The Pros and Cons of Audio/Video Podcasts for Adult Learners
Greetings after a rather interesting break. Did a lot, learned a lot! And I am about to drop some knowledge (my newly acquired, and sure to be shaped by time) on you! Don't be (too) scared.
Now to dive in to the pros and cons of audio/video podcasts when considering integrating them into curriculum for our adult learners:
The Pros:
There are many pros to using podcasts for adult learners. Use of podcasts can give human touch to the learning experience by allowing the learner to connect a voice to an instructor, as well as have the ability to catch inflection from the instructors voice (King and Cox, 2011) to understand what the instructor might see as key points in a lecture. Using the podcasts to conduct expert interviews, as questions and answers for frequently asked questions, as well as tutorials can allow the learner to access the information where they are at a time convenient to them, and used as supplimental material can allow the learners to dig deeper into the topic (King and Cox, 2011). In fact, when podcasts have been used to accompany narrated presentations it has been found that the use of the podcasts actually increases due to piquing learner's interest (King and Cox, 2011).
In addition, when learners are encouraged to create podcasts for their own learning for delivering information to others a new respect is gained for the podcasting (I know that was my experience anyway!) as it does allow a sense of empowerment, but also a sense of responsibility to the material, as well as the learner podcaster concerning their reputation (King and Cox, 2011).
The Cons:
There are a few cons to note of course. In the case of institutional use, such as say, a University, it is important to be sure of intellectual property issues and to keep current on what is allowed (King and Cox, 2011). Placing information on the wrong platform for access can create some unfortunate situations.
When used as for lecture delivery, instructors that are new to integrating technology may learn fast that interest usually wanes pretty quickly when content is not chunked (King and Cox, 2011), which is useful to me to know as an adult educator.
Another concern is, who is listening? If information is given to the masses on a large platform and shared as a learning tool, how can one be sure how it is being used, and by whom (Rosell-Aguilar, 2013)? What evaluations can be made on its effectiveness for the learner? While the learning tool might be valuable, tracking the value can be time consuming and "usually relies on volunteers to self report and have a certain degree of digital literacy" (Rosell-Aquilar, 2013, p. 127).
A review of my fellow adult learner's podcasts:
In truth what I learned through this process is that preparation is key, and that the natural conversational flow of question/answer was refreshing. It created a new lens in which I could view my colleagues in learning, their interests, focus and passion. Not that I believed that any of us would not respect interviewees that did not wish to have public videos/audio posted, it was great to see some privately posted interviews to reinforce that the standard is such.
My Podcast Preferences:
Consider me a nervous nerd, but I worry to much about where I get my information. I tend to consider NPR and BBC podcasts:
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
References:
King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology: Leveraging digital media, web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2013). Delivering unprecedented access to learning through podcasting as OER, but who's listening? A profile of the external iTunes U user. Computers & Education, 67, 121-129. Accessed through K-State University Libraries.
That's some heavy knowledge you've dropped--thank you! In my Training & Development role, I have observed that when learning is moved out of the classroom, as via podcasts, other things compete for the learner's attention. Employees trying to take training at their desk tend to multitask between phone calls, emails, instant messages, and (my personal favorite) the boss ducking her head into the employees' workspaces and saying, "I know you're working on that training course, but could you….” Ross-Gordon, Rose, & Kasworm (2017) write that can this multitasking be disruptive to learning, but that this multitasking may negatively affect learners’ attention spans. On that note, I am also interested that Zimmerman advocated this year for longer videos. She found that learners reacted positively to longer videos with time stamps, and argues that the longer approaches are better fits for adult learning.
ReplyDeleteAnother concern—not unique to workplace learning—is that of learner procrastination. With podcasts and videocasts, current information that may become stale as time passes can make procrastination especially problematic. Alias (2012) created an interesting affective scaffold for online learners in Malaysia. The study built motivational strategies into the course design to encourage learners to engage the e-Learning content. I can envision some of those strategies built into the use of pod- and videocasts to ensure timely learner attention to pod- and videocasts.
I especially appreciate your final con, in which you remind us that we have a responsibility to consider who might access and use (or misuse!) the information we include in a pod- or videocast. It’s one of the things I think is easily overlooked by adult educators.
Best
--Les
References
Alias, N. A. (2012). Design of a motivational scaffold for the Malaysian e-learning environment. Educational Technology & Society, 15(1), 137-151.
Ross-Gordon, J. M., Rose, A. D., & Kasworm, C. E. (2017). Foundations of Adult and Continuing Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Zimmerman, W. A. (2019). Long video lectures: Shifting to an adult learning perspective. Adult Learning, 30(1), pp. 38-40. doi: 10.1177/1045159518797983
Thanks Les!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your sharing the observation of Zimmerman on the use of longer videos. This seems counter-intuitive to me, but "the data doesn't lie". I can see how the use of timestamps could allow for the feeling of progressing through a lecture (for example) and allow one to pick up where they left off.
And thanks for the note on the final con. Control has always been an important issue for me when it comes to my content delivery. My colleague once said "it belongs to the world now." when he posted a YouTube video of our instruction and that nearly threw me into a panic attack (okay, I lie, it did). The idea that anyone could access, share, misquote (especially) had me in a free fall. Then I had to ground myself by thinking that it isn't any different than people misquoting books and people in the past. That said, if they find my content exciting enough to misquote, well, I suppose "more power to them"?
Thanks for your comment Les!
I also believe that podcasts are a great way for any person to learn a topic of interest. It has allowed people to expand their knowledge, not just from a book, article, professor, or school, but from anywhere at any time. I think this has open the doors for more knowledge and experience. As you mentioned podcasts are a supplemental material to expand our understanding and learning about a specific topic. Podcast allows us to hear the opinion and expertise from a different person, not just our professors. It is definitely a tool that faculty should teach and apply in their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteNubia