November 15, 2008Seventh International Symposium on English Teaching ETA-ROC How Useful are Podcasts in Reinforcing Content Learning? Johanna Katchen (

November 15, 2008 Seventh International Symposium on English TeachingETA-ROC

How Useful are Podcasts in Reinforcing Content Learning?

Johanna Katchen (柯安娜教授 )National Tsing Hua University,

Taiwanhttp://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen

[email protected]

http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen

http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen

mailto:[email protected]


Context• Required freshman course: Introduction to

English for majors in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

• Course gives some basic information about the English language: a review of the sound system, overview of the history (diachronic), overview of Englishes around the world (synchronic)


• Taught in English

• Text—excerpts from Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge University Press.

• In addition to lecture and textbook, wanted other ways to reinforce learning

• Wanted to cut down on handouts and save trees

• Fall 2007, 84 students, including non-majors


Supplemental Materials

• University uses Blackboard with both English and Chinese interface

• Despite some difficulties with internal links with sound files, generally it is easy to use

• Can upload HTML files, pdf, Power Point files, sound files, video files


• Word files are problematic; there may be difficulties in downloading

• Linguistics symbols may turn up as nonsense characters (especially if students are using a different default language on their computers)

• To eliminate these problems, convert the files to pdf before uploading


The Power Point Slides

• Files were uploaded at the beginning of the semester

• Students were encouraged to download these before class and follow them during the lectures, take notes on them


On-line Quizzes

• Used Hot Potatoes

• Immediate feedback; I did not collect results nor require students to use them

• Mostly multiple choice, a few matching


The Video Clips

• For this course, use parts of The Story of English (BBC, nine-part video series, each part 55 minutes, accompanying book)

• Digitized using Windows Movie (wmv) format

• Also provided transcripts


Audio Files

• Some clips come only in audio, such as recordings of Old and Middle English

• Audio-recorded my lectures and uploaded them as MP3 files as an additional way for students to review

• Adding the audio lectures was new; I wanted to see whether students would find them useful


Questionnaire

• At the end of the course I gave a questionnaire to find out how the various aspects of the class were being received


How often did you use the PowerPoint lecture slides?

3 or more times per week 7

Once or twice per week 43

Only right before an exam 32


How did you use the PowerPoint lecture slides?

Print them out before class and take notes on them in class

39

Look at them after class. 21

Check them before an exam. 39

Other 1 (Check them before class)


The Power Point lecture slides were

Very useful 58

Somewhat useful 24

Not very useful 1

Not useful 0


How often did you use the quizzes?

Three or more times per week 3




The quizzes were

Very useful 61

Somewhat useful 20

Not very useful 2

Not useful 0


How often did you use the MP3 audio recordings of class lectures?

Three of more times per week 0




The MP3 class lectures were

Very useful 6

Somewhat useful 44

Not very useful 24

Not useful 4


I did NOT attend class

Always attended 15

1 or 2 times 19

3 to 5 times 28

6 to 10 times 14

Over 10 times 7


I think my final grade in this class will be

Over 80 16

70 - 79 32

60 - 69 30

Below 60 5


Comments on the Questionnaire

• Volume on the MP3 was not clear; with larger classroom I now use a microphone, and I also know how to boost the volume on the audio file

• Liked PowerPoint but wanted some lectures without PowerPoint

• Liked the video clips


Data from Blackboard on Number of Hits on Class Recordings

Celtic and Latin 723 French Vocabulary I 516

Early Britain 486 French Vocabulary II 464

Old English 787 Middle English Pronunciation 27

The Sounds of Old English 75 Early Modern English 466

The Vikings I 367 Influence of Shakespeare and the Bible 406

The Vikings II 324 Changes in Early Modern English I 19

Norman Conquest I 417 Changes in Early Modern English II 16

Norman Conquest II 403


Data from Current Semester on Hits on My Audio-recorded Lectures

1. What is Linguistics? 405 7. Influence from Celtic 375

2. Sounds of American English 571 7. Influence from Latin Part 1 277

3. Indo-European Part 1 606 7. Influence from Latin Part 2 40

3. Indo-European Part 2 22 8. Scandinavians Part 1 323

4. Romans and Celts 422 8. Scandinavians Part 2 256

5. Old English Grammar Part 1 611 9. Norman Conquest 77

5. Old English Grammar Part 2 581 10. French Influence on Vocabulary 1 55

6. Sounds of Old English 135 10. French Influence on Vocabulary 2 7

Documents

November 15, 2008Seventh International Symposium on English Teaching ETA-ROC How Useful are Podcasts in Reinforcing Content Learning? Johanna Katchen (