Implementation of podcasting project targeting key stages of the three year undergraduate programme
Jacqueline Nicol and Karen Campbell
Edinburgh Napier University
Learning OutcomesLearning Outcomes
• Explore the merits of developing a podcasting site to provide “just in time” support to students
• Appraise the strategies used to promote staff and student engagement in production and access to podcasts
• Evaluate the impact of podcasting as a way of staff providing support and information to students
Why develop a podcasting site?
• Developed as a response to the National student survey (3 year nursing students) and internal audits of the three year nursing programme
• Students said they would like more support
• Two other podcasting projects run in the university
• Podcasts generally well received by students (Fernandez et al 2009)
The first stepThe first step
• To engage with students and staff
• Focus groups held with students and staff separately
• Information gathered was used to inform a variety of topics to be used in the podcast series
• The undergraduate programme had 3year students, HNC joiners and those doing a shortened programme for graduates (SPG) - important that all groups had a voice
What did we find out?• students and staff had different ideas• The team agreed it was important that both groups could benefit from
the podcast series to ensure engagement • As the podcasts were to be released during the theory trimester their
timetable was used as a guide to decided what topics were relevant at what time
• Staff viewed the podcasts as a means of giving information• Students wanted information but this differed from the staff’s ideas• Having previous students giving tips was deemed very useful• Ensuring each group of students were represented was also crucial
for engagement
What we did next
• The project team developed a series of podcasts targeting the key stages of the three year undergraduate nursing programme in provision of Initial, articulating, and completing support.
• The project targeted students in the September cohorts who were entering 1st, 2nd and 3rd year studies.
• Topics to be included were agreed• Staff/students identified to be recorded for the series• A professional journalist was employed to record and edit podcast to
give a professional and corporate feel to the podcasts.• Podbean site purchased
Topics chosen• Welcome message – Head of school and Jackie• Student voice – welcome• Pastoral adviser - settling in• Role of module leader - lecturer• Student voice – work/life balance• Librarian – library and referencing• Student voice – juggling - preparation for assessments• Mitigating circumstances – student affairs• Preparing for practice - Student voice and charge nurse• Role of link lecturer/practice education facilitator – 2 staff members• Essay writing skills – student support• Academic conduct – AC officer• Farewell – Jackie
Recording of podcasts
Promoting the project
• The podcasts were publicised in Trimester 1 via programme and cohort leaders.
• Each leader was approached by a member for the project team (JN) and asked to highlight the project to the group of students.
• A standard powerpoint slide was developed to aid this process.
Preparation for
assessment
Preparation for practice
Work/life balance
Listen to the welcome from head of School
Pastoral support Advisor
Kev Head
Student Voice
Library and Referencing
Role of link lecturer/PEF
Additional support for
learning
1st year nursing students (adult): http://nursingnapier.podbean.com
2nd year nursing students (adult):http://nursingnapier2.podbean.com
3rd year nursing students (adult):http://nursingnapier3.podbean.com/
All new first year students: http://edinburghnapier.podbean.com/
All new entrants from college: http://college2uni.podbean.com/
Podbean site- technical aspects
• Uploading
• Releasing
• Web browsers
• Technical trouble shooting
• Channels
• Cost
So what do they sound like???• Time to listen! - Welcome podcast
welcome
Pastoral
Module leader
The Evaluation
• Use of voting system for gathering data for 3rd year students only• Qualitative data provided by paper questionnaires• 1st and 2nd year cohorts were asked the same questions but were
paper based.• Findings from the paper based questionnaire • The data was gathered in week 1 for the students preparation for
practice to increase the response rate • The following slides offer a view of the questions and responses
Please indicate which programme you are on
Did you know about the podcast series
Please indicate which podcasts you listened to, tick all that apply
What have you listened to the podcasts on
What did you think of the technical quality?
What did you think of the length?
The podcasts were easy to access
Listening to the podcasts felt more personal than reading from the website
The podcasts were easy to understand for my stage in the programme
The podcasts helped me make sense of the theory trimester:
The podcasts were relevant to my learning / experience at university
I enjoyed listening to the range of podcasts
Please indicate which podcasts you found most relevant
Please indicate which podcasts you found most relevant
Most relevant podcasts
149
655
43
211
Essay tipsAssessment
Preparation for practiceNone
WelcomeWelcome - student voice
Library and referencingLink lecturer/ PEF
Role of the module leaderWork l ife balance
Most relevant podcasts
101
32
224
285
05
00
WelcomeWelcome student voice
Role of the Module LeaderPastoral support - settling in
Essay tipsWork l ife balance - student voice
Library and referencing
Assessment preparation - studentvoice
Mitigating circumstances andextensions
Preparation for practice - studentvoice
Role of l ink lecturer/ PEF
Academic conduct
Please indicate which podcasts you found least relevant
Least relevant podcasts
63
22
1111
None*Welcome
Work l ife balanceModule leader/PEF
Welcome student voiceMitigatingEssay tips
Did not l isten to any
Least relevant podcasts
21
00
03
20
30
06
0
WelcomeWelcome student voice
Role of the Module LeaderPastoral support - settling in
Essay tipsWork life balance - student voice
Library and referencing
Assessment preparation - studentvoice
Mitigating circumstances andextensions
Preparation for practice - studentvoice
Role of l ink lecturer/ PEF
Academic conductNone
Which Podcasts were most relevant?
• The common themes across the 3 cohorts were:• Welcome message• Student welcome message• Essay tips
• Interestingly 1st year students also clearly valued:• Work/life balance – student voice• Role of pastoral adviser• Role of module leader
Which Podcasts were least relevant?
• The common themes across the 3 cohorts were:• The majority had not listened to the podcasts however• 3rd year students – work/life balance, student voice• 2nd year students - work/life balance, student voice • 1st year students – academic conduct
Suggestions on how to improve: common themes across the 3 cohorts
• Make them easier to find
• Need a reminder to listen
• Had to many other things to look for!
• More obvious
• Remind students about them
• Not enough information about them
• Access
• Advertisement – regular emails
• Being played in class
• Prominent on portal / webCT
• More podcasts about placement
• Put all lectures on podcast
• Teaching refreshers– Pathophysiology
– Anatomy
– Ward experience/tips
• Intro music too loud
Do you think the podcast enhanced support during your theory trimester ?
• The majority of students in all 3 cohorts said YES
• A great support tool
• A change fro text format
• More required
• More description
• Easy listening-enjoyed them !
• Only for library information
• Allowed you to be taught in a different way
• Additional clarification
• In preparation for exams
• Not really everything is online anyway
• Just adds more stress – something else to listen too!
Are there negative aspects to podcasting ?• The majority of students in all 3
cohorts said NO but comments included
• “Saw the app advertised but can’t find the app when looked for it”
• Would not open on my home computer.
• A little to long
• Too fast always stopped on my computer
• No pictures diagrams to support words.
• If you can’t learn through listening it is pointless!
• Access- “ An increasing over reliance of the university on technology which is out-with the spending power of students! I can’t pay my bills let alone afford the phone, laptop, house access to those services and am increasingly being excluded by the university reliance on this technology”.
• I thought it was only for ipods
• Would have preferred video
• Too much to look up on line.
• Napier website regularly crashes !!
Lessons learned to inform the next run!
• To ensure podcasts are advertised more effectively• All students informed about the podcast series in week one activities• Students encourage to save the link as a favourite• Module leaders in all 3 years added a link to the menu in WebCT for
easy access whilst accessing module materials• Announcements put on WebCT with links• Welcome podcast played in one of the core modules for each year• All students emailed every week there was a podcast and included a
link each time• PDTs all emailed and advised of the podcast series and highlighted
how using/directing students to them could save time!
Hello
It is time again for this weeks podcast – please click on the link: http://nursingnapier.podbean.com/
You may have noticed on your FONS module, Roseanne has added a link on to WebCT as another quick and easy way for you to access the weekly podcasts! See image below:
Kind regards
Jackie
Following the feedback we.......
• The February/January cohorts were given access to the same podcasts using the series used for the previous September cohorts
• No changes made to the content and the series was evaluated as before however, all were paper based.
Please indicate which programme you are on
0
20
40
60
80
100
SPG HNC 3 yearprogramme
year 1
year2
year 3
Did you know about the podcast series
37
00
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
yes no
year 1
year 2
year3
Please indicate which podcasts you listened to, tick all that apply
05
101520253035404550
Welc
ome
Welc
ome
stude
nt vo
ice
Role
of th
e M
odule
Lea
der
Pasto
ral s
uppo
rt - s
ettlin
g in
Essay
tips
Wor
k life
bal
ance
- stu
dent
...
Libr
ary
and
refe
renc
ing
Asses
smen
t pre
para
tion
- ...
Mitig
ating
circ
umst
ance
s a.
.
Prepa
ratio
n fo
r pra
ctice
- s.
..
Role
of lin
k lec
ture
r/ PEF
Acade
mic
cond
uct
None
Year 1
year 2
Year 3
What have you listened to the podcasts on
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Universitycomputer
Homecomputer
Other MobilePhone
MP3player
Didn'tlisten to
any
year 1
year 2
year 3
What did you think of the technical quality?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Very good Good OK No opinion
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
What did you think of the length?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Too long About right Too short No opinion
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
The podcasts were easy to access
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Stronglyagree
Agree No opinion Disagree Stronglydisagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Listening to the podcasts felt more personal than reading from the website
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Stronglyagree
Agree No opinion Disagree stronglydisagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
The podcasts were easy to understand for my stage in the programme
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Strongly agree Agree No opinion Disagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
The podcasts helped me make sense of the theory trimester:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Strongly agree Agree No opinion Disagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
The podcasts were relevant to my learning / experience at university
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Strongly Agree Agree No opinion Disagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
I enjoyed listening to the range of podcasts
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Strongly agree Agree No opinion Disagree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Which Podcasts were most relevant?
• The common themes across the 3 cohorts were:• Welcome message• Student welcome message• Essay tips• Work/life balance – student voice• Mitigating circumstances• Any with a student voice• No time to listen to them – mainly 2nd year students
• Xxxx denotes same as previous cohorts
Which Podcasts were least relevant?
• The common themes across the 3 cohorts were:• 3rd year students – academic conduct• 2nd year students – most as did not supply any information not known• 1st year students – none
Suggestions on how to improve: common themes across the 3 cohorts
• Make them shorter
• No, really good
• On topics that are not covered such as travel expenses
• Would have preferred an email to remind me!!!!
Do you think the podcast enhanced support during your theory trimester ?
• The majority of students in all 3 cohorts said YES
• It was comforting hearing from other students
• Really good information
• Makes it more real – real experience
• Provided good advice
• The prep for practice helped me feel prepared
• Perhaps more useful for those not been to university before
• Prefer to read information
• Last thing needed to look at when studying for a degree
Are there negative aspects to podcasting ?• The majority of students in all 3
cohorts said NONE but comments included
• I didn’t have speakers on my home computer
• Trying to find time to listen to them
• A little to long
• Too fast always stopped on my computer
• Not being able to ask further questions
• Internet access
In summary
• Lessons learned from the first run of the series was helpful• The second evaluation demonstrated more students accessed them• Interestingly some students still said they would like to be emailed
when in fact every student was – difficult to assess• Continued progression • Review evaluation questions• Use of focus groups may provide more comprehensive data
Contact details
• Jackie Nicol [email protected]• Karen Campbell [email protected]