Now we are begging. Please consider the reusability of your podcasts, in their entirety or in part from the very beginning. Developing podcasts, although enjoyable and useful for supporting student learning, has resource implications, and in the long-run, podcasts have the potential to move from a ‘peripheral’ to a ‘core’ technology (Salmon 2005). This book provides examples of both reusable podcasts and once-off podcasts that cannot be used in later years. Physics podcasts (Chapter 4), GIS instructional podcasts (Chapter 5) and ‘potcasts’ (Chapter 10) are examples of reusable ones. The disciplinary knowledge covered in these podcasts is fairly stable therefore the authors have been able to reuse them. In the planning stage, the resources that were allocated to developing these podcasts were considered to be a worthwhile investment, partly in the light of their reusability.
The distance learner podcasts (Chapter 9) and study skills podcasts (Chapter 12) are once-offs because they were produced to address particular teaching and learning issues identified at the time of production. Our analysis of content of these podcasts shows that the content covered in these podcasts can be useful for new cohorts of students. Indeed, the author who produced the study skills podcasts was planning to reuse them, because the issues they addressed are equally relevant to new cohorts of students.
Other podcasts, such as those offering ‘feedback’ (Chapter 7), ‘digital stories’ (Chapter 11), ‘reflective skills’ (Chapter 13), and genetic podcasts (Chapter 14) are very context and student cohort specific. Feedback podcasts usually need to be remade for each new cohort. The other three kinds will usually be produced afresh by students each year but in some instances these podcasts can be offered to new student cohorts with clear guidance on how they can be used. For example, new cohorts may be able to benefit by listening to feedback given to former students on assessed work, such as common mistakes in essays.
Chapter 8 provides useful guidance on how the John Fothergill reused some material produced in his previous ‘profcasts’. He was able to reuse, for example, a news item on the anniversary of the invention of fibre optics, but he recorded new content for the feedback on student progress. He was able to reuse the same jokes, recorded the previous year!
So you can see how important it is to consider reusability at the time of planning your podcasts if you possibly can. As with all learning resources, you’ll need to get organized! The recording and editing technology is easy enough to use if you want to include old material in new podcasts (see Appendix). |
