A collaboration between the E-Learning Team, the Careers Team and the Student Union
Photo by Videodeck .co on Unsplash
Through our collaborative project Podcasting Career Conversations, we have explored and identified three ways of creating a podcast and sharing its content using Panopto, MS Teams and (freeware) Audacity. These platforms enable us to lower the bar to engaging podcasting thereby making audio-based micro-learning accessible to all college staff and students whilst also widening the choice of learning available across the college.
Ours is an approach to both learning and micro-learning that hones-in on the spoken word and listening as means of connecting with, understanding, and communicating content. This approach requires the learner to engage with content through sound and the function of listening rather than through the written word and reading which may challenge some learners. The primary aim of our podcasting project is to offer not only micro-learning but micro-learning in audio format as an alternative form of learning and teaching that can benefit all staff and students.
Working to support the college’s overall strategic objective, our podcasting project with its audio-based micro approach to learning continues to be driven by the following themes: inclusion, access and participation as presented within our Access and Participation Plan. We also aim to use the podcast to enrich the student learning experience by offering a new and/or inclusive learning experience that better supports every student across all year groups to reach their full potential.
Early-stage research identified a gap within the learning tools available across the college’s pedagogical landscape though we note that some academic schools and departments may already offer some form of audio-based teaching and learning. As an audio based micro-learning tool, podcasting can be included within the wider pedagogical toolbox and/or as an alternative learning format to better engage learners who are challenged by audio-visual styles of learning.
Audio based micro-learning in the form of a podcast can also be an effective way of supporting learners of all abilities to understand complex topics that can perhaps be better encapsulated in pre-recorded audio form that can be re-played multiple times. The podcast also offers a broader reach beyond student learners to staff members who may utilise this form as a tool to learn new work related or professional developmental content. We believe podcast content that is bite-sized and focused could offer value to staff participating in training thereby enabling their engagement with key learning post training. Opportunity to play-back using podcast features would also offer sustained and continuous learning with time and space for further reflective learning. Staff involved in pedagogy could benefit from integrating the podcast into their pedagogic practice as a micro-learning audio tool to support improved learner engagement and diversify the learning experience to accommodate a new learning dimension.
We have investigated various integrative approaches that staff, and students can take to use our podcasting to support their learning – integration can be supported by the clear and simple approach we offer that is underpinned by low-tech – indeed our approach demystifies podcasting which for some may be regarded as the domain of the tech savvy and/or limited to those who have the tech. This sits with our belief that podcasting should be easy to access and open to all levels of learners and made available to support pedagogical and professional practice across the college.
It should be noted that our approach to low-tech podcasting produces quality content that can be shared across teaching and learning systems already embedded across the college’s teaching. Panopto offers a simple and accessible hosting platform for the podcast that offers inclusive features such as closed captions and/or transcripts whilst Moodle can easily accommodate podcast content in the virtual learning sphere ensuring all students have to hand content via a platform, they are already familiar with.
Our no-frills, low-tech toolkit offers podcast creation using Audacity which, in our opinion, is the ideal audio editing software to use. This software is free to use and can be downloaded via www.audacityteam.org. User friendly and with simple features such as audio recording and multi-track editing, Audacity produces quality results. Output from Audacity is compatible with software and digital platforms currently used across the college and could therefore be easily used alongside these.
Supporting student learning
We believe an audio-based micro-approach to learning that offers pre-recorded podcast content, and which encourages learning through listening to the spoken work could have a positive impact on all student learning across the college. Whilst the podcast can be an effective way of supporting learners of all abilities to understand complex topics, we have identified several student groups who could particularly benefit from this short-form audio based micro-learning.
Students who face challenges with audio-visual and written content may benefit from podcast micro-learning. These students may prefer to engage with focused content that is audio based, bite sized and packaged in a single accessible and downloadable file via Panopto which is already embedded within and across the college’s pedagogical landscape. For these students, micro-learning may be more sustainable throughout their academic life cycle. We also note the broader inclusive reach of the podcast and how our podcasting project may support this aspect of the college’s over-arching strategy which features inclusion and accessibility.
The community student and the commuting student are also potential beneficiaries of podcasting for several reasons. Both community and commuting students may face challenges of low bandwidth which may disproportionately impact their learning – podcasting as a form of micro-learning helps break this barrier and enables off-campus community students and those who commute to access short-form and pre-recorded audio content that is available even with low bandwidth. For the commuting student who may be time-limited in terms of their learning, additional benefits are time-compressed and portable learning to and from college enabling sustained learning and progression towards fulfilled potential. It should be noted that our simple approach to podcasting offers output in easy downloadable file formats such as MP3 ensuring travelling and learning go hand-in-hand. Of course, any student who is time-limited may also benefit from podcast based micro-learning.
Students who would like to develop their listening skills could also benefit. This would feed into the University’s 4.0 Skills Framework. Other beneficiaries could be students whose first language is not English and/or those who would like to improve their spoken English – these too could find value in podcast-based micro-learning which may support improved pronunciation and phonetic development. Additionally, this form of learning could support the building of attentive listening skills and facilitate the development of their own spoken word – this should therefore be regarded as an immersive approach to learning that could lead to improved levels of participation in the learning experience as well as increased confidence in verbal communications.
For some students, podcasting audio could be an effective way in which they can reflect on their learning. For example, speaking and listening to others speak can result in a new and more effective way of learning and/or capturing ideas in short-form. Reflective practice is a key developmental tool, and a future aim would be to use our low-tech approach to podcasting to facilitate this aspect of learning and development.
Our approach to creating and sharing a podcast is simple, inclusive and involves three platforms of which students may be familiar with and/or have access to – Panopto and MS Teams are already embedded within the student learning experience whilst Audacity, an easy-to-use audio-editing software can be downloaded for free. Additional bolt-on features that support students with learning needs include closed captions and downloadable transcripts as well as accessible MP3 files.
Several bolt-on features form our easy-to-use and accessible toolkit – there is an option to edit a trailer of content using simple and free to use Audacity software enabling audio content to be offered in sample form. Other additions include closed captions and downloadable transcripts which serve to provide a written format to accompany the audio. Our offer of multiple additional features ensures that our podcasting toolkit meets the learning needs of all students.
