(Efficacy and attitude towards the podcasts)

(Image was taken from PodMiners whitepaper)

In the previous post of this series I presented a general overview of PodMiners.

In a nutshell, PodMiners is about podcasting and broadcasting.

In this post I’d like to talk about educational potential of PodMiners.

Efficacy of podcasts

The problem of the efficacy of using audio and video podcasts for education has been dealt with in the investigations of a number of authors.

In the study conducted at the Manipal College of Dental Sciences, India, 80 first-year dental students were randomly divided into two equal groups (intervention group and control group). Both listened to live lecture. Then the first group worked solely with text books, while the second one with the text books accompanied by the podcast which presented only the highlights of the topics covered in the lecture.

The following flow chart illustrates the study design

[source]

In other words, after the lecture the first group received information through one sensory pathway, while the second group received it through visual and auditory pathways.

Then both groups underwent the test for assessment.

The study showed that the intervention group had a significant advantage in student performance over the control group [1].

As has been mentioned earlier, the students with better performance used two sensory pathways. It was shown (Scutter et al. and Boulos et al.) that information perceived through several sensory pathways is processed and stored more efficiently than that perceived through one pathway [[2],[3]].

(image was taken from Pixabay)

While some students prefer to use their study notes for revision, others prefer active listening for this purpose.

Scutter et al. have found that podcasts can help the latter group to grasp some additional information [3].

Similar findings regarding the efficacy of podcasts for educational purposes were observed in other studies.

The study conducted with African-American (AA) men living in the United States assessed the effectiveness of podcasts for educating inner-city AA men about diabetes prevention. Some potentially diabetic people might avoid developing this disease if they have appropriate knowledge, skills, and motivation. That’s where podcasts might help. The study showed that podcasts are helpful at educating inner-city AA men about diabetes prevention [4].

The idea of podcasts usage as a supplementary learning tool was supported in another study (Prakash SS et al.) [5].

However, one study (Vogt et al.), showed that there was no significant enhancement in performance of the students using podcasts [6].

No data can yet be available on the effect of podcasts on long-term retention and recall of the information. Additional studies should be done to elucidate the question.

Attitude of students towards the podcasts

The next point concerns the attitude of students towards the podcasts.

The study done with dental students showed that the majority of them found the podcasts useful because they could listen to the content repeatedly and at their own convenience.

On the other hand, some students found that the absence of images and diagrams in podcasts is a shortcoming [1].

Another study showed that audio/visual rich media recordings have positive impact on the educational experience. They helped students with their studies and reduced stress and anxiety [7].

The study assessing the usage of audio podcasts combined with tablet PC-enhanced learning for educational purposes in biochemistry showed that the students have a positive attitude towards it [8].

Continue reading with a Coil membership.