Article #1

Title: Use of audio podcast in K-12 and higher education: a review of research topics and methodologies
Author: Hew, Khe
Educational Technology Research & Development; Jun2009, vol. 57 Issue 3, p333-357

I searched this article through the Iowa State Library e-Journals. Since this article is 20 pages long, I will just touch on the topics that were discussed and hopefully you will get a chance to look at the article more closely. The reason I chose this article is because we have been considering using podcast in our literacy classroom at the elementary level. This study focuses more on the use of audio podcast in higher education, but it still gives great information on using podcasts in the classrooms.

First of all, there was a nice general introduction at the beginning which told exactly what a podcast is in technological terms. I'm not going to go through and try to explain this in my own words, but it was interesting and something I did not know.

The article discussed what advocates of using audio podcasts in education believe. First and foremost they believe that audio podcasts give unique educational benefits to learners. Clark and Walsh (2004), cited in the article, state that "listening is instinctual, but reading and writing are not." They also state that the use of podcasts influence learners cognition and motivation. (I thought the quote from Clark and Walsh was particularly interesting!) Another benefit of using audio podcasts is that they can be used anywhere and anytime.

Critics of audio podcasts say that they increase a teacher's workload and also create "absenteeism." "Absenteeism" means that if the content is so available through these podcasts, why would the students come to class? (interesting thought)

The following topics were also discussed: learner's podcast listening preference, learning outcomes, and learner's attendance. Below briefly lists the findings of the studies that were discussed in the article.

*most students use their personal computers at home to listen to the podcasts
*prefer short podcasts (about the same length as the average song)
*most students do NOT multitask while listening
*learner obstacles: unfamiliarity and not seeing the relevence for their learning
*Some studies show positive effect on student satisfaction but there was no effect on students' performance.
*Only 9.1% used the lecture podcasts as a replacement for actually attending class.


This was a nice introductory article on podcasting. I'm hoping for my next article to find one that actually talks about using podcasts in the elementary classroom. Hopefully you get a chance to at least skim this is you don't know much about podcasting and the research that goes along with it.