University Class Using Podcasting in Teaching

Abstract

'Podcast' has been declared Word of the Year 2005 by editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary, reported the BBS News in 2005. As a method of publishing audio files (usually MP3) to the web, which are then made available through subscription and automatically downloaded to a personal computer or an ipod, podcasting is a hot and modern web service belonging to the Web2.0 revolution, which has gained popularity with people all over the world over the past two years. One obvious application of podcasting in an educational context is to create class podcast lectures that students can listen to at their convenience. As podcasting is relatively new, educators everywhere are still exploring its possibilities. My literature review mainly focuses on exploring the value of using podcasting in education, like in class teaching. I will try to find out what podcast or podcasting is, its main applications/possibilities, what's special, podcast users, podcasting technology, podcasting use in classrooms/higher education, problems or podcast issues people are talking about, and its benefits or some trend. In the 'pilot study' I conducted over Spring07 Semester (Jan07-May07), students at the SUNYIT taking classes in Research Methods of Nursing School were surveyed to find out exactly how much they know about podcasting and how they feel about podcast lecture learning. Survey results were then matched against theoretical works to try and find out students' 'level of enthusiasm' about using podcasts in learning. During Fall07 Semester (Aug07Dec07), I also tried to do podcasting projects on three classes: two of them are technical editing classes of IDT program——I assisted with Prof. Kahn to provide students with online podcast lectures, helping them better understand what they learn from the class. And another one is a research method class of Prof.Gina Myers teaching at SUNY Jefferson College. Like we did in the pilot study, I helped with Prof. Myers creating podcasts for her class and tried to get feedback from her students. Survey results were then matched against theoretical works to try and find out students ‘level of enthusiasm’ about using podcasts in learning. In this thesis project report, first an overview of the problem, research objective, procedures, and delivery methods will be addressed. The main focus of this report will be in the related literature review of this issue and the research study carried out during two semesters with their final findings and some data analysis.