302020 38(1): 30-42 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.3

InvestIgatIng the use
of podcasts In an
open, dIstance and
e-learnIng envIronment

abstract

In a world where the podcast stands out as one of the important
support technologies for online learning, lecturers face great
challenges in delivering podcasts qualitatively and productively.
The introduction of technology into distance teaching and learning
has often failed to meet the expected outcomes, and the educational
landscape contains evidence of students who have been unable to
benefit from this particular innovation (Dede, 2008). The increasing
importance of the podcast as a support technology for online
learning has led to intense discussions about how to preserve
and enhance its use for all kinds of expected student knowledge.
Therefore, this paper aimed to explore the types of podcasts that
lecturers at an open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) institution use
for teaching and learning. The focus was to explore the practices
of the lecturers in the use of podcasts for teaching and learning in
an ODeL institution.

From 200 participants, a total of 431 podcast scripts (generated
during staff development sessions) from different modules,
departments and subjects at an ODeL institution were collected
for data use. The number of podcasts per purpose or type was
tallied and recorded in a table. Results provided readers with a
snapshot of how an ODeL institution uses podcasts for teaching
and learning, the gaps in the effective use of podcasts were
discussed and recommendations were provided for a better and
future use of podcasts for teaching and learning. The paper offers
guidance to better utilisation of podcasts in ODeL environments in
higher education institutions.

Keywords: Higher education; open distance and e-learning (ODeL);
quality; podcasts; support technology; teaching and learning.

1. IntroductIon and bacKground
Technology has advanced from being used primarily as
an instructional delivery medium to an integral part of the
learning environment (Fouts, 2000; Poole, 2001). Some
recent studies have found that support technologies such
as podcasts are used predominantly for administrative
matters (Warren, 2011; Schreiber & Klose, 2013). Hence,
questions like “To what extent does any form of support
technology contribute to meeting most students’ learning
expectations?” are often neglected by the lecturers during

author:
Dr A. Makina1

affIlIatIon:
1University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa

emaIl:
makina@unisa.ac.za

DOI: http://dx.doi.
org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.
v38i1.3

e-ISSN 2519-593X

Perspectives in Education

2020 38(1): 30-42

publIshed:
11 June 2020

Published by the UFS
http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie

With Attribution (CC-BY)

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2602-0347
mailto:makina@unisa.ac.za
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.3
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.3
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.3

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2020 38(1): 31-42 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.3

their online teaching. For example, many studies have been carried out about the accessibility
of technology to students (Richardson, 2006). However, studies on how lecturers use particular
technologies to achieve teaching and learning objectives are limited (Dede, 2008). The use of
technology for high-quality teaching and learning is a critical issue that should be investigated
to ensure that it contributes significantly to productive student learning.

In higher education, many demands are currently being placed on online learning with
technology, as students’ needs receive priority (Bonk, 2004). Together with other technologies,
podcasts are understood to facilitate “unexpected logistic and pedagogical advantages”
(Bonk, 2004:3). These include the “quick delivery of information at any time and everywhere,
genuine possibilities for autonomous learning, more interactivity, more student-orientation,
more individualisation, better quality of programmes, and greater learning effectiveness”
(Burbules & Callister, 2000:10). Podcasting is described as a process in which “digital audio
recordings are broadcast over the internet to users who have signed up to receive them […]
like a traditional radio, only it is a cognitive medium and is available on demand for a specific
topic” (Roy & Roy, 2007:481). On the other hand, podcasting is seen as a method of distributing
audio files over the internet, usually in MP3 format. These audio files can then be played on
several portable media players or devices, such as desktop computers, laptops and mobile
phones (Rahimi & Maral, 2012). Some benefits of podcasts pointed out in research include
(a) connecting students and instructors; (b) fostering student motivation; (c) personalising
the learning environment and (d) offering an alternative approach to teaching and learning
(Bolliger, Supanakorn & Boggs, 2010; Brown & Green, 2007; De Souza-Hart, 2011; Shamburg,
2010; O’Bannon, Lubke, Beard & Britt, 2011; Lazzari, 2009). Therefore, universities offering
distance education adopted the use of podcasts because the benefits outweigh the
disadvantages mentioned in the literature of podcast use. Some of the disadvantages of
podcasting include the fact that they are time consuming and have accessibility problems
among others (Laurillard, 2002).

2. odel and student support
Owing to environmental and economic challenges in Africa, students who wish to enrol
at higher education institutions could still face barriers as they live in remote areas where
education is not easily accessible. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that effective student
support contributes to improved retention and success rates in ODeL institutions (Unisa,
2015). In South Africa, higher education institutions offered ODeL in their attempt to address
the multitude of challenges that students face. ODeL environments are understood to be
an accumulation of openness and distance in education that seeks to limit transactional
distance. ODeL is characterised by two important factors, namely its philosophy and its use of
technology. Most ODeL systems aim to remove barriers to education by expanding access to
learning by increasing students’ educational support choices. For example, the University of
South Africa (Unisa) saw ODeL as a viable means of breaching barriers to higher education
by broadening access and participation, as it calls for unique digital and technical support to
improve retention and success rates (Unisa, 2015). Therefore, ODeL offers many opportunities
for a new range of technology-based student support possibilities, such as podcasts, in their
bid to improve teaching and learning.

In its attempt to bridge the gaps created by some of the challenges mentioned above, some
ODeL higher education institutions, like Unisa, used technology to try to promote equity, use
resources sustainably, inculcate tolerance of difference, enhance public health and develop

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indigenous knowledge. As part of their vision, the institution embarked on a developmental
journey “towards the African university in the service of humanity”, which is guided by the
principles of lifelong learning, student-centredness, innovation and creativity, and constant
transformation (Unisa, 2015). Its student-centredness meant making provision for flexibility
of learning that adopted blended learning techniques. The blended techniques adopted
included the use of integrated and mixed media and courseware with various modalities for
learning development, facilitation and support, best described by ODeL. Therefore, podcasts
became an important support technology to overcome the challenges that students in ODeL
environments face. However, the quality and use of podcasts needed to be managed to
ensure that they contributed to effective learning. To use support technologies effectively,
lecturers need knowledge of two main aspects of technology, namely, how to use technology
to support learning in a subject area and how to manage student-centred and technology-
supported activities (Franklin, 2007). A great deal depends on how well lecturers research,
plan, structure, prepare for and evaluate the impact of technology on teaching.

3. QualIty use of podcasts
Unisa has adopted an agenda for transformation that embraces a range of new technology-
based student-support options in its bid to satisfy its vision of an African university in the service
of humanity. In this agenda, the entire institution’s “transactional environment” with students
is transformed so that all aspects of that environment are fully digitised and thus underpinned
by robust, effective and integrated ICT applications (COL, 2017). Therefore, the inclusion of
support technologies, like podcasts, has become key to the university’s positive advancement
of teaching and learning. Given that students learn in different ways in ODeL environments,
support technologies like podcasts can provide learning experiences that appeal to and work
for a greater range of students. A notable feature of communication technologies, such as
audio podcasts, is their ability to support effective synchronous/asynchronous learning and
communication. This is especially important for open and distance learning students who are
often separated from their lecturers, tutors and education organisation. Therefore, most ODeL
universities require access to some form of digital application, like podcasts, to digitise their
services and systems.

Designing and developing a support technology that is accepted by the lecturers and
students must ensure that effective, successful teaching and learning takes place. When
technologies such as podcasts are employed by a university, “the agreed-upon principles and
goals of an institution’s core business and values, the nature of the intended student market, and
the needs of the curriculum” must be supported (Davis, Little & Stewart, 2015:140). However,
the choice and use of the technology should be closely aligned to the pedagogical intent of
the learning and teaching transaction. Therefore, before embarking on the development of
podcasts, in part or in whole, the needs of prospective students, the curriculum to be offered
and the learning context and expectations must be carefully considered (Davis et al., 2015).
The facilitation of podcasts must be determined by the subject pedagogy and the students’
learning expectations rather than by the technology.

4. context of the study
This paper is the culmination of the analysis of the results of a study by Makina and
Madiope (2016). In this study, students at a higher education institution were asked to
participate in a survey to find out what types of podcast they had received from their lecturers

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for two successive academic years to support their learning (Makina & Madiope, 2016). A total
of 300 students completed a podcast survey and all students who had received one or more
academic podcasts during the two academic years were asked to participate in the study.
They had to respond to the following:

1. Describe in a few words the types/uses of podcasts that were sent to you by your lecturers
for the learning of your modules.

2. How did you experience and feel about the podcasts that were sent to you for learning
purposes?

The results showed that students were concerned about the quality of the podcasts sent
to them. They indicated that the podcasts either repeated what was written in the study guide
or dealt with technical issues that had nothing to do with their direct learning of the subject.
Students indicated some podcasts seemed to have no purpose, or some were boring as the
lecturers seemed to lack enthusiasm for their subject. Data on the types of podcasts that
students received was categorised and is listed, as shown in Table 1. The study by Makina and
Madiope (2016) further analysed the literature on the uses of podcasts in distance education
(see Table 1). The results of this comparative analysis are shown in Table1. In the analysis,
the types of podcasts identified by the students (Makina & Madiope, 2016) were much less
and more technical than the general uses of podcasts that were derived from the literature
(Salmon & Edirisingha, 2008; McGarr, 2009; Lazzari, 2009; Popova, Kirschner & Joiner, 2008)
and thus resulted in the need for this study.

Table 1: Comparing the benefits of podcasts

Benefits of podcasts according to the literature
on the topic

Students’ responses to Unisa’s
survey (Makina & Madiope, 2016)

• Possible uses of podcasts:
• Provide a general overview and serve as an advanced

organiser before a new topic is introduced.
• Provide the mental framework needed to acquire the

subject skills.
• Help students to master the procedure before a complex

skill is taught.
• Explain difficult concepts, principles or abstract

processes.
• Introduce an assignment or learning activity.
• Provide variety in the learning environment.
• Welcome students at the beginning of the semester.
• Teach complex and difficult topics.
• Provide timely module supplements.
• Alleviate the broad issues faced by ODeL students.
• Provide assessment feedback.
• Provide immediate feedback on assessment.
• Support students before examinations.
• Provide study tips.
• Summarise seminar discussions.

• Podcasts do the following:
• Arouse students’ interest and

curiosity about a topic.
• Inform students about learning

outcomes and objectives.
• Inform students about the benefits of

learning new content.
• Affect students’ feelings and attitudes

about a topic.
• Motivate students to learn.
• Introduce the subject to students.
• Introduce the lecturers or tutors to

the students.

The comparative analysis of the results of the study by Makina and Madiope in Table 1
shows that there are great disparities between the possible uses of podcasts according to
the literature, and the use of podcasts as reported by students. These disparities have
demonstrated that there was a gap in the literature that deals with the efficient use of podcasts

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to facilitate teaching and learning. From the results of the study, it appeared that lecturers
were not achieving the teaching and learning goals of podcasts that were similar to those
identified in the literature. Therefore, the problem was that students did not benefit sufficiently
from the podcasts that they received from their lecturers as support for their learning. Based
on the findings of this study, the current study therefore aimed to investigate the types of
podcasts that the lecturers at an ODeL university used to support teaching and learning. Thus,
the study’s research questions are:

• What types of podcasts are produced and distributed by lecturers to students at an ODeL
higher education institution?

• What are the gaps between the actual use of podcasts and what the literature suggests
that must be bridged to support effective teaching and learning in an ODeL environment?

5. methodology
In a case study, the researcher deliberately and purposively selected a total of 431 podcast
scripts generated during staff development sessions from different modules, departments and
subjects at Unisa, an ODeL university in South Africa. Staff development was initiated at
Unisa to help academics and support staff to design and develop podcasts for effective online
teaching. The process of a podcast recording and uploading always began with the writing
of the audio podcast script that was structured in a specific way. Prescribed in a particular
way, a podcast script included a purpose, outcomes, a word of welcome, an introduction, a
breakdown of the presentation and a conclusion. The podcast script template that was used
during staff development is shown in Appendix 1. Through purposive sampling, 200 willing
lecturers provided podcast scripts to the researcher for one year during staff development.
It must be noted that one lecturer could send more than one podcast script for review.
The University Ethics Committee approved the study. The research design for the study
followed the following four summarised steps:

• Willing lecturers and support staff prepared podcast scripts from their different modules,
courses or areas before sending them to the researcher.

• The researcher collected the podcast scripts and recorded the purpose within each
podcast script during the quality checks.

• The use of podcasts per purpose from the podcast scripts was then tallied and quantified
against the identified categories.

• The percentage use of podcasts per purpose was then analysed and discussed.

After receiving the prepared scripts from the staff members, the trainer would then record
information from each podcast script manually in a table. Manual tallying was used, and the
numbers were recorded at the end of each training week. About 30 staff members attended
the staff training per day during the week of the scriptwriting workshop. This gave rise to about
30 scripts made available per week.

data analysis
Quantitative methods supported by qualitative data were used to analyse the research data.
The purpose was to identify the types of podcasts that were designed and developed for the
achievement of student learning objectives during the year of study. Podcasts were recorded
per subject domain (Table 2) and purpose (Table 3).

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The following were considered:

• The demographic information within the study.

• The purpose and subject areas of the podcasts.

• The number of podcasts used per purpose.

6. results and dIscussIons
A description of participants’ demographic information is presented, followed by a presentation
of research findings according to the identified percentage themes.

results of the demographic profile
The podcast scripts were collected from 200 willing staff participants with the
following demographics:

gender
Males Females Total
158 42 200

age (in years)
31–40 41–50 51–60 +61 Total
122 35 23 20 200

experience (in years)
5 5–10 11–15 16–20 21–25 26–30 >30 Total

49 38 31 28 18 26 10 200

The demographic profile of 200 lecturers who produced podcast scripts shows that 158
male lecturers and 42 female lecturers used podcasts. This appears to imply that either there
are more male lecturers than female lecturers at the university or that more male lecturers prefer
to use podcasts than their female counterparts. Staff members aged 31 to 40 years used more
podcasts for teaching and learning than those older than 40 years. Those who are relatively new
to the teaching profession used more podcasts than those who are more experienced.

A total of 431 podcast scripts from different modules/courses within different departments,
management and support units were collected during staff development sessions. The different
departments exist within seven different colleges at the ODeL institution. They are the College
of Law, College of Human Sciences, College of Economic and Management Sciences,
College of Accounting Sciences, College of Science, College of Engineering and Technology
and the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. There were 19 subject areas within
the different departments. The university management and support units included the vice
chancellor’s section, the recognition of prior learning unit, the institutional transformation unit,
the quality assurance unit, the curriculum and learning development unit and other smaller
university support units. The number of podcast scripts per subject domains is shown in
Table 2.

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Table 2: Number of podcasts per subject domains

Subject Domain Number of podcasts approx. %
1. Education 62 14
2. Science 39 9
3. Social Sciences 34 8
4. Open and Distance Learning 33 8
5. Humanities 54 12
6. Commerce and Management: 27 6
7. Computers and IT 36 8
8. Engineering and Technology 26 6
9. Health Sciences 24 6
10. Agriculture 23 5
11. Interdisciplinary Studies 8 2
12. Anthropology and Archaeology 10 2
13. Development Studies 7 2
14. Religion and Spirituality 4 1
15. Sociology 11 3
16. Afrikaans 8 2
17. African Languages 7 2
18. Library and Information Science 8 2
19. Other university management units 10 2

Total 431 100

Table 2 shows that 116 of the 431 podcasts scripts produced were from the subject areas of
education and humanities. Among these podcast scripts,14% were from education while 12%
were from the humanities. Generally speaking, it was encouraging to see that in addition
to the support units, lecturers from almost all subject areas were participating in the staff
development sessions for the production of podcasts at the ODeL institution. This is good
news for podcasting as it shows the link between the academic departments and the support
units in their endeavour to use podcasts. This is also a tipping point because, when most
academics from different subject areas are in favour of podcasts, adoption usually picks up
speed. This has been an important shift from open distance learning (ODL) where podcasts
were rarely used to ODeL where podcasts become key in the support of teaching and learning
of subject areas. This, in turn, implies that students could start to appreciate the use of podcasts
more than previously. The purpose of staff development was to highlight the importance of
preparation in the production of podcasts for teaching and learning.

The results of the frequencies of types of podcasts used
After data analysis, the study identified 13 purposes of podcasts mentioned in the podcast
scripts in percentage form. The results are summarised in Table 3.

discussion
Table 3 summarises the 13 key purposes that were identified in the case study regarding the
use of podcasts at an ODeL institution. 349 of the 431 podcasts were used for technical issues.
This means that about 80% of the podcasts’ purposes suggest that podcasts are mainly used
for technical issues in the ODeL institution. An interesting observation is that “welcoming of
students to the course” and “module overview” generated about 48% of the podcasts used
in this study. Seven out of 13 purposes are for technical issues. The other six purposes can

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be directly attributed to the improvement of teaching and learning, which only contribute to
19% of the total podcast scripts analysed. For example, an important aspect of teaching and
learning, which is assessment, contributed to only 7% of the podcasts presented. This should
be worrying since only 30 podcasts out of 431 were used for assessment purposes. Overall,
about 20% of the podcast purposes reviewed suggest that university staff use podcasts
minimally for improving the student’s academic success. The results could imply that students
can still do well without accessing these podcasts. Some studies indicate that students’ habits
must change because of the availability of podcasts since the use of podcasts has a direct and
positive impact on test and skill performance (Kay, 2012).

Table 3: The number of podcast scripts per purpose of podcast

PURPOSE OF PODCASTS PODCAST SCRIPTS %
1. Welcoming students to the course 130 30.2
2. Module overview 75 17.4
3. Course orientation 33 7.6
4. Student motivation and holding their interest 50 11.6
5. Identification of the learner management system

tools to be used
43 10

6. Special units’ notices 10 2.3
7. Protocols for accessing university systems 8 1.9
8. Assessment feed-forward 7 1.6
9. Assessment feedback 23 5.3
10. Final examination preparation (technical issues) 20 4.6
11. Pacing of studies 14 3.2
12. Further explanations 12 2.8
13. Tackling difficult sections of the module 6 1.4

Total 431 100

About 5% of the podcasts aimed to prepare students for their final examination. The podcast
purposes for the final examination included information about the number of questions that
would be asked, the time allocated to questions, the examination venue, the need to arrive
early at the examination venue, the need to be confident, and so on. These purposes did
not contain any information aimed at improving students’ knowledge and understanding of
the content in the study material. There was nothing in the purposes that could explain how
students could improve their marks. Only about 1% of the podcasts were used to explain
difficult concepts or topics in the subjects. It might have been of great value to students if more
podcasts aimed to improve their knowledge and understanding of the subject area.

About 30% of the analysed podcast scripts (130 out of 431 podcasts) were used to welcome
students to the courses or modules. For example, lecturers prepared the welcoming podcasts
to introduce themselves to the students, to give students their contact details and to inform
them about office hours. Welcoming podcasts further motivated students towards their subject
areas and encouraged them to have a positive attitude towards assessment. Although it is
important to welcome students to the modules or sections of modules, it is equally important to
produce podcasts that can lead students to a better understanding and knowledge of course
contents. They might not have done much to help students to focus on the subject or section.
These podcasts contained important information, but students could have benefited more
from podcasts that aimed at helping them to master the outcomes of modules.

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About 17% of podcasts gave an overview of the module. These overviews mostly dealt
with the number of chapters in the module, what the chapters were about, how to access the
module on a student management platform, and so on. Although this would get the students
started with the module, the information contained in the overview might not help students to
focus on important issues in the individual modules. Furthermore, 12% of the podcasts aimed
to motivate students, but they mainly contained information about the pitfalls of plagiarism
and reminding students to work hard to pass the module. Much more could have been done
in producing podcasts that help students to isolate important information for their examination
preparation. Additional explanations and clarifications of the subject matter can motivate
students to study consistently, yet only about 3% of the podcasts offered such information.

Finally, Table 3 shows that about 80% of the podcasts were used to communicate
motivation information, technical issues and management matters. These podcasts did not
contain information that could improve students’ knowledge or understanding of the module
contents. Only 25% of the podcast scripts included important information that could contribute
to productive learning. The results in Table 3 confirm Abrami’s (2010) research results that
technology is predominantly used for informative (internet and CD-ROM), expressive (word
processing), and administrative and evaluative (data-keeping, lesson planning and testing)
purposes. It was disappointing to observe that very few lecturers used podcasts to engage
students in collaborative or creative activities. Podcasts have the potential to increase student
engagement and learning. For example, not one lecturer designed an activity that required
students to produce podcasts. Podcasts have the potential to increase student engagement
and learning if, and only if, their support is well thought out and spread evenly across the
modules (Armstrong, Tucker & Massad, 2009; Lee, McLoughlin & Chan, 2008).

7. ImplIcatIons
An effective podcast is one in which, if students do not listen to it, some aspects of their learning
or performance are disadvantaged and may result in their failure to achieve the objectives of
the course. If a higher percentage of podcasts were focused and effective, students would
make an effort to listen to them as they cannot afford to miss them. They would further focus
on the dates when the podcasts would be available. The results in Table 3 show that this
was not the case with most of the types of podcasts offered within the modules at the ODeL
university of study. This goes hand in hand with the idea that if instructional material is not
properly designed, the use of support technology will be ineffective for students’ learning
(Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014). If students realise the benefits of podcasts for their
learning, and that podcasts can improve the understanding of their individual subject areas,
they will appreciate the use of podcasts. It would be unfair to have students who pass with
flying colours but never had access to the podcasts, as this indicates the ineffectiveness of the
designed podcasts. Such results could support the ideas that generally podcasts do not have
a significant impact on learning performance.

8. recommendatIons
It is very challenging and complex to understand the nature and use of podcasts for teaching
and learning in an ODeL environment. Yet, producing podcasts requires that lecturers
acquire new skills to guide them towards the production of useful and quality podcasts for
teaching and learning. Acquiring those skills and producing podcasts can be a very complex
and time-consuming process for already overloaded lecturers. Therefore, lecturers need

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a proper understanding of the context in which they are working to organise their podcast
activities responsibly and effectively. Technology is a tool that should help lecturers to meet
the educational needs of all students through the consideration of the intended consequences
of a learning experience (Palloff & Pratt, 2010).

Lecturers need information to fulfil their role in the use of podcasts while remembering
that instruction is a goal-directed teaching process that is more or less pre-planned. This is
because the types of learning offered through podcasts vary depending on instructional needs,
learning objectives and timing of instructional events (Frydenberg, 2002). Frydenberg looked
at the three main theoretical approaches of how students learn, how students are supported
and how lecturers teach to promote effective learning with podcasts. Lecturers could use this
information to fulfil their role when they use podcasts as a support technology for teaching
and learning, remembering that instruction is a goal-directed teaching process, which is more
or less pre-planned. More so, teaching requires exploring available training opportunities,
technical and instructional design support by other responsible institutions when podcasts are
considered for the online teaching of individual subjects (Palloff & Pratt, 2010).

It can be beneficial to create reusable learning objects (RLO) in the form of podcasts.
RLOs are types of self-contained online digital and multimedia educational resources that
can be reused, scaled and shared from a central online repository in the support of instruction
and learning as they address a focused learning goal or aim (Wiley, 2002). RLOs are a great
way to share lecturers’ stories and expertise since they represent an alternative approach to
content development where content is reused as an open resource that everybody can share
(Seo, 2007; Willey, 2002). From a pedagogical perspective, RLOs are the centre of e-learning
as they can be reused repeatedly in a variety of different e-learning activities, modules and
courses with each having its own learning objective (Jarvis & Dickie, 2010). As RLO podcasts
are flexible, versatile and multifunctional, a library of podcasts can be reused or re-purposed
multiple times to save time and reduce the workload. This can be a valuable asset to online
teaching and learning.

The evaluation of the use of podcasts should be an ongoing process within institutions.
There is a need for useful and effective teaching and learning podcasts. Therefore, research
must be carried out to guide the quality use of podcasts in ODeL universities. Research with
students as participants on the quality of podcasts is needed. Students’ feedback about the
types of podcasts that they prefer can give lecturers an idea of the quality of the podcasts.
Students’ feedback on the problems with the existing podcasts can further help with how
podcasts’ development can be improved. This type of research guides lecturers to determine
whether their podcasts are valuable to the students.

9. study lImItatIons
The study had some limitations. It was conducted at only one university and therefore the
geographical area was limited. In future, research from multiple universities might be important
to analyse the use of podcasts as this would increase our knowledge of the overall quality
and use of podcasts. In addition, the sample size was small because a limited number of
educators attended podcast training at the time of the study. Lecturers were still resisting the
use of podcasts because the technology was new to ODeL universities. It must be noted that
the researcher had no control over the quality of the actual podcast scripts since the purpose
of the paper was to quantify podcasts per purpose.

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10. conclusIon
The provision of high-quality education in higher education institutions can be undermined by
the poor or haphazard use of support technologies like podcasts for teaching and learning.
Technology is neutral until it delivers content and loses its effectiveness if it is not applied in a
planned and systematic manner (Boulos, Maramba & Wheeler, 2006). Careful reflection and
research are needed to find the best ways to leverage emerging support technologies like
podcasts so that they can boost teaching and learning productivity, foster better communities
of practice and support continuous learning.

Although it might be a complex task to evaluate the effectiveness of podcasts in online
learning, podcasts must fulfil their promise to enhance teaching and learning in ODeL
universities. This study, through the research results, concluded that podcasts were used
mostly for technical issues at the expense issues that lead to students’ high academic success
rate. By clearly managing podcasts and considering their practical limitations, it is possible
to design podcasts that are theoretically grounded, practically feasible and adequate for a
specific educational purpose and goal (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014).

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appendix 1
EXPECTED STANDARDS PODCAST SERIES 1
College/Department

Module title

Target audience

Length of project/timing

Purpose

Learning outcomes

Welcome

Introduction

Purpose

Breakdown presentation

Conclusion

https://doi.org/10.15663/tandc.v17i2.161
https://doi.org/10.1080/08923640701298688
http://www.unisa.ac.za
https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020612438031
https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020612438031

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