By Rebecca Froese and Julia Renner

Steps on the playground of multimedia education

In recent years, the podcast landscape has The podcast landscape has expanded and diversified considerably in recent years, with the result that very different players are now providing content for a wide range of target groups. Rebecca Froese from the University of Koblenz-Landau and Julia Renner from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster have been co-hosting the "Fokus Frieden" podcast from the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate since summer 2020. In their article, they provide insights into how podcasts can be used effectively in peace and conflict research teaching and produced together with students.

Podcasts are the trend medium of these days - portable audio or video contributions that can be played or downloaded immediately to listen to exactly when there is time. This became particularly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave the podcast medium a veritable explosion. While podcasts were still a niche phenomenon in 2017, over 10 million Germans aged 14 and over now actively listen to podcasts (Podratings study Goldmedia 2020). As a result of distance learning at universities, podcasts are also increasingly being used in a university context. What opportunities do podcasts offer for university teaching? How can podcasts help to consolidate self-acquired knowledge? We will explore these and other questions in this blog post.

Podcasts as a knowledge resource

The study of academic texts - anthologies, specialist articles or monographs - dominates university teaching and learning in the social sciences and humanities. Podcasts can be a valuable additional source for acquiring knowledge or engaging with other perspectives. Depending on the topic, for example, podcasts from renowned peace research institutes, news podcasts or interview podcasts with experts can be used in an enriching way. Educational scenarios at the University of Flensburg also show that podcasts are a welcome addition to traditional teaching and learning methods for students. In a pilot project, various events at the University of Flensburg were recorded over the course of two semesters and then made available to students. Almost two thirds (72.8%) of the students stated that they had used the podcast at least once or twice after the course to consolidate their knowledge, to clarify unclear points or to prepare for an upcoming exam (Fietze 2009). Teachers and students at the Helmut-Schmidt University in Hamburg have had similar positive experiences. The students stated that they did not pursue any other activities during their podcast studies, but used the podcast to catch up on or review the lecture. The focus was on acquiring knowledge. Students react positively to podcasts as a teaching resource, as they believe that podcasts enable more effective repetition of the learning material than textbooks and support learning better than their own notes from the courses attended (Evans 2008). In addition to recordings of your own course, podcasts from other providers can also be used as a source.

The concept is learning by listening. Depending on the type of learner, podcasts can be particularly helpful in supporting attention control and information selection, as accentuations can be presented very well by setting the information to music. Furthermore, learners are addressed more personally when listening to a podcast than when reading texts with comparable content. The storage and retention of the information to be processed is further supported by the fact that an episode can be repeated as often as desired. Podcasts also offer the particular advantage that they can be used by learners at any time and from any location, and therefore largely independently. It is also positive to report that the use of podcasts has not reduced the willingness to participate in classroom teaching. On the contrary, most students also see the podcast as a way of learning the course material better and more effectively. In his study, Evens comes to a similar conclusion as the two universities mentioned: students internalize the learning material better if they listen to it again via a podcast instead of reading it in a textbook (Evans 2008: 491).

Podcasts as self-reflection and consolidation of knowledge

In addition to acquiring knowledge and passively consolidating it by listening to podcasts, the independent production of a podcast by students can further stimulate reflection and consolidation of knowledge and deepen skills. For example, they develop media skills - not only in relation to the production of their own podcasts, but also in relation to the critical reception of other podcasts. The podcasts can be produced in very different formats, depending on the topic of the course and the requirements of the lecturer. It becomes particularly exciting when students are encouraged to produce transferable knowledge, i.e. either to apply what they have learned to a new context and discuss it comparatively, or to prepare the knowledge for a different target group. Unlike when writing a term paper, when preparing knowledge in the form of a podcast, they are required to adapt it to a specific target group. The content can be prepared and presented in various forms, from specialist dialogues for an interested lay audience to a mini-series for primary school pupils. Alternatively, students can also summarize the key points of discussions from the course and thus create their own auditory resource for exam preparation while reviewing and consolidating what they have learned. Depending on how much time is available and where the focus should be, students can "only" take responsibility for the content or have their say as experts in the podcast, or they can also take on editing and production. In our courses, we had lecturers or a student assistant do the editing or the students cooperated with a radio station that recorded and produced the podcast.

When using podcast production as a method, it is important to take into account the heterogeneity of the students and their skills. Recording and listening to your own voice is a challenge, especially for introverts. At the same time, a good podcast depends not only on the spoken word, but above all on good preparation and good implementation. It is therefore advisable to give students the opportunity to find their role and to ensure that all tasks (e.g. background research, editing, etc.) are seen and, if necessary, assessed in the same way (see 3.). It is also advisable to give all students an introduction to the technical basics of production at the beginning, so that all students have the chance to create a good product even without previous podcast experience. The possibility of acquiring soft skills, both in terms of their own presentation behind the microphone and their skills in science communication, as well as technical experience in the production of a podcast, can be explicitly communicated in the learning objectives of the course. They should also be sufficiently taken into account when calculating the time budget. Whether the various episodes of the podcast are published or only made available to all participants within the course should also be a joint decision of the group. While some students are more motivated by the possibility of publication, others are too shy to present themselves.

Podcasts as an examination assignment

Podcasts can be part of an examination, for example when preparing a portfolio. The ideas and criteria mentioned under 2. apply equally here. However, the criterion of comparability must also be taken into account and communicated transparently during the assessment. This includes the formulation of clear technical guidelines and content requirements for the podcast. For example, students can be given a key question, which they realize in the form of a discussion for an interested lay audience or as a scientific debate. Alternatively, special target groups can be defined by the students themselves, for whom the topics of the course are then prepared. This type of examination differs from traditional academic examinations and prepares students for the challenges of target group-oriented communication in their later professional life, whether inside or outside academia.

Tips for the production of podcasts in teaching

Unlike the use of podcasts as a knowledge resource, podcast production has very specific requirements for teachers and students. The most important thing to remember is that producing podcasts is time-consuming. If you are thinking about including podcast production in your teaching, it is best to ask yourself the following questions first:

• What is my previous experience with the podcast medium? Have I already used podcasts myself or even produced a podcast before and do I feel comfortable and confident enough to pass on this experience? Did I enjoy using and producing it myself?
• Is the number of students in my course small enough (ideally no more than 15-20 students) so that I can supervise all groups sufficiently during the podcast production in and, if necessary, outside course times?
• Do I have the technical know-how to support students during production, or do I have tutors who could take over this support?

Nothing is more frustrating, both for students and teachers, than a good idea that can only be implemented inadequately due to a lack of time or technical expertise. It is therefore important to ask these questions at the very beginning of the development of the course and to evaluate them realistically. Then the more practical planning can begin:

• Planning/preparation: first, students need to know the subject matter before they can process it into a podcast. Therefore, the production of the podcast ideally begins between the 5th and 10th week of the semester and is completed before the start of the exam phase. The questions/requirements for the podcast should be clearly formulated at the beginning (see above), especially if the results are to be assessed.
• Recording: The quality of the microphones on most smartphones is sufficient for the audio quality requirements for podcasts in teaching. Even if we cannot assume that all students have a smartphone, we can still ask for at least one smartphone per group when setting up the group. Alternatively, students can also meet via platforms such as Zoom or Skype. Online platforms such as Zencastr (free to use during the COVID-19 pandemic) or Riverside (for a fee) offer even better audio quality, as they record separate audio tracks of all participants, making it easier to cut out background noise or interruptions. Some of these platforms also offer post-production functions. This means that podcast production is also a good method for digital teaching.
• Editing: When selecting programs for editing the audio tracks, it should be ensured that at least one program is presented that is freely available and therefore accessible to all students. We have had good experiences with the Audacity program, for which detailed video instructions can also be found on YouTube. Teachers should be confident enough in using the program to be able to give a short introduction themselves and provide support with minor problems.
• Publication (optional): The priority of podcast production should be the acquisition of knowledge by the students. Nevertheless, it can also be an incentive to offer the possibility of publishing individual episodes. If it is foreseeable that the course will be taught several times, the lecturer could set up a course channel with a podcast host. In this way, subsequent courses can also access the episodes of previous courses, learn from them and be inspired by them. (Feedback loops can also be built in before the final completion phase to encourage students to reflect on their own group processes and give feedback to other groups or ask questions that may still be answered in the podcast). Whether and if so which episodes are published should, however, be the students' decision and should not be included in the assessment.

Podcasts are a very flexible medium that is gaining popularity in university teaching. While many political education actors produce their own podcasts, podcasts have so far mainly been used in teaching as a knowledge resource. This article shows that it can be worthwhile to produce podcasts together with students. Students learn how to present scientific knowledge in an understandable and lively way for different target groups and thus generate transferable knowledge. If they do this in groups, there is also potential for greater activation in university teaching.

This article was first published on Lehrgut - A blog for teachers of peace and conflict research. We would like to thank you for your permission to repost.

Literature

Evans, C. (2008). The effectiveness of m-learning in the form of podcast revision lectures in higher education. Computers Education, 50, 2, pp. 491-498.

Fietze, S. (2009). Podcasting in higher education teaching: An evaluation at the University of Flensburg In: Schwill, A and Apostolopoulos, N. Lernen im Digitalen Zeitalter Workshop-Band. Documentation of the Pre-Conference for DeLFI2009 - The 7th E-Learning Conference on Computer Science of the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. Berlin 2009.

Goldmedia (2020). POD-Ratings.com: Podcasts reach an audience of millions in Germany. Online. https://www.goldmedia.com/aktuelles/info/article/pod-ratingscom-podcasts-erreichen-in-deutschland-ein-millionenpublikum/ [last accessed: 22.04.2021].