scutter.pdf


Australasian Journal of
Educational Technology

2010, 26(2), 180-191

How do students use podcasts to support learning?
Sheila Scutter, Ieva Stupans, Tim Sawyer and Sharron King
University of South Australia

Podcasting is used commonly recreationally and is now increasingly used in
education. The technology for podcasting is readily available, easy to use and
inexpensive, making it an attractive option for providing additional flexible learning
resources for students. However, little is known about how podcasts are used by
students and the implications for learning. This paper describes how podcasts were
used by students in a medical radiation program. In common with many other health
science programs, the medical radiation program has a large content load, particularly
in first year where courses such as anatomy and physiology are introduced. Students
generally used podcasts to review lecture content, especially when they had difficulty
with understanding lectures or new terminology. Students generally listened to the
recordings whilst viewing the lecture PowerPoint presentations on a home computer.
Results from this study indicate that academics need to contemplate the introduction
of instructional methods such as podcast lectures within the broader context of
instructional goals.

Podcasting in teaching

“Podcasting” involves placing recorded material on a website from which it can be
downloaded and listened to at a later time. Although originally developed as a way of
providing access to recorded music by downloading, at a cost, from the Internet,
podcasting is now used extensively by radio and television stations to make interviews
or other interesting materials available to listeners (Bull, 2005). The cost of
downloading from Internet sources has fallen, and most students have access to a
computer and the Internet (Bray et al, 2007). Podcasts can be downloaded onto
portable MP3 devices, for example, Apple iPods and replayed either through
earphones or speakers.

The difference between podcasting and the uploading of audio recordings of lectures
has been the subject of some discussion (Cebeci & Tekdal, 2006). Podcasting may be
said to involve editing and indexing of recorded lectures (e.g. Lee & Chang, 2007), or
uploading specifically designed audio clips, as opposed to the simple uploading of
raw audio recordings onto a web site available to students. In this paper we refer to
podcasting as the uploading of lectures onto the subject website, as quickly as possible
after the lecture. For most lectures, the PowerPoint slides are also uploaded, usually
before the lecture. Although technologies are now being used that automate the
process of recording both audio and video recordings of lectures, we have used simple
digital voice recorders operated by the lecturer, as teaching sessions often occur
outside fully equipped lecture theatres.

Podcasting has been used by university academics in a number of ways. Provision
through podcasting of complete lectures or short explanations of difficult concepts,



Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 181

explanation of assessment requirements, suggestions for further reading or provision
of feedback on assessment tasks have been reported in higher education settings.
Recorded material can be edited and indexed before uploading (Lee & Chan, 2007), or
“raw” lectures can be uploaded as soon as practical after presentation. These
approaches are essentially focused on audio recording, however Palmer and Devitt
(2007) developed interactive case based content for the iPod, and found that this also
had great potential as a learning tool. There is little evidence as to which approach
may be most appropriate for student learning (Maag, 2006; Cook 2009), although
guidelines on how to use design principles to create podcasts that effectively support
and enhance learning are being promulgated (e.g. Avgerinou, Salwach & Tarkowski,
2007).

Advantages of podcasting in education

At first glance, there appear to be numerous advantages of podcasting lectures or other
information to students in the academic environment. Students can download audio
recordings of lectures from, for example, university course websites, to clarify areas
that they may not have understood in those lectures. With relevance to cognitive load
theories, the review of podcast lectures by students aligns with reported advantages of
learning through multiple senses (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). This work indicates that
information received via one sensory channel is not processed and stored as well as
information received from two, such as for example auditory and visual.

Podcasting may also accommodate a wide variety of learning strategies for students.
While some students learn most effectively by taking notes during a lecture and
reviewing these in their own study time, others learn more effectively by active
listening, without taking notes (Boulos, Maramba & Wheeler, 2006).

Podcasting of lectures provides additional resources for students who are unable to
attend face to face classes. Students who are unable to attend lectures due to sickness,
work or family responsibilities can listen to the lecture in conjunction with PowerPoint
presentations, also commonly made available to students. In addition, as recognised
by McKinney and Page (2009) students can be distracted in lectures by other factors,
and may miss elements of what the lecturer is saying.

Podcasting as used in this project provides resources to all students that have
previously been obtained by some students on an individual basis. In our University, it
has been observed that in classes with a high proportion of English as a second
language students (ESL), students have used tape recorders in lectures for many years;
podcasting of lectures is a convenient option for these students.

Podcasting as used in this project requires only a digital voice recorder and software to
upload the recordings. Thus the podcasting we used comes into the category of “m-
learning” as defined by Dyson et al (2009). Software to download podcasts is readily
available, and players to listen to them are becoming cheaper and better (Boulos,
Maramba & Wheeler, 2006). Thus the technology is cheap, easy to use and portable.
Students can download podcasts onto MP3 players to listen to them in a variety of
settings, or can listen to podcasts played directly from home or University computers.
Therefore there is no impost upon the students to purchase new equipment or learn
sophisticated technologies in order to access podcasts. In any event, most students
now have MP3 players available to them (Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray &
Krause, 2008).



182 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(2)

Potential disadvantages of using podcasts

There are a number of possible disadvantages for using podcasting. Some academic
staff express a concern that students will no longer attend lectures and disengage from
the academic environment. However, this has not been found to be the case in
previous studies (von Konsky, Ivins & Gribble, 2009). Fietze (2009) found that about
half the student cohort would not consider the provision of podcasts as an opportunity
to miss lectures. Although universities increasingly attempt to provide flexible
learning opportunities for students, reduced engagement is clearly related to increased
attrition and reduced success (Kuh, 2007; McInnes, 2001).

Podcasting has also been argued to lead to passive learning with students focussing on
the audio facility rather than actively engaging with the lecture content (Palmer &
Devitt, 2007). Staff perceptions of disadvantages may stem from the current
mainstream educational thinking, dominated by a constructivist view, which
maintains that deep learning occurs when a learner is actively engaged in learning
activities. Although listening to podcasts may be considered to be a passive skill,
recent work on language learning and the value of podcasting in learning language
describes listening as an active, creative and demanding process of selecting and
interpreting information from auditory clues (Kavakiauskiene, 2008). Potentially the
greater concern is not that of active or passive skills, but that podcasting of lectures for
students may align with rote learning not conducive to student construction of
meaning. This is a particularly relevant concern in the health sciences, where students
in foundation years undertake “content heavy” courses such as anatomy and
physiology which lend themselves to a rote learning approach. Although anatomy has
been taught contextually in a problem based learning format involving active student
learning, (e.g. Perac & Armstrong, 1998, Grkovic, 2005) the current trend towards large
common foundation courses for all health science students has resulted in a reversion
to a more traditional, lecture based mode of teaching, with lesser opportunities for
interactive learning.

What is the best way to use podcasts?

Although podcasting has been used in a number of education settings there is little
known about how students use podcasts, whether they have the necessary information
technology skills and equipment, and the overall impact that podcasting has on
student learning. Brittain, Gllowacki, van Ittersum & Johnson (2006) surveyed
students’ preferences for audio recordings (podcasts), synchronised with PowerPoints
and video/audio format. Of interest was the finding that students preferred the
podcasts to the other formats, possibly because they could listen to the podcasts while
engaging in other tasks.

The aims of this study were therefore to investigate the way in which students used
podcasts made available to them in courses in the Bachelor of Medical Radiation
Program. An understanding of the way in which students use podcasts will inform the
way in which podcasts can be used most effectively.

Method
In 2008 all academic staff teaching into the Medical Radiation program were offered
the opportunity to participate in this trial. Several digital audio recorders were
purchased at a cost of about A$240 each. The staff members were asked to start the



Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 183

recorder at the beginning of a teaching session to include any of the normal pre or
post-class discussions of general information, for example information on assessment
tasks, and including any “housekeeping” which occurs at the beginning of the session.
The files uploaded for students to access were the “raw” recordings from the lectures,
as we did not want to increase the workload of teaching staff, and also wanted the
podcasts to be available as soon as possible after the lecture. The audio file was
compressed to reduce the file size and then uploaded onto the appropriate (password
protected) course web page.

The student evaluation component of the study was approved by the University of
South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (P080/07). This component used a
questionnaire made available through the University of South Australia online survey
tool, TellUs. The survey was distributed to all students in the medical radiation
program (across the three year program, 160 students). The survey requested details
concerning if, and when, students listened to podcasts, whether it impacted upon their
attendance at lectures, and whether they 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 Excel for analysis and reporting. Free text comments were
read and themes extracted.

Results

Most academic staff teaching into the medical radiation program participated in the
project by agreeing to podcast their lectures. A total of about 90 lectures were podcast
during the first teaching period of the year. On several occasions the session was not
successfully recorded, due to over-writing of previous recordings before they had been
uploaded, failure to turn the recording device on, or unnoticed flat batteries.

Of a total of 160 students who received podcast lectures, 80 students (50%) responded
to the questionnaire, which was considered a good response rate for an online
questionnaire. Of the respondents, 59 (74%) were female and 21 (26%) were male. This
indicates a slight over-representation of female students, compared to the proportion
in the cohort (62% female). Of the 80 students responding, 64 had accessed a podcast
lecture, and felt that listening to the podcasts had improved their learning either a little
(33 students) or a lot (37 students). Eight of those who did not access a podcast
indicated that they didn’t feel it was necessary or did not have the time.

Fourteen of the students responding indicated that English was their second language
(ESL). As the total number of ESL students in the program was nineteen, this indicates
that a higher than represented proportion of ESL students responded to the survey.

Sixty students (75%) indicated that if they knew the lecture was going to be podcast,
then they were more likely to “skip” the lecture, although only 3 students indicated
that they would always skip the lecture if they knew it was to be podcast. Many
students (60%) always or sometimes listened to the podcast if they were unable to
attend the lecture.

As shown in Table 1, most students listened to the podcasts whilst viewing the
PowerPoints that were routinely provided on the course web page. However, students



184 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(2)

also listened to the podcasts when they were on their way into University, doing other
activities (such as household chores) and in conjunction with other study-related
resources (e.g. looking at images during the podcast of an anatomy lecture). Although
students did use the podcasts at other times, the use of the podcasts while viewing the
lecture PowerPoints on a computer constituted the majority use. As students could
select more than one option, the total in Table 1 is more than 80.

Table 1: Student use of podcasts

When do you listen to podcasts? Number of students
On the way into University 9
While I am doing other things 14
In conjunction with other study related electronic media 27
In conjunction with other electronic media (not study related) 7
While looking at the lecture PowerPoints 64
At other times 6

As shown in Table 2, students indicated that the most useful aspects of having
podcasts was being able to HEAR (emphasis in questionnaire) the lecture again, as
opposed to having only PowerPoint presentations uploaded onto the course website.
Also important was the flexibility of when they could listen to the lecture, which from
Table 1 appears to be when they were looking at the PowerPoints from the lecture. In
the comments section, students indicated that hearing the lectures again assisted them
with pronunciation of unfamiliar terms. These comments came equally from local and
international students. Only eleven students indicated that having the lectures podcast
meant that that did not go to the lectures.

Table 2: The most useful aspects of podcasts to students

What are the most useful aspects of podcasting lectures? Number of students
Flexibility of where I can listen to the lecture 49
Being able to HEAR the lecture again 56
Can just listen instead of also taking notes in lectures 39
Clarification of issues or questions 40
Means I don’t have to go to lectures 11
Revision for exams 47

As shown in Table 3, poor sound quality was the most common problem experienced
by students when listening to podcasts. Initially, the digital recorder had been
suspended by a lanyard around the lecturer’s neck. Thus the recorder could move
around and the noise from this movement interfered with the voice recording. This
problem was rectified in later trials by using a clip on microphone. However, even
with the clip on microphone the sound was sometimes of poor quality.

Table 3: Problems encountered with listening to podcasts

What problems did you encounter with podcasting? Number of students
Difficulty accessing podcasts at University 7
I don’t have an MP3 player so had to listen at the computer 16
Difficulty with accessing at home 15
Sound quality was poor 20



Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 185

Themes emerging from the comments made by students consisted of:

Clarification of material presented in lectures
Students found the podcasts to be useful in helping to clarify terminology and
theoretical constructs, as explained in the following quote from a student comment:

Hearing a lecture a second time helps the theory to sink in and get the most out of the
lecture. During lectures there is always times where you lack concentration and may
miss bits that are vital to comprehension but within the lecture you don't want to
interrupt the flow of the lecture by asking too many questions.

Podcasts were used when students received lectures from medical specialists:

Lecturers or doctors who came from hospitals had many informations in their
PowerPoints and had more slides and also use medical terminology. At first when they
give lectures, it doesn't get to my head, but after listening the podcast together with
the PowerPoints, it helps me to understand what they really said (ESL student).

The podcasts appear to be important for ESL students as it appeared to support their
conceptual understanding as well as pronunciation of new terminology. It also
allowed them the opportunity to review the materials in their own time.

Sometimes when I read only the PowerPoint presentation, I get confused, then I refer to
the text books, but hearing the podcast I could listen to the informations said by the
lecturer once again and rectify my confusions (ESL student)

Learning by listening
Not only ESL students found this opportunity to re-listen to lecture content useful as a
number of native English speaking students also commented that this additional
listening time helped to support their learning:

I listened to one lecture twice and wrote the main points what was not in the
PowerPoint presentation.

Useful for revision before exams
Students listened to the podcasts during exam preparation as they found that it
increased their comprehension of difficult or complex topic areas:

during [revision for] the examinations, the podcast lecture is excellent, because once
again we can hear it again and it will go into our heads.

I re-listened to every lecture at least once when revising for exams. I also spent about
about 1 and a half hours listening to each lecture and pausing it constantly so I could
read the text book and write notes. I think podcasting increased my grades
enormously when I was doing this.

As the second student quote above confirms the opportunity to be able to pause the
lecture, clarify understanding with additional resources such as the textbook greatly
aided their overall understanding and hence learning outcomes.

Replacing attendance at lectures
As shown in Table 2 students did not rely on the podcasts as a substitute for missed
lectures. For some students the choice to ‘skip’ the lecture was voluntary:



186 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(2)

I am able to skip very inconvenient lectures (for example when I only have one lecture
that day) and this saves me about two hours in travelling time that I can then spend
studying.

sometimes when I will be late to the uni, I usually skip the first class and this podcast
lecture is also helpful.

However, for others the podcasts were an important backup when circumstances out
of their control forced them to miss critical lectures.

it wasn’t that I purposely missed lectures because I knew they would be podcast, but
over the few weeks that I was sick and then recovering (and also a few times when
work has interfered with timetable) its good to know the option is there if we miss a
lecture, along with the lecture notes.

One student complained:

There has only been one lecture that I really wanted to listen to and it's not there. If
podcasting is done it should be done for all lectures. It is annoying to have some
lectures podcast and other not podcasted. Consistency makes things easier.

Another commented:

Would like to see every lecture podcast, even I don't use them, 'cause other people do,
and the one lecture which might be missed due to unavoidable circumstances doesn't
have to be met with "Oh my, is this going to be podcast" uncertainty. Given its relative
ease of setting up, its not a big ask for such a large institution.

Discussion

Student support for continuation of podcasting was very positive, as has been found
previously (Tynan & Colbran, 2006). Indeed, students came to expect that podcasts
would be provided, and were annoyed when they were not (“… it’s not a big ask for
such a large institution.”). Although we did not ask students specifically about their IT
skills or resources, it appeared that the technology was not a barrier for students.

The strong support from students for podcasting is likely to pressure academic staff to
provide podcasts to achieve good feedback from students. Although beyond the scope
of this paper, this issue is explored further in another paper (Elliot, Scutter & King,
2009).

This study was undertaken to provide information to academic staff about how
students use podcast lectures. This should ensure that students were being provided
with materials that were useful and effective for their learning. Although many
academic staff have embraced the technology and now routinely podcast lectures,
there has been little consideration of how students use podcasts and whether they
encourage student learning. From the findings of this study we hoped to better inform
academics of effective ways to use podcasts. For example, if students listen to small
segments of podcasts while travelling to University, then short explanations would be
valuable. If on the other hand students sit in front of their home or library computer
and listen to the podcast whilst viewing the lecture PowerPoint, then provision of
podcast entire lectures would seem to be appropriate. What we found was that
students used the podcasts to hear the lecture again and that they often did this while
viewing the PowerPoint on their computer. This was an unexpected finding as we had
expected that students would use MP3 players to listen to podcasts while “on the go”.



Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 187

Although students indicated that they liked the flexibility of having lectures podcast, It
would appear that this flexibility is with respect to time rather than situation. This is
interesting in view of comments such as ”… it is attractive for education because it
potentially enables students to increase the number of hours of studying without
necessarily having to remove something from their schedule such as doing household
chores, or exercising.” (Bell et al, 2007). A literature overview of usage from United
States universities presented by Deal (2007) reports a similar “surprising” finding.

Student comments indicated that they felt they could learn more by hearing the
lectures again so that information could get “into their heads”. This supports
anecdotes from the literature around podcasting “Proponents suggest that if students
can replay information-dense lectures at their own convenience as often as they wish,
they will ABSORB (our emphasis) the information better” (French, 2007). Although
outside the scope of this article, discussion of learning approaches, such as rote
learning, deserves attention. What is relevant to the work reported in this manuscript
is the need to contemplate instructional methods such as podcast lectures within the
broader context of instructional goals. It appears that by providing podcasts of lectures
we may be encouraging an increasing dependence on the words of the academic
getting “into their heads”, probably to be recalled as needed. Indeed this is supported
by the findings of McKinney and Page (2009) who used podcasting to supplement the
teaching of pathophysiology to nursing students. Students in that study commented
that the podcasts helped them to “retain information”. Dyson et al (2009) describe the
learning occurring from podcasts of lecture summaries as being “passive listening”
and resulting in surface learning. Comments from students reinforced this to some
extent, especially when students indicated that they needed to get “knowledge” “into
their heads”. Re-listening to lectures and taking additional notes from the audio
recording would also appear to encourage a transmission mode of delivery and
learning.

However, the issue of teaching “content heavy” courses such as anatomy remains
problematic. Incorporating experiential learning into anatomy courses is difficult,
especially as these courses tend to be taught in first year where students face the
additional hurdles of transition to university. As the course is taught to students from
a wide variety of programs, it is difficult to teach the content in the context of the
students’ eventual professions. Feedback and use of podcasts in the current study was
much more positive than described by Dyson et al (2009). This may be because the
podcasts we used were exact repeats of the lecture, rather than being scripted and
edited versions of previous lectures. As commented by Dyson et al, this adds to the
workload of academics and discourages renewing the resource on a yearly basis. In
addition, students in the current study stressed the importance of hearing the same
lecture again so that they could “fill in” parts they had missed. This may not have been
possible with the podcasts used by Dyson et al. McKinney and Page (2009) also found
that students liked to hear their own lecturer’s voice, even if the resulting podcast was
of a lesser quality.

Whether or not podcasting lectures will reduce student attendance has been discussed
by previous authors (Frydenberg, 2006; Maag, 2006; Fietze, 2009). The results of the
current study showed that some students were more likely to “skip” lectures if they
knew they were going to be podcast, however their number was not large. Maag (2006)
also found that the availability of podcasts had little impact on attendance. However,
what is considered to be an important reduction in lecture attendance apparently



188 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(2)

differs between authors, as Fietze (2009) found that around half the class would
consider not attending the lecture if it was to be podcast, but did not find this
problematic. The very fact that some students may miss lectures that are to be podcast
suggests that they saw them, in conjunction with the PowerPoint slides, to be a viable
alternative to the lectures. As students are increasingly encouraged to be responsible
for their own learning, perhaps it is these very choices that we should be encouraging.
As discussed by Lee and Chan (2007), podcasts can enhance the learning of distance
education students and as such should also improve learning for internal students.

With regard to the technology itself, technical failure is always a possibility when
using electronic equipment. Students in this study indicated dissatisfaction when the
expected access to podcasts was unfulfilled. This indicates that students need to be
warned of the possibility of this happening at the commencement of a course. More
sophisticated and automated recording of audio and visual input during lectures may
overcome this problem, but is not at present an option at this University. As the group
sizes in smaller programs such as Medical Radiation are small, it may be necessary to
rely on less sophisticated equipment as it is usually the larger lecture theatres which
are so equipped. A similar student dissatisfaction was reported by Brabazon (2006)
who described students attending lectures without taking any notes with expectations
of full resource provision by academic staff. No student reported that they could not
access the podcasts because of lack of equipment or inability to download the podcasts
due to the technological proficiency required.

Students reported learning benefits associated with the podcasts. This claim needs to
be interpreted in the light of a recent study that has demonstrated that undergraduate
exercise physiology students gained a direct benefit from being provided with
supplementary materials, in the form of either printed text or podcasts. The use of
podcasts provided little additional benefit over and above the printed text (Abt &
Barry, 2007). Therefore although students may feel that the podcasts improved their
learning, their performance was the same as that of students provided with other types
of additional extra study material. In contrast, podcasts have been shown to improve
student performance compared to a traditional lecture format, in which PowerPoint
slides were provided (McKinney, Dyck et al. 2009). The study by McKinney et al (2009)
was limited to comparing performance from one short lecture; more research is needed
into the actual outcomes from podcasting. Although students like having podcasts
available, we should perhaps be questioning whether we are encouraging increasing
dependence on lecture material rather than student-focused learning approaches.
Other authors have described using podcasts to provide 5-10 minute “grabs” for
students, but acknowledge that the production of such material represents
considerable additional work for academics (Abt & Barry, 2007).

The results of this study provide the academic staff involved in the project and also
other academics with significant insight into actual student behaviours around their
study habits. The degree of dependence of the students on resources such as podcast
lectures was not anticipated and indicates the need of academics to thoughtfully
incorporate such resources. Although Dobozy (2007) argues that students have a
“right” to the knowledge held by academics and that academics have the skills to
know how to effectively provide learning resources for students, pressure from
students in the form of evaluation of academic staff may mean that the decisions made
by academic staff about resources provided are not always pedagogically driven.



Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 189

Conclusion

Students listening to podcasts of lectures provided by academics tended to use the
podcast in conjunction with replaying PowerPoint presentations that were also
provided. It appears that students who used the podcasts wished to re-live the lecture
experience. Although some students used podcasts with PowerPoints to replace
attendance at lectures, this was not a general trend. Although students reported that
the provision of podcasts improved their learning, it may be that the podcasts
encourage passive rather than active learning. It is suggested that rather than
podcasting complete lectures, academics consider using podcasts to explain key
points.

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Dr Sheila Scutter (corresponding author)
School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
Email: Sheila.Scutter@unisa.edu.au Web: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Sheila.Scutter

Associate Professor Ieva Stupans
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of South Australia
Email: Ieva.Stupans@unisa.edu.au Web: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Ieva.Stupan

Mr Tim Sawyer
School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
Email: tim.sawyer@unisa.edu.au Web: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Tim.Sawyer

Dr Sharron King, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
Email: sharron.king@unisa.edu.au Web: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Sharron.King