Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping ...Flaherty_J.pdf · Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc Research and Development in Higher

Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc

Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education

Volume 33

Refereed papers from the 33rd HERDSA Annual International Conference

6–9 July 2010 Melbourne, Australia

O'Flaherty, J., Scutter, S. & Albrecht, T. (2010). Informing academic practice about how podcasts are used by diverse groups of students. In M. Devlin, J. Nagy and A. Lichtenberg (Eds.) Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education, 33 (pp. 529–539). Melbourne, 6–9 July, 2010. Published 2010 by the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc PO Box 27, MILPERRA NSW 2214, Australia www.herdsa.org.au ISSN 0 155 6223 ISBN 0 908557 80 9 This research paper was reviewed using a double blind peer review process that meets DIISR requirements. Two reviewers were appointed on the basis of their independence and they reviewed the full paper devoid of the authors’ names and institutions in order to ensure objectivity and anonymity. Papers were reviewed according to specified criteria, including relevance to the conference theme and sub-themes, originality, quality and presentation. Following review and acceptance, this full paper was presented at the international conference. Copyright © 2010 HERDSA and the authors. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 2005, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the address above.

Annual Conference 2010

Informing academic practice about how podcasts are used by diverse groups of students

Jackie O’Flaherty University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

Jackie.O’[email protected]

Sheila Scutter University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

[email protected]

Trenna Albrecht University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

[email protected]

Audio recording of lectures (hereafter referred to as podcasts) has become common practice in many universities. The ease with which academics can podcast their teaching has resulted in extensive use of podcasting in universities. The speed with which this has happened has given little time for reflection on the value of podcasting of lectures for student learning, and the ways in which students use podcasts. Many studies have been undertaken on podcasting of lectures used in individual courses (Tynan & Colbran, 2006; Abt & Barry, 2007). In this study we examine the use of podcasting by students in a large faculty of a university. This enables comparisons between students studying in different modes (full time and part time), in different programs and with different educational and language backgrounds. Thus the aim of this study was to determine why and how students are using podcasts, the perception of students of the usefulness of podcasts, and factors which impact upon student use. Keywords: podcasting, diversity, academic practice

Introduction Podcasts are now routinely used by many lecturers in a wide range of institutions around the world (Tynan & Colbran, 2006; Malan, 2007; Abt & Barry, 2007; Edirisingha & Salmon, 2007). In recent years the popularity of podcasts has grown exponentially, probably due to the increased connectivity to the internet and the rise in popularity of MP3 players (Abt & Barry, 2007). Educational uses of MP3 players have been built around the ubiquitous nature of the devices, used initially for listening to music (Tynan & Colbran, 2006). The student body is becoming increasingly diverse in language abilities (Tompson & Tompson, 1996), socioeconomic backgrounds and pathways to enter university (McInnis 1995; Meek & Wood 1995). This increased diversity brings with it different learning approaches and needs, as well as an increased number of students who study part time while working or looking after family. It has been suggested that these students may rely on podcasts to replace attendance at lectures when other commitments are a higher priority. However, previous studies suggest that attendance may not be impacted by podcasting (White, 2009; Forbes & Hickey, 2008).

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Use of new technologies is second nature to many, though not all, students at university (Prensky, 2001). Reading appears to be reducing in preference to other forms of entertainment and learning; for example, an average college graduate has spent over 10,000 hours playing video games and 20,000 hours watching television but less than 5000 hours reading (Prensky, 2001). Podcasts of lectures are easy to produce, cheap, portable and use relatively simple technology. Many students have been using technology most of their lives and so expect this to be continued in the classroom (Maag, 2006). Academics are increasingly driven by student feedback as this has implications for institutional funding and lecturer promotional opportunities. Driven by such demand from students, podcasts have been provided at such speed that there has been little time to consider whether their use is pedagogically sound. For example, does the provision of podcasts impact on student’s engagement in learning during lectures or not engaging in their course work? Are they able to listen more carefully, confident that any gems of knowledge they may miss will be contained in the podcast? Do students from different disciplines use podcasts differently, do students feel more inclined to ask questions during lectures, or does the fact that they themselves will be recorded inhibit questioning? Consequently, the aims of this study were to investigate how and why students from a large and diverse faculty choose to use podcasts of lectures. Also in this study, the use of podcasts by students who are working and/or have other responsibilities, as well as the usage by students with English as a second language will be investigated. Method An email survey using Survey Monkey software was distributed to all undergraduate students in the Faculty of Health Science of a large university. The survey requested details of how and when students listened to podcasts, whether it impacted upon their attendance at lectures, and whether the students had any difficulties using the podcasts. Likert scales were used for the students to indicate their responses. The questionnaire also allowed students to respond with free text comments. The data was entered into SPSS (v17) for analysis and reporting. Free text comments were analysed and themes extracted. Results The responses of 1149 students were included in this study. This comprises approximately 25% of students in the faculty. Programs offered in the Division of Health Science include Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Medical Radiations, Podiatry, Pharmacy, Food Science, Nursing and Midwifery. The number of students responding, the year and the program of their study are shown in Table 1.

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Table 1: Students responding to the survey including the year and program of study

What year of your program are you in?

Total

Students in program

Percentage responding 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year

Nursing 148 140 58 n/a 346 1868 18.2%*

Pharmaceutical Science

14 18 2 0 34 76 44.7%

Midwifery 11 11 0 n/a 22 174 12.6% *

Occupational Therapy

27 13 7 8 55 272 20.2 %

Podiatry 14 0 1 1 16 86 18.6 %

Physiotherapy 43 26 17 19 105 403 26.1%

Medical Radiation

54 35 28 0 117 230 50.8 %

Health Science 25 0 1 1 27 79 34.2%

Human Movement

57 1 1 1 60 417 14.4 %

Pharmacy 62 56 102 59 279 670 41.6%

Nutrition Food Science

22 16 10 0 48 71 67.6%

Laboratory Medicine

16 12 6 6 40 134 29.8 %

Total students 493 328 233 95 1149 4480 25%

Of the 1155 students responding to the survey 1058 (91.6%) indicated that podcasts had been provided for their courses. Of these 1058 students, 926 (80.2%) indicated that they had listened to the podcasts. As can be seen in Table 2, of those who accessed podcasts, 36% of students listened to more than 15 podcasts. As podcast length varies between one to three hours, this indicates a considerable investment in time spent by students listening to podcasts. Of those that didn’t listen to the podcasts, free text responses suggest that they found lecture attendance to be more beneficial, others said that they just did not have the time to listen.

Table 2: Percentage of students who listened to different numbers of podcasts

Number of podcasts Percentage of students

1–5 26

6–10 26

11–15 12

More than 15 36

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Post hoc tests of analysis of variance revealed that Pharmacy students used the podcasts significantly more than any other student group (p<0.05). The next group using podcasts the most was Medical Radiation (p<0.5) (see Figure 1). The highest use of podcasts was by Pharmacy students with English as a second language, 67% of these students listened to 15 or more podcasts.

Figure 1: Podcast use by program

Approximately one third (35%) of the students responding to the study had English as a second language (ESL), although they only represent 29% of students in the Faculty. The higher response rate may indicate the greater use of podcasts by these students. As shown in Figure 2, 40% of ESL students listened to more than 15 podcasts. Analysis of variance showed that students with ESL listened to more podcasts than students with English as a native language (p< 0.01).

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Figure 2: Podcast use by students with and without English as a Second Language It had been anticipated that students who worked more hours would listen to more podcasts as work commitments would restrict their ability to attend lectures. The results revealed that this was not the case (Figure 3). There was no relationship between hours worked and the number of podcasts listened to (Chi-square 11.4 p>0.05).

Figure 3: Number of hours of paid work per week and podcast use

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There was considerable variation in when students in different programs in the faculty listened to podcasts. Nursing students listened to podcasts when doing housework and while travelling more than any other group of students (p<0.01). In contrast, Pharmacy students and Nutrition and Food Science students listened least while doing housework (p<0.001). Table 3 highlights the way that students from some of the different programs in the faculty listen to podcasts. Not all programs are included in this table for clarity.

Table 3: How students from selected programs in the faculty listen to podcasts

I often listen to podcasts when: Nursing Physiotherapy

Medical Radiation

Human Movement Pharmacy

Laboratory Medicine

Doing housework 62.3% 8.7% 13.0% 2.9% 13.0% .0%

On way to University

59.5% 13.9% 10.1% .0% 10.1% 6.3%

Straight after the lecture

27.4% 9.7% 8.1% 1.6% 50.0% 3.2%

Within a few days 30.6% 11.1% 13.9% 2.8% 33.3% 8.3%

Revising for exams 37.1% 10.8% 17.1% 4.5% 28.3% 2.1%

The majority of students from all faculty programs listened to podcasts when they were studying, rather than when they were travelling or doing other activities around the house. Review of comments from students indicated that other times they listened to podcasts were when they were walking the dog (19 students), while driving the car (27 students) or while they were lying in bed (24 students). Twelve students indicated that they listened to podcasts while they were sleeping. Over a quarter of the students (27.4%) indicated that they had difficulties accessing podcasts. These included poor audio quality, delays before the podcast had been uploaded, podcasts not provided for all lectures, difficulties in downloading podcasts and lack of internet access at home. Some students were concerned about the perceived lack of student attendance at lectures as they felt this resulted in little interactivity between lecturer and other students. For some faculty programs, the lack of visual aids associated with podcasts was a major concern as it made the podcasts difficult to follow. Comments from students indicated that they use podcasts in a variety of ways. Students did not like to ask questions in large classes as it delayed everyone else, so they preferred to listen to the podcasts to try to clarify issues for themselves. Many students commented that when taking lots of notes during lectures they could miss the context of what was being delivered, and that if they knew the lecture was being podcast they would listen to the lecture and then take notes later. Others approached lectures from the opposite perspective, taking notes during the lectures and then listening to podcasts, and taking more notes, after the lecture. Students also described using podcasts as a “safety net” so that if they missed a lecture, or did not understand some points made, they could review the material without needing to ask the lecturer. Table 4 indicates the responses to the students learning approach if they knew the lecture was being podcast. Students for whom English is their native language listened more to what is being said in the lecture, and took less notes, when they knew it was being podcast (see Table 4).

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Table 4: Learning approaches of students where English is their native language and where English is their second language

If I know a lecture will be podcast I am likely to:

Is English your second language?

Yes No

Ask more questions 53.7% 46.3%

Ask less questions 44.6% 55.4%

Taken less notes 45.7% 54.3%

Listen more carefully to what is said in the lecture 36.0% 64.0%

Very few students studied with the podcasts at University, either with or without PowerPoint presentations. Most students usually used the podcasts when they were revising for exams, and while viewing the PowerPoint at home. Students were asked about the ways in which they used podcasts, by rating how useful podcasts were for a variety of reasons. As shown in Table 5, over 98% of students found podcasts very useful or somewhat useful for clarifying points from a lecture. In addition, almost all of the students surveyed (99%) indicated that they listened to the podcast to memorise facts. Students commented on other useful aspects of podcasts in free text responses. The most common reason was for consolidation of learning, that is, they allowed more time to go over difficult areas to aid in the understanding of the learning, to take comprehensive notes, and to revise for exams. Some students (34.5%) used podcasts for flexibility and convenience so that they could skip lectures that were at an inconvenient time. Some used them as a “safety net” when they couldn’t attend on a regular or a one off situation.

Table 5: How students use podcasts to assist their learning

I listen to podcasts… Very useful Somewhat useful Not very useful Not at all useful

To clarify lecture material

83.4% 14.8% 1.0% .8%

To memorise lecture material

90.7% 8.3% .8% .2%

So that I can skip inconvenient lectures

5.3% 29.2% 65.6% 0%

Approximately one third of the students (36%) did not use an MP3 player to listen to the podcasts whereas 59% listen to them directly from their computer (see Table 6).

Table 6: Ways in which students listen to podcasts

Ways in which students listen to podcasts Usually Sometimes Never

Listen directly from the computer 58.6% 24.8% 10.2%

Save it to computer and listen later 50.8% 26.1% 13.4%

Listen using an MP3 player 32.3% 22.1% 36.3%

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The majority of students listened to the entire podcast (77.8%), whereas only 19.5% tried to find the part of the lecture that they wanted to review. Students commented on the usefulness of being able to pause podcasts so that they can “digest” the material presented before progressing to the next part of the lecture. Some students commented that they liked being able to listen to lectures again as opposed to reviewing their own notes. Several students mentioned that they tried to predict what the lecturer was going to say on a podcast so that they could test themselves to see if they had really grasped the concepts (see Table 7).

Table 7: Summary of free text responses as to the most useful aspects concerning podcasts

Most useful aspects concerning podcasts 1st

year 2nd

year 3rd

year 4th

year Total

They allow us to be able to go back and review things that were missed in the lecture

9 5 4 2 20

They benefit exam revision

2 4 6

They allow consolidation of learning – allow more time to go over difficult areas to aid understanding of content

6 11 3 3 23

They allow note taking of extra pieces of information given verbally in a lecture that is not included on the ppt. slides

1 1 1 1 4

They allow content acquisition when a lecture is missed due to other commitments/circumstances that is, illness

3 3 1 7

They can be listened to while performing other tasks 2 1 3

Discussion This study was undertaken to understand how and why students use podcasts of lectures. There were marked differences in the way student used podcasts. Overall, students who used podcasts were very positive about the experience as they see it supports a flexible style of learning. Pharmacy students used more podcasts than any other faculty program. This may be due to the high number of ESL students enrolled in that program. This is supported by free text responses indicating that these students needed more time than non ESL students to go over difficult areas for clarification and they used them to go back and review missed information (see Table 7). The programs in which students were enrolled had an impact on the way they used podcasts. Nursing students listened to the podcasts using their MP3 players while doing other activities (housework, travelling) more than other programs. This is possibly because nursing students are a particularly diverse group with high work and family commitments (Thalluri, Kokkin & O’Flaherty, 2008). Listening to podcasts in this way is less beneficial than when students treat podcasts as a live lecture and take notes to support their listening (McKinney, 2009). Podcasting is most useful to audio learners, and students can be distracted by environmental stimuli while listening (Bell et al., 2007). If students are listening to podcasts while doing other activities, for example riding a bike or vacuuming the house, they are likely to have only part of their attention devoted to listening to the podcast, and are unable to actively engage with the content. Pharmacy and Food Science students listened to podcasts predominantly in front of their computers allowing them to engage more with the content. The students used the podcasts

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when reviewing the PowerPoints of the lecture. This was an unexpected finding as we had expected that the majority of students would use MP3 players to listen to podcasts while “on the go” as had been anticipated by other authors (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). However Tynan and Colbran (2006) also found that students predominantly listened to podcasts “at home” although whether this was while at their computer was not specified. It appears that for the content or presentation of the material in pharmacy and food science programs, podcasts do not attract students to learn “on the move”, thus diminishing the impact of m-learning compared with e-learning for these students. This is in contrast to the findings of Evans (2008) who found that many students listened to podcasts while on public transport. A possible explanation for this difference is that the students in Evan’s study were travelling on public transport in London England … probably a lengthier and more available method of transport than in Adelaide Australia. Although we had anticipated that work commitments would contribute significantly to lower lecture attendance and higher podcast use, participation in work did not impact significantly on podcast listening. Westrick, Helms, McDonought and Breland (2009) found that demographic characteristics did not contribute to students’ attendance at lectures. The most important factors in pharmacy students attending lectures was found by these authors to be students wanting to take their own notes and hearing from the lecturer what was important to know. It may be that despite work commitments, students found attendance at lectures to be a more effective way of learning than listening to podcasts. The availability of podcasts had some impact on student study habits while attending lectures. Students commented that they used the podcasts as a ‘safety net’ where they could listen to the lecture more and take notes later. Some students may miss lectures that are to be podcast suggests that they may see them, in conjunction with the PowerPoint slides, as a viable alternative to the lectures. From the free text responses a large number of students perceived that they learnt just as well from listening to podcasts as they did from attending the face-to-face lectures. As students are increasingly encouraged to be responsible for their own learning, perhaps it is these very choices that we should be encouraging. Academics have raised concern that providing podcasts to students will impact on the study habits of students, so that instead of understanding new concepts they will spend time re-listening to the lectures. However the results from this study showed that for students who used podcasts, they did this in addition to other study. This question may be bigger than whether students use podcasts or not as the very nature of some lectures used as a means to deliver content alone may be the catalyst for students not supplementing their notes from other sources that is, prescribed texts. It is not clear whether attendance numbers at lectures reduce if students are aware that the lecture will be podcast. Student text responses indicated that students choose not to attend lectures more due to poor timetabling (clashes and inconvenient timing of lectures), illness and poor lecturer style. Again, the free text responses indicate that a large number of students perceived that they learnt just as well from listening to podcasts as they did from attending the face-to-face lectures and therefore chose not to come. In addition, not all lecturers actually experience falling attendance over the semester. Any drop in student lecture attendance may therefore have little to do with the availability of a podcast associated with that lecture. This study investigated the use of podcasts of entire lectures by students. Our data suggested that most students listen to all of the podcast rather than segments. This may be appropriate if a student missed a lecture, but would not seem to be a good use of time if students wish to review a particular section that they had found difficult. This may be due to the nature of

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podcasts where there is little capability to accurately choose sections in which to listen and so finding specific topics that they want to revise may not be an easy task. At the moment many hours are spent listening to the entire podcast where this study time could perhaps be used more efficiently. Studies support the notion of smaller podcasts or using summaries in podcasts for easier student use (Clark, 2007; Edirsingha & Salmon, 2007; Frydenberg, 2006) found student-generated podcasts of summaries to be an effective way of engaging students with content, and this approach warrants further investigation in different student cohorts. Bond, Wells and Holland (2008) investigated the use of podcasts in a class of business students and found that the performance of the students improved, but only when they were used by the students for revision, and for understanding of theoretical questions. Other studies discuss the limitations of podcasting entire lectures as investigated in this study. They advocate the use of supplementary material provided by podcast, although this is likely to make additional work for academic staff (Brittain, Glowacki ,Van Ittersum & Johnson, 2006; Bell, et al., 2007; Deal, 2007). Using podcasts as supplementary material where thought is given into design, learning goals and is produced specifically for the podcast however is worthy of consideration. Tutorial and practical content is often reliant on the understanding of recent lecture material. Students who miss a lecture with the plan of listening to the podcast later may come to tutorials or practicals unprepared and are at risk of losing their learning opportunities. It is recommended that lecturers point this out to students early in their course to avoid this potential issue. In addition to this it is recommended that lectures and/or IT support from the faculty upload podcasts as soon as possible after the lecturer, but most specifically to give students time to access the podcasts prior to subsequent practical classes or tutorials. Conclusion While the benefits of podcasting of lectures for external and part time students is now largely undisputed some lecturers are still unsure of the benefits for internal students. In this study we have shown that it may be necessary for lecturers or course coordinators to inform their internal students at the beginning of the course of the different strategies covering the use of when and how to listen to podcasts for their particular program in order to achieve the best possible student outcomes. References Abt, G. & Barry, T. (2007). The quantitative effect of students using podcasts in a first year undergraduate

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Copyright © 2010 Jackie O’Flaherty, Sheila Scutter and Trenna Albrecht. The authors assign to HERDSA and educational non-profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive license to HERDSA to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web (prime site and mirrors) and within the portable electronic format HERDSA 2010 conference proceedings. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the authors.

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