality and content.

The reason we see inconsistent learning outcomes is that the quality of a learning environment is not in the technology, but in how the technology is used (Clark, 2007). I believe this is where improvement is needed and can be made by centralizing focus on the specific audience being served. I too believe that in most cases, the technology is not lacking, only the implementation of it. In the future, I would love to incorporate podcasting and similar methods of learning should I determine that the learners would benefit from its use.

In research from Gray (2021) the author lists the following as the benefits of podcasting in education: flexibility and availability to students, student attention compared to video and text lessons, student created content, lecture access, and benefits for learners with mental and visual impairments. If such positive attributes can stem from the use of podcasting when implementing educational design, I think it is worth at least attempting in order to provide options that serve the modern learner using tools they may already have on hand.

The following link lists education-based podcasts that I would like to visit in the future:

https://www.ednc.org/here-are-10-education-podcasts-you-should-know-about/

Also, just because the subject for this week made me think of it, I’ve attached this short clip from one of my all-time favorite comedies, Real Genius (1985)...not quite podcasting, but roughly 20 years prior to the real thing, I’d say close enough.


 
 
Clark, R. (2007). Leveraging multimedia for learning. Clarix Technologies. Retrieved November 29, 2021, 

from https://www.clarix.com/whitepapers/captivate_leveraging_multimedia.pdf 

Gray, C. (2021, March 1). Podcasting in Education: What Are the Benefits? The Podcast Host. Retrieved 

November 29, 2021, from https://www.thepodcasthost.com/niche-case-study/podcasting-in-education/ 

Weobong, D. (2016, March 25). A Guide to Using Podcasts for Employee Training. ELeaP Software. 

Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.eleapsoftware.com/a-guide-to-using-podcasts-for-employee-training/ 




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