Podcast as a Learning Media in Higher Education

Within higher education, online courses have gained popularity, which has resulted in a massive expansion of elearning and today many qualifications, courses, and teaching materials are offered online. This expansion has resulted in an increase of online approaches, methods and learning technologies. Therefore, engaging traditional pedagogy is necessary to achieve the learning objectives due to curriculums where the learning objectives are the same for online educations, as well as in the ordinary educations. This paper examines how the use of podcast (mp3) in a blended course can increase students theoretical understanding of an unfamiliar topic in relation to their field of study. This study focuses on the use of teacher-generated podcasts and how they complement the students’ reflective learning skills. The podcast’s point of
difference is its flexibility, allowing an exploration of subtly and nuance in complex topics. In addition, they provide an opportunity to present counter examples and discuss implications. This study is based on a single case; a blended course in Communication at University College of Northern Denmark. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The data collections included semi-structured interviews with students’ and participant observations, the latter in form of a workshop. The semi-structured interviews was chosen to investigate the understanding of the use of podcast due to the students' reflection skills regarding the communication in relation to their field of practice. The observations gained in the workshop provided knowledge to understand how the students use the knowledge gained by listening to the podcast before attending the workshop. The quantitative data consisted a survey of 53 students all of whom participated in the workshop where they responded to an evaluation survey immediately after the workshop. The data in this study reveals that online learning resources needs support. The paper concludes that teacher-generated podcasts, where teachers discuss a subject
in relation to practice and by visiting, interviewing and including relevant companies can support the students’ reflections and understanding of unfamiliar topics in relation to practice. Finally, the paper provides suggestions for future research and practice of using podcasting in higher education focusing on students with a vocational background studying online courses.