Making the Decision to Provide Enhanced Podcasts to Post-Secondary Science Students

Providing students with supplementary course materials such as audio podcasts, enhanced podcasts, video podcasts and other forms of lecture-capture video files after a lecture is now a common occurrence in many post-secondary courses. We used an online questionnaire to ask students how helpful enhanced podcasts were for a variety of course activities and how important having access to the enhanced podcasts was in their decision to miss classes. Student responses from two courses, one introductory and one advanced, were compared. Students in the introductory Genetics course reported that having access to enhanced podcasts was “very important” in their decision to miss class more often (39%) than those in the advanced Microbiology course (20%). They also reported missing more classes than students in the advanced course. Students in both courses found the enhanced podcasts helpful for a range of learning activities. First year students who missed just a few classes and those who missed many classes both found the enhanced podcasts to be very helpful for learning activities. We argue that creating these resources is a good choice for instructors irrespective of the level of the course they teach and that the potential value of these resources, particularly for first year students, outweighs any impact that having access to supplementary enhanced podcasts of the lectures may have on class attendance.

[1]  Khe Foon Hew,et al.  Use of audio podcast in K-12 and higher education: a review of research topics and methodologies , 2009 .

[2]  Noela Haughton,et al.  Good Intentions and Unanticipated Effects: The Unintended Consequences of the Application of Technology in Teaching and Learning Environments , 2008 .

[3]  Yun Yang,et al.  Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education: A Case of Incorporating Blogs, Podcasts and Social Bookmarks in a Web Programming Course based on Students' Learning Styles and Technology Preferences , 2009, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[4]  Russel L. Thompson,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Response Rates in Web- or Internet-Based Surveys , 2000 .

[5]  Pep Simo,et al.  Podcasting: A new technological tool to facilitate good practice in higher education , 2009, Comput. Educ..

[6]  Tomoko Traphagan,et al.  Impact of class lecture webcasting on attendance and learning , 2010 .

[7]  E. Krupat,et al.  Live Lecture Versus Video-Recorded Lecture: Are Students Voting With Their Feet? , 2008, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[8]  Gardner Campbell.  There's Something in the Air: Podcasting in Education. , 2005 .

[9]  Duncan Cramer,et al.  Introducing Statistics for Social Research: Step-by-step calculations and computer techniques using SPSS , 1994 .

[10]  P. Friedman,et al.  Why Students Do and Do Not Attend Classes , 2001 .

[11]  Tsui-Fang Lin,et al.  Class Attendance and Exam Performance: A Randomized Experiment , 2008 .

[12]  W Sterry,et al.  Online lectures for students in dermatology: A replacement for traditional teaching or a valuable addition? , 2009, Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV.

[13]  Chris Evans,et al.  The effectiveness of m-learning in the form of podcast revision lectures in higher education , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[14]  Jennifer L. Dyck,et al.  iTunes University and the classroom: Can podcasts replace Professors? , 2009, Comput. Educ..

[15]  Susan J. Gribble,et al.  Lecture attendance and web based lecture technologies: A comparison of student perceptions and usage patterns , 2009 .

[16]  Randy Moore,et al.  Showing Up: The Importance of Class Attendance for Academic Success in Introductory Science Courses. , 2003 .

[17]  Steven E. Gump.  Guess who’s (not) coming to class: student attitudes as indicators of attendance , 2006 .

[18]  Steven Lonn,et al.  Podcasting in higher education: What are the implications for teaching and learning? , 2009, Internet High. Educ..

[19]  S. Billings-Gagliardi,et al.  Student Decisions about Lecture Attendance: Do Electronic Course Materials Matter? , 2007, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[20]  Sarah Bryans Bongey,et al.  Explorations in course‐casting: podcasts in higher education , 2006 .

[21]  Jane Holbrook,et al.  Profcasts and Class Attendance — Does Year in Program Matter? , 2009 .

[22]  Mark N. O. Davies,et al.  Why do HE Students Drop Out? A test of Tinto's model , 2000 .

[23]  J. N. Bassili,et al.  Media Richness and Social Norms in the Choice to Attend Lectures or to Watch them Online , 2008 .

[24]  O. McGarr,et al.  A review of podcasting in higher education: Its influence on the traditional lecture , 2009 .

[25]  A. Chickering,et al.  Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education , 1987, CORE.

[26]  Jonathan T. Copley,et al.  Audio and video podcasts of lectures for campus‐based students: production and evaluation of student use , 2007 .

[27]  Mark Grabe,et al.  Optional student use of online lecture resources: resource preferences, performance and lecture attendance , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[28]  A. Nevill,et al.  Academic and social integration in higher education: a survey of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within a first‐year education studies cohort at a new university , 2004 .

[29]  Howard E Strassler,et al.  Joining the podcast revolution. , 2008, Journal of dental education.

[30]  D. Harrison,et al.  Comparative examinations of self-reports and perceived absenteeism norms: Wading through Lake Wobegon. , 1994 .

[31]  S. Dollinger,et al.  Which factors best account for academic success: Those which college students can control or those they cannot? , 2008 .