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PODCASTING ENHANCES LEARNING Professor Pat R. Ormond Utah Valley University 800 West University Parkway Orem, Utah 84058

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What Podcasting Is The creation, management, and promotion of podcasts The pod comes from Apples iPod The casting comes from broadcasting Unique as it uses the subscriber method to deliver the audio files through a feed program Listeners subscribe to these feeds using podcatching software Podcasting allows anyone with a microphone plus Internet connection to create audio files that others can download

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Podcast! An information file that can be automatically downloaded from the internet Ambient Medium enabling listeners to perform other primary duties while consuming audio

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Why I Decided to Create Podcasts for My Classes Another Way to Engage Students Allows students the flexibility to revisit a concept Enables students to focus on the lecture, not note taking Provides additional information and support for my students Adds value to, but does not replace the in-class experience Makes me a better teacher Students have different learning styles

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Shaped My Teaching to Match More Students Needs Current learning research reports that the sensory preferences of a typical student group break down into the following: Physical, kinesthetic, hands-on (40 Percent) Visual (35 Percent) Auditory (25 Percent)

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Kinesthetic Learner Physical, kinesthetic, hands-on (40 Percent)

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Involving the Physical, kinesthetic, hands-on Learner

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Involving the Visual Learner Visual (35 Percent)

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Involving the Auditory Learner Auditory (25 Percent) Guest Speakers Voice Plus Closed Captioning

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Teaching today means connecting with your students using a multisensory teaching approach Effective because the brain stores visual, tactile and auditory information in separate memory locations Thus, the more senses involved, the deeper the learning

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Some Advantages of Podcasting Enables users to multitask Allows time-shifting around individual schedules Designed for offline listening Frees learning from physical constraints Reaches out to auditory learners!

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Enables users to multitask - Learn while Commuting Driving Exercising Gardening Studying Bathing Doing housework Waiting for appointments Attending sporting events Relaxing

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Allows time-shifting around individual schedules Listening to informative podcasts is a great way to learn No longer does one need to wait in the house or in a parked car listening to the end of a good program. You can listen to podcasts at other times and places than when they are broadcast.

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Designed for Offline Listening Efficient Use of Time Learning Any Time, Any Place, at Your Own Pace

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Frees learning from physical constraints Example of Enhanced Podcast used in My Class

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Some Disadvantages of Podcasting Some students want information quickly and reading is faster than opening and downloading media resources Unlike blogs and wikis you cannot link directly to other podcasts This makes podcasting a less social, and probably less revolutionary, medium They are not designed for two-way interaction or audience participation

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Hard to skim Currently, its difficult to search hundreds of sound files to find a key term, exact phrase, or point of reference Audio without closed captioning is of little benefit to those with hearing difficulties

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Survey Results Showed Podcasts 87% said podcasts were useful 54% said podcasts improved their overall performance 75% said shorter podcasts were better 87% would use podcasts in the future Process Response rate (Fall 2007) = 95% (n=38/40) Process Response rate (Spring 2008) = 91% (n=29/32)

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Podcasts were Useful Student Feedback Fall 2007 & Spring 2008 Fall 2007 (82%) 45% Strongly agree 37% Agree 15% Neither Agree or Disagree 3% Disagree 0% Strongly Disagree Spring 2008 (93%) 34% Very Helpful 31% Moderately Helpful 28% Helpful 3.5% Not Helpful 3.5% I Did Not Use Them

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Podcasts were Useful (87%) Fall 2007Spring 2008

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Podcasts Improved My Overall Performance Fall 2007Spring 2008

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Preferred Podcast Length between [5-15min.])

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Future Podcast Use (87%) Fall 2007

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Some Student Comments Podcasting is a great addition to the class. I have the flexibility to learn any place and any time. I wished my other teachers would use podcasts and blackboard like you Podcasts were very well done and really helped me Podcasts were REALLY helpful. They do so much to help where the book cant. It is really nice how you go through each concept in detail. Short podcasts are easier to sit through and find what youre looking for Podcasts of the help sessions helped me pass the class

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Future Plans Create Podcasts for All My Classes Create Podcasts to Enhance My Lectures Create more Lab guides HOW TOs - Create Enhanced Podcasts - combine audio with images Create Vodcasts (audio, images, & video)

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Tips for Improving Podcast Quality 1.Keep it short 2.Choice of topics are important 3.Pre-class podcasts can increase excitement 4.Dont ramble; be organized 5.Verbally identify your podcast at the beginning 6.Speak clearly 7.Dont provide too much content in a single podcast 8.Dont duplicate material covered during class 9.Be timely in posting classroom podcasts 10.Make it easy to subscribe to the podcast

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Conclusion Podcasting will not replace the classroom experience Podcasts provide educators one more way to meet todays students in their own environment Podcasts are complementary resources that work for many students, but not all As podcasting becomes more prevalent, the demand for quality podcasts that can be categorized, navigated, and indexed will increase Creating podcasts helps instructors become more organized and more effective as teachers While the jury technically is still out on whether Podcasts will increase my productivity as a teacher, the evidence is clear that it has the capability to do so; the rest is up to me.

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Questions?

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Contact Information Pat R. Ormond Utah Valley University Ormondpa@uvu.edu 801-863-8328 Ftp://cseftp.tc.uvu.edu/ist/ormondpa

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