Context
Podcasting as a vehicle for delivering educational content has attracted much recent interest. Seven chapters in this book were based on research carried out within IMPALA project. The Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation (IMPALA) project at the University of Leicester was funded by The Higher Education Academy, and explored the broad educational benefits of podcasting for student learning in Higher Education (HE).
IMPALA project arose from our interest in digital audio loaded onto students’ own mobile devices, especially MP3 players such as iPods, which offer platforms for a variety of services with potential impact on learning and teaching in HE.
Aims
IMPALA sets out to investigate the impact of podcasting (i.e., downloading of files from the Internet onto personal MP3 players) on student learning and how any beneficial effects could be enhanced.
Through a series of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional studies, IMPALA aimed to answer four research questions:
- How does students’ learning supported by podcasting differ from their learning through structured campus or e-learning processes? For example, does podcasting assist with student motivation? Is their learning more flexible, easier or successful?
- What kinds of pedagogical applications can be developed for podcasting through MP3 players for students’ informal use within formal HE modules that work to enhance their learning?
- Can students switch from using MP3 players for entertainment to learning?
- What are the psychological, social and institutional barriers to and advantages of more informal learning using podcasting?
Research outcomes
Ten research studies were carried out across five universities in the UK: Leicester, Kingston, Gloucestershire, Nottingham, and Royal Veterinary College, and across six disciplines: Chemistry, Engineering, English Language and Communication, Geography, Genetics, and Veterinary Sciences. Research into the impact of podcasting on student learning was carried out in two semesters during the academic year 2006-2007. Approximately 500 students and 20 staff members were involved in the study.
Evidence from IMPALA suggests that podcasts can be a valuable tool to be integrated into VLEs and formal educational settings, and successfully facilitate teaching and learning for a wide range of disciplines in HE. The research shows that there is a wide range of intrinsic advantages podcasting offers for learning: providing flexibility and learner control, promoting learner motivation and engagement, improving cognition, offering a novel way of presenting information and instruction, enabling learning to take place in multiple learning spaces, fostering learning discussions, and accommodating ‘different strokes’.
IMPALA has contributed to improving student learning in HE through making available resources for practitioners designing learning activities in podcasts. The ten subject-specific user exemplars derived from studies conducted within different institutions and disciplines provide a comprehensive and detailed view of what kinds of pedagogical applications can be developed for podcasting within formal HE modules that work to enhance students’ learning. A transferable model, with ten variables, for developing podcast applications was emerged from partners’ experiences of designing and implementing podcasting. The model provides recommendations and guidelines for integrating podcasting into discipline-specific contexts and within institutions’ e-learning strategies. Chapter 15 of this book focuses on this model and how to use it. |
