iTunes U Proves Better than Going to Class
Skip the lecture, download the podcast. That's probably not what university professors tell their students, but perhaps they should. New psychological research conducted by Dani McKinney, a psychologist at the State University of New York in Fredonia, shows that students who only listened to podcasts of lectures achieved substantially higher exam results than those who attended class in person.
To find out how much students can learn from a podcast, McKinney's team created one for a lecture from an introductory psychology course. The podcast contained both audio and video of the slides used in class.
Half the students (32 of 64) skipped the class and listened to the podcast only. The other half attended in person, where they also received a printed handout. A week later, the students were tested on the material.
Podcast Listeners Did Better
The students who downloaded the podcast alone averaged a C (71 out of 100) but those who attended class averaged a D. And those who listened to the podcast and took notes did even better - their average was 77.
Before university classrooms empty out, it's important to note that this is only preliminary research. McKinney's study involved only a single lecture. Also, motivation may have come into play as well. Her experiment didn't count for class credit, so students were encouraged to participate with iTunes gift cards. The high scorer from each group was awarded a $15 gift certificate for use in the online store.
McKinney now plans to further study podcasts in the classroom over the course of an entire semester, instead of just one class. She wonders if students might find podcasts more useful early on in a class, when the material is still new. Still, McKinney is a big believer in the power of technology and its impact on education. "I do think it's a tool," she says. "I think that these kids are programmed differently than kids 20 years ago."
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If this works out in the long run and the trend for universities to podcast their lectures continues, this could be a real boost for long distance learning.
Being based in Asia and a lover of podcasts myself, I would really like to see this take off as an acceptable way for someone like myself to pick up an MBA or other advanced degree - although there is definitely a need for some tutorial or group discussion time, but that could certainly take place over Skype or some other conferencing solution.
It's notable that the average for the podcast-listening students is really only higher because students who listened to the podcast AND took notes did so much better. That's not surprising - one of the big benefits of podcasts is that students can control the experience. Being able to stop and replay parts of the lecture SHOULD mean that you have better notes and a better ability to process the information at your own speed. But this study doesn't really tell us that podcasts are as effective as in-person classes - it tells us that podcasts can be as effective as sitting in a pure lecture. But most pedagogical experts would say that a well-designed interactive experience is better for learning than a pure lecture in any format. 'Passive' tools like podcasts can be a great complement - and if you have a professor who can't be bothered to create a good learning environment for the students than I can see the appeal to use them as a substitute - but the better alternative for student learning would be to encourage teachers who actually teach well in person.
I think Jennifer has a point. How many times does a professor talk too fast while you are trying to take notes. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to hit 'pause'? Awesome. The only downside is the inability to ask questions.
Yes, they did better. But it was Cs vs. Ds.
And that's after being bribed to score well.
Maybe we need to try with a different instructor....
It's great that universities are getting on with the times. But to spread knowledge, I wish they adapted a more open-standard format than iTunes which is proprietary and slow. The universities should make Podcasts available on their websites to be able to play in other formats.
I have a difficult time reading about this study and don't agree with the findings. I think it's important not to remove face-to-face interactions from education. Attending class and connecting with professors and students through engaging conversation is an important part of learning.
Listening to a podcast lecture is the way to go if your professor is foreign, you might actually be able to play something over enough times to understand what they are saying!
This isn't really a 'study', it's a single experiment. I'd like to see real studies that employ many podcasts lessons compared with their original classroom lesson counterparts that involve many students and teachers (without prizes). Tech is not a crutch.
There are good podcasts and there are poor podcasts. Simply using media technology does not guarantee added value for your students. It takes much more effort to produce a good podcast than to deliver a great classroom presentation. Teachers are very interested in this technology and need admin support to make it valuable. The Apple solutions are working beautifully here - but still require time, training and encouragement.
...but what about students who go to class AND listen to the podcast? I wouldn't be surprised if they get straight A's!
Podcasts seem increasingly in line with the 'mobile' way we consume all types of information.
What's also exciting, is they can be used as a scalable method of teaching, so it has huge implications for distance learning - and economical learning.
Ken Carroll and the other guys behind ChinesePod have been teaching Mandarin Chinese through podcasts since 2005 with great success. The 'passive' learning of the podcast is enforced through interaction on the website between learners and the team of instructors, addressing the issues that Joe and Jennifer raised above.
You can check out Ken's blog here.
Whatever 'study' comes from this initial realisation must take into account the changing face/perception of the new generation of learners (both teens as well as mature learners) as well as the preferred learning approach. Some will always learn better sat at home or on the bus with headphones on, and some cannot learn unless they are sat in a structured and traditional learning environment.
There is clearly an advantage for those who both attended and downloaded the podcast as the podcast will enable them to re-listen to a section (or two) where they glazed over or just plain missed something - it will enhance their F2F experience. Those who only listen to the podcast will always miss the subtle nuances in body language and 'direction' of the tutor, as well as the ability to put questions into the mix during the session and/or meet the tutor immediately afterwards to clarify anything that either did not make sense or needed clearing up.
Roll on the results from a full study.
PS. this doesn’t have to be limited to supplying the audio files through iTunes U. In fact it should be maintained by the Institutions own VLE / LMS in simple MP3 that is playable on all devices that the student may use.
Although I'm totally for just doing experiments and I would want people to continue doing so, I think its important NOT to come to conclusions so soon.
In this case there are so many different possible reasons why those students scored better, that the conclusion is as true as false;
- People learn in different ways best (auditary, visually, etc)
- The people listening at home could have more peace of mind (Maslow's hierarchy of needs)
- and so on,...
Bottom line, love the test but don't jump to conclusions.
"...but what about students who go to class AND listen to the podcast?"
And take notes from both. The best of both worlds.
I take issue with Gary LaPointe's comment about getting a different instructor. One of the limitations with the study itself (and we stated it in the journal article) is that there is way less motivation to do well on our little 'experimental test' than students would have for an actual test that would help determine their permanent grade in the course. One of the reasons we gave the iTunes gift card was to encourage better performance. And, as you can see, the average grades were quite low.
We are currently working to collect date using lectures from other disciplines. In addition, it is hard to know about true long term usage by students. Many of us may remember the 'old days' when a student in a class would tape record every lecture in a class. Very few of them actually ever listened to those lectures again, it turned out. They were mostly used as insurance against missing something.
The main finding in the preliminary research is that simply having a podcast (or simply passively listening to one) doesn't help you very much....it replicates lots and lots of research that shows that it is what you DO with material you need to learn, and how deeply you process it during encoding, that influences exam scores.
The findings in this research are not meant for professors nearly as much as they are meant to tell students who may read the article what good teachers have known forever....the more you put into your education, the better you will perform. It is meant to indicate to students who may see this new technology as a potential shortcut that this assumption is incorrect. The students who did the best were the ones who took notes AND listened more than one time to the podcast.
This is the same information that we have been giving them for decades and longer.....the use of new technology doesn't change that.
I wonder though what, if any editing went into the podcast. Was it a straight recording of the session? Very few podcasts are, and I doubt they'd be very effective if they were. As Dani said, few students ever listened to the tapes they made.
And I wonder how both groups would have done had the assessment been a year after the experiment? Is this really about "learning" or "memory"?
Podcasts also allow the listener to speed up a slow speaker improving the experience. It also forces the listener to focus on what's being said which may contribute to retention. We can understand speech at 400 words/minute, but speakers often use 200 or less. Listening to slow speech allows the listener to be more easily distracted.
Reading this really got my blood boiling... not for the obvious reasons, though. I don't particularly care *what method* a professor decides to deliver instruction, only that the professor care *about* delivering instruction. There are pros and cons to both in-class and on-line, and quite frankly, they have been argued to death. The biggest issue for me is that it is yet another media comparison study. Why do researchers keep trying to shoehorn traditional methods of instructing into new technology and trying to see if it's still the same? With podcasts, you can do so much more than just recording a lecture - you can go out and interview an expert outside the university, you can record a discussion between students, you can even throw it up on your blog and let people comment on it (Incredible! Using multiple technologies! Oh, the innovation!). Even at it's simplest level, where a professor is creating an on-demand archive of their instruction - nobody is looking at this! It is just the same study over and over again.
And yet again, we are having the same arguments about how podcasts let you fast forward a boring speaker or rewind a part of a lecture you thought might be on the test. Ummm... I'm pretty sure you could do the same thing back in 1983 with a cassette recorder.
oky the did better. But it was Cs vs. Ds.
And that's after being bribed to score well.
Maybe we need to try with a different instructor. and by istanbul
The motivation may have come into play as well. Her experiment didn't count for class credit, so students were encouraged to participate with iTunes gift cards.
hep aynı nakart
Podcasts also allow the listener to speed up a slow speaker improving the experience. It also forces the listener to focus on what's being said which may contribute to retention. We can understand speech at 400 words/minute, but speakers often use 200 or less. Listening to slow speech allows the listener to be more easily distracted
The motivation may have come into play as well. Her experiment didn't count for class credit, so students were encouraged to participate with iTunes gift cards...
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If this works out in the long run and the trend for universities to podcast their lectures continues, this could be a real boost for long distance learning.
Being based in Asia and a lover of podcasts myself, I would really like to see this take off as an acceptable way for someone like myself to pick up an MBA or other advanced degree - although there is definitely a need for some tutorial or group discussion time, but that could certainly take place over Skype or some other conferencing solution....
Thanks. this stuff doesnt work any more dudes..
can smebody suggest smething else…
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