Environmental History Teaching

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• Introduction
• Project results
• Survey
• Video tutorial: Podcasting with Garageband
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Downloads

• Project report
• Podcasting handbook
• Podcasting with Audacity handbook
• Podcast poster
• PowerPoint teaching seminar (PDF)

 

 

Student Produced Podcasts: Results

Project description

The podcasting exercise was conducted in the second year undergraduate course Environmental History of North-western Europe in the School of Historical Studies. The aim of the project was to test if a student produced podcast can be used as an effective tool of assessment. A secondary aim was to train future historians in using new means of communication in use of the Internet today. These new ways of presenting history include podcasts, blogging and increasingly interactive mashups including maps, video, images and sound. These new web technologies have the potential to reach large audiences beyond the confines of academia and engage the general public in new ways with history.

The podcast assignment was undertaken by 5 students divided into two groups, one of two and one of three students. Students were asked to write a thousand word essay and use this as the basis to produce a 10 minute podcast in the manner of a radio broadcast in which their important findings were explained in simple language and their broader significance explored within the context of relevant historical and environmental issues.

Podcasting

A guide to podcasting and the use of GarageBand for the Mac and Audacity for PC software in digital recording and editing was compiled and distributed to students, and further instruction provided during an instruction lecture sessions, including critical analysis of a number of recent relevant podcasts. In addition an instruction video has been produced and made available online to the students. The podcasting equipment and software was installed and tested. The two student groups of 2 and 3 students were supervised during the first recording and editing session.

The assessment consisted of an MP3 formatted podcast and accompanying transcript.  Podcasts were uploaded onto a dedicated course blog and an RSS news feed notified students of the online availability of the recordings. The students were asked to listen to the podcast produced by their fellow students and record their thoughts and any comments. This formed the basis of a final seminar discussing their findings.

Recording hardware and environment

Dedicated iMac computers plus two studio grade microphones were purchased for the project. The choice of the Apple Mac platform was based on the superior audio hardware and the high quality easy to use audio recording and editing software suite, GarageBand that comes with these machines. In addition Quicktime Pro was purchased and used for compression of the audio files for faster download times. This combination of hardware and software provided the students with a powerful recording and editing suite for creating professional sounding podcasts.

The handbook also provided information on the use of Audacity, a free downloadable, audio recorder and editor for Windows. Students were advised that they could install this software on their computers at home to enable them to work on the podcast during the weekend and evenings. None of the students used this option because they found the Mac software easy to use and having to come to university in order to do the recording focussed their minds and made working more effective.

In order to make the exercise a success it is important that one or more tutors on a course are confident in using the technologies involved. For this reason it is desirable that some tutors have had first hand experience with producing podcasts to enable them to instruct colleagues and students and help with trouble shooting. Another aspect related to the successful use of podcasting as a means of assessment is the creation of a proper recording environment with the right equipment. Choice of a good microphone, computer equipment that can handle sound recording and editing smoothly and easy to use software are the foundations for producing good podcasts. This equipment should ideally be placed in a dedicated and quiet recording environment in which students can record and edit their podcasts undisturbed. In addition support from a departmental IT officer or university IT service is very important to enable student-produced podcasting as part of a course and to provide technical assistance.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the project was done in a number of ways. Based partly on the suggestions of participants at the Higher Education Academy History, Classics and Archaeology Teaching Development Grant holder's workshop in London in October 2008, a questionnaire was prepared to collect information on students’ experiences by asking them to compare aspects of podcasting with traditional essay assessments.  The completed survey results have been analysed and the results used to aid project evaluation (see Survey). Details of problems encountered by students and their solutions as well as their experiences were recorded during a final seminar during which the students discussed the podcasts produced by the different groups. The seminar was also used as an opportunity to discuss and record student's experiences with the podcasting exercise. Finally, the grant holder and tutor of the course recorded his own observations for use in the final analysis.

Recording process

An hour of classroom instruction explaining what is expected from the students, what a podcast is and demonstrating the software and organising the groups is very important. To kick-start the students this was followed by a two hour hands-on session. In addition a good instruction guide is equally important. It is also strongly recommended to give proper instruction on the use of music, using good examples, and tell students not to over do music and sound effects and to strike a balance between music and spoken word. For legal reasons students must be told not to use music that is copyright protected but instead use the built-in jingles and sound library of GarageBand or so called podsafe music¹ specifically published under a Creative Commons license. In addition music should be functional and support the spoken text. In general, students managed this well and used music and sounds to enhance the spoken word. Proper instruction is important here. However, imposing strict rules on how to use music could stifle creativity.

The majority of students found the exercise harder than a conventional essay because of the two-staged process of writing a script and the technical challenge of turning this into a recording. Students said that the recording and editing were technically challenging but they also found that it improved their computer skills and insight into what is possible and available to historians to present their work in new ways on the Web. One of the students commented about the recording software and process that: “the best thing was playing around with it and making mistakes”. It took both groups between 3 and 6 hours to edit and record a ten-minute podcast.

One of the practical problems experienced by students was to get a consistent sound volume. This was in part caused by the fact that the recording environment, a general computing lab, was not ideal for making high quality recordings. There was too much echo in the room, distracting background noises and disturbance from students walking in and out. A dedicated, quiet recording room is a necessity for producing high quality student-produced podcasts.

Group size is also a consideration. Students commented that it is harder to record a podcast with two people than with three or four. With three people one person can act as a technician who can focus entirely on the recording process while the other two students can concentrate on the dialogue and interviews. The optimum group size for a podcast assignment seems to be between three and five students.

There are two suitable models that students can use for producing a podcast: the single presenter documentary style podcast or the talk show model. The single presenter documentary style is not very useful for group work since it places the emphasis on one student. On the other hand this is much easier to record than using the talk show style interview model. This model has a fixed host interviewing "guests", discussing of a specific theme, or a number of book or article reviews done by different students.² An interview also makes the students to talk in a more natural way within the framework of a conversation instead of reading a script out loud from paper.

Enhancing students learning

Student produced podcasts provide a less formal environment for a more creative interaction with a research topic. All students felt that the exercise improved their communication and group working skills. Teamwork clearly enhanced learning by informal discussions between the group members, and in this context one student commented it stimulated the: "…the group to really communicate". The students also felt that everyone contributed equally because every team member had to contribute a sub-topic to the essay and then talk about it on the podcast. Podcasting is a very flexible means of assessment allowing group members to contribute with their particular practical and intellectual strengths, for example drafting questions, a feel for music, technical IT skills or organisational skills.

Producing a podcast focuses student’s minds because they discover that the written word does often not work well when spoken. During the recording sessions students revised the text as they went along, simplifying it without compromising the content. It is an exercise in the creative use of language as well as forcing students to revisit the subject matter of the written script and requiring them to really understand it in order to put it into plain language. During instruction it is good to remind students that they must keep in mind that a podcast should be understandable to broad non-specialist audience. It is harder in a “radio” context to go back than with a book or article in case something is not properly understood, although in a podcast one can revisit a passage.

The students experience confirms Laurillard's argument that discussion, interaction, adaptation and reflection are crucial elements in the effective use of technology in education.³ The process of producing a podcast provided students with opportunities to discuss and to interact, to adapt their understandings and reflect upon them. An important factor in this process is the shared experience of learning. The experiences of both groups with creating a podcast also shows the open, democratic and collaborative power of Web technology and how this can produce an active engagement in the learning process.⁴

Although the majority of students felt that the exercise was harder than more conventional assessment and involved more planning, none resented the amount of work that they were asked to do. However, it is very likely that with different groups and under different circumstance this could be different. For this reason it is important for tutors to consider the time needed to produce the podcast, to interact with students and to give them sufficient support. This can be time consuming and laborious and is perhaps more problematic with large groups. Another reservation focuses upon poor group dynamics and cohesion, but that is a concern that is not uniquely related to a podcasting exercise and did not cause any problems in this course.

In general students felt that producing a podcast is more laborious than writing a conventional essay because it a three stage process involving a written script, revising it for the podcast and recoding. When asked by the end of the course how the podcasting exercise had affected their learning, the students indicated that they were more engaged with the material, creating a more intense learning experience making students better remember what they had learned, or as one student put it, they were “absorbing it again and again and therefore learned more about it”. It also makes the essay more worthwhile writing because students need to reuse it, giving the essay a purpose beyond just getting a good mark. Reuse of the script in the podcast motivates to write a good essay. In addition it is also important to consider making the podcasts publicly available online so that family and friends can listen to the student’s work. This stimulates student’s enthusiasm further but it is important to obtain proper permission from the students themselves in the form of a written consent form. It is significant that the students indicated in the survey not to have any objections to make the podcasts available to their fellow students. In addition, it is important to clear the universities legal procedures and position on this matter. The use of student produced podcasts as a recruitment tool could be an important argument for a department to consider.

Assessment

A successful use of podcasting as an assessment tool depends upon defining a coherent structure for a whole course so that the rationale behind the course, and the ways in which that will be achieved, are clearly communicated to students from the outset and are seen to be relevant to them.⁵ The structure of the course centered on traditional teaching methods, namely, the provision of lectures and seminars, and assessment through essays. Thus, traditional modes of learning and assessment were reinforced and supplemented by the podcasting assessment exercise. In effect this formed an extra creative layer on top of existing modes or assessment. The podcast exercise itself consisted of a two-stage assessment process involving the writing of a conventional essay that was used as the basis for a podcast script. This also ensured that proper academic standards were applied to the podcast and it made external marking easier. The podcast recoding was assessed using an adapted list of marking criteria designed by Ann Bell of the University of Wisconsin.⁶

Marking was a more intimate and positive experience for staff, despite the physical separation between students and staff during the final recording sessions. Listening to the podcast made marking a very enjoyable experience because the enthusiasm of the students as well as their creativity, which came clearly through the recordings. One possible problem is the absence of referencing in a podcast. Students have a tendency not to refer to any literature in their podcasts. It is mostly presented as if it is entirely based on their personal ideas and the listener is left with the question on whose authority these statements are made. This underlines the importance of a properly referenced script as the basis of a podcast to enable markers to check if students have read the literature and to prevent plagiarism.  In order to provide the listener with a sense that the podcast is based on reliable and authoritative information it is important to encourage students to include statements in their podcast referring to the literature, for example: “professor such and such in his book on the Second World War writes that etc.”

On the question if the students preferred traditional methods of assessment, only one student answered this question positively. The other four students did either not mind or were in favour of presenting their work in different and novel ways.

Conclusions

The use of student produced podcasts as a means of assessment clearly demonstrated that meaningful self-reflection and understanding could be generated through a clearly structured curriculum and assessment criteria. Podcasting as a learning activity had extended the students’ learning experiences and enabled the groups to create stimulating and creative learning environments. The Students appeared enthusiastic and engaged during and after the completion of the podcasting exercise, with most participants contributing to combined interview formats. Organisation, interaction and participation between group members was substantially improved compared to preceding practical work. It demonstrated the open, democratic and collaborative power of present Web technology and how this can produce an active engagement of students in the learning process.

Academic engagement was also noticeably better than traditional assessments, with all assessed podcasts based on high quality literature research.  Historical interpretation was more concise and more creative than in traditional means of assessments.  Recordings were less formal and permitted greater creativity than traditional oral and written assessment formats.  This also reduced student shyness to present their work. For staff the initial preparation is more intensive than with more conventional means of assessment but once the equipment is in place, the handbook written and students properly instructed it is not only stimulating for students but also for staff. Marking was a more intimate and positive experience for staff, despite the physical separation between students and staff during the final recording sessions. In general podcasting is a stimulating, creative experience for both students and staff and is very suitable for course work and as a means of assessment.

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