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Trialling weekly podcasts: reflections from the Computer Science CABLE project. Amanda Jefferies With the valued support of the CS CABLE team. Piloting Innovative practice. One of our CABLE project aims in 2009-2010:
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Trialling weekly podcasts: reflections from the Computer Science CABLE project Amanda Jefferies With the valued support of the CS CABLE team
Piloting Innovative practice One of our CABLE project aims in 2009-2010: • ...improving the overall student learning experience through offering prompt feedback and regular student support across a teaching team What we did: • Weekly podcasts to engage students beyond the delivery of the material • Incorporated regular podcasts into a busy lecturer’s timetable to keep the students on the course engaged, regardless of who was teaching that week
Podcasting styles Each week the students could access a podcast which was one of the following types: • A regular message to engage students with the weekly course content • A full-class lecture • Staff feedback from the past assignment • Suggestions to support their work in the next assignment • An ‘in-the-news’ feature, to update students on recent research findings in strategic information systems
The weekly commitment • Why not just a recording of the lecture? • important for the students to attend in person • engage in the discussions from the sessions • used a ‘feed-forward’ principle for planning the next assignment • The weekly commitment was less than 20 minutes to: • record and check recording • upload onto StudyNet But planning what to say would take a little longer!
Evaluating the student perspective • Online polls via StudyNet to gauge reactions • Questionnaire in a lecture to all students inviting quantitative and qualitative responses I’d like podcasts of all my lectures!
Making a difference with podcasts? • Did the students listen online? • Yes, many did download them regularly, although numbers accessing the podcasts dropped off towards the end of term • 92.5% (N=40 students) said the report writing recording was helpful • What the students said… Podcasts were easy to find and available 24/7 Listening again to recorded lectures was good for taking notes Podcast was helpful with the 2nd assignment
Reflections on weekly podcasting • Their online presence gave the students a certain security week by week that the module leader was engaging with them • They allowed a large module team to have a point of focus for the online presence on a regular basis with the students • Feedback from classroom discussion sessions and from assignment material could swiftly become part of the next week’s podcast to feed-forward into assessment.
Summary • Podcasts proved timely and useful and were appreciated by the majority of the students • They proved • Easy to compile • Straightforward to upload • Cost-effective in getting a regular message out to keep in touch with students • Their use supported some of Chickering and Gamson’s 7 principles - • Ensures feedback leads to improvement • Focuses on student development
Thank you for listening Any Questions? Amanda Jefferies a.l.jefferies@herts.ac.uk