By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Podcasts can be found in many different places these days. You'll see them on blogs and associated with news and informational websites. You may also see them on educational websites, textbook sites, and even within your eLearning course.
You have probably asked yourself a few questions:
What makes a podcast special?
How is it uniquely suited for education?
What makes a podcast different than an audio book?
An educational podcast is unique because it can
a) subscribed to via a feed (xml code)
b) automatically download to your portable player or computer
c) be obtained on demand, when and where you need it, even via your Smartphone or PDA.
Types of Educational Podcasts: Educational podcasts come in many shapes and sizes. You can see them associated with the following:
-Textbooks
-eBooks
-Online Course Lectures
-Online Class Notes
Ways to Organize Knowledge: How many times do you remember a story you heard on National Public Radio? How often do you find yourself tuning in to call-in talk shows? What is it about the format that makes it easy for you to remember what was discussed? Chances are, you were able to remember because the show was organized in such a way that it helped you organize questions. Many times, it started with a question - perhaps even a burning question that you wanted to discuss.
For example, you may be wondering about the best way to prepare for retirement. Or, you may want to know how to find a good used car. In each case, you found yourself listening to the host, reflecting upon what was said, and relating it to your own experiences. How did that happen? Why did you remember? You might say because it was an example of situated learning. That's true enough. What was going on was occurring at an even more fundamental level, however. The audio show - be it radio or podcast - was helping you organize knowledge.
Study Tip: Don't be afraid to listen to the educational podcasts that seem like "fluff". They are often enjoyable because they are engaging your interest. Listen to them often, and imagine yourself calling in a radio talk show with questions. Imagine how the expert might respond.
Create Schema: Build and Reinforce Categories. If you listen to a story or a case study, chances are that if the podcast does not contain a section that reviews key terms and concepts, definitions and "audio flashcards", you may not have a clear idea of the big picture. Sure, you have perfect recall of the intriguing story that related to the chapter you just read, but you're not sure of why, when, or how it relates to the chapter as a whole.
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Study Tip: Start building a mental architecture with a lot of closet space. Think of the concepts you're learning in terms of categories. With that in mind, carefully build a mental closet for each category or room in your mental structure. Don't forget to make a little blueprint or map for yourself so you know where it is.
Define Concepts: Elaborate and Expand Concepts. It's one thing to read a word or listen to a series of words or terms. It's another thing to be able to explain what it is, and to give someone else an idea of what the concept signifies. The secret is not in developing mnemonic tricks or to carry around flashcards as you listen to the podcast or audio book. The key is in the presentation. If the podcast takes each term, discusses it, elaborates, and then places it in a context that you can relate to, chances are you'll remember it. Further, you'll be able to relate it to other similar or dissimilar terms.
Study Tip: When you find a podcast or an audio book that has a section in which the terms are elaborated, replay it several times.
Tell a Story: Case Studies. Effective educational audio should engage you. You should feel as though you're listening to your favorite radio show, which should have a good mix of content and seemingly empty banter. Please keep in mind that the "empty" banter is not so empty at all - in reality, it's a way that you feel affiliation with the audience. It's also a way to create effective conditions for learning by engaging the affect.
Connect to One's Lived Experience: Ask Listener to Fill in Conceptual Blanks
Connect to the World at Large and Vicarious Experience
Cognitive Architecture: Let's build a mental structure for knowledge. You will build the structure as you listen to the podcast.
Course / Subject = Framework. Here's the framework. The subject and course topics are the frame. Keep them in mind at all times.
Rooms = Units or Topics. You will create a room for each of the units or key topics in your course. Be sure to build plenty of closet space and to put file cabinets in each room.
Closets = File Cabinets (Schema). You will put data in your closets and file cabinets. Be sure to label them and put them in the correct rooms. Here's what you'll put in the closets and the file cabinets.
Key Points
Key Terms
Key Concepts
Making your House your Home: Elaboration. How do you make a house a home? You live in it. That requires experience, work, and furniture. So, to keep the metaphor going, let's think of how we do that with educational audio. The concepts we discussed earlier in elaboration and stories fit here. Here they are, listed in the order you might find them educational audio.
Case Studies
Examples
Problem-Solving
Problem-based Learning
Educational podcasts will become increasingly important as connectivity and the ability to download continue to expand. The iPhone will undoubtedly be met with competitors. People are already discussing Samsung and the potential there, since they have technologies that will perhaps lead to even more functionality in an iPhone type of smartphone. Even without smartphones, though, the type and variety of mobile devices will certainly continue to expand. We are just now getting a glimpse of a very exciting future.