Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. STUDENT’S REFLECTIONS ABOUT PODCAST CREATION AND USAGE PROCESSES IETC 2010

Introduction IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. New ways of utilizing new tools and media to;  Enrich the education  Enhance the learning  Support training process  Provide students  creating collaborative products with peers  to participate actively in information construction  cooperation and interaction  personal reflection and critical thinking 1

Introduction IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Wiki RSS Podcast Social Networks Youtube Blog 2

Podcast IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V.  Podcasting became an interesting and attractive way for distributing educational materials  Podcasting is considered to having pedagogical potential with limited technical skills and efforts  Many educators started to consider podcasting as an exciting learning paradigm Above all, as popularity of mobile media players increases and spreads out rapidly ; 3

Podcast Most valuable potentials of podcasting are; Ease of production Portable use Being able to access information without being linked to a certain physical location Being attractive especially for students who are now more mobile IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. 4

Podcast IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. produce, edit and deliver podcasts as  course lectures,  interviews with experts,  document field trips,  observation notes  workshop reports  personalized content. To meet individual learning or teaching needs with limited technical skills and effort, students can; 5

Educational advantages of podcasts IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V.  Beneficial for students whose learning style is mainly auditory  An alternative to revise and review educational materials.  Students express ideas, share perceptions, debate issues and bring experts to class digitally.  Assist students who has difficulty to understand and miss course lectures or students who are non-native speakers, by providing reviewing records of events as many times and clearly 6

Educational advantages of podcasts IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V.  Provide lecturers to criticize their own lectures and recording feedback for group works.  Replace full classroom or online sessions when content simply requires delivery  Alert learners about new material to be accessed whenever, wherever they want.  Enhance support for individualized learning preference and needs.  Support students’ engagement and interest in class discussions, labs, field, research and independent projects. 7

Podcast ETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. While podcasts are currently available on many different subjects from; music to technology news to foreign languages, politics to education the use of podcasting for educational purposes is explained rather a new idea and opportunity for higher education ? 8

Problem ETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. I t has been suggested that, by creating their own podcasts, students will produce students-centered content and develop their knowledge construction, active participation, critical evaluation, information searching, analyzing and presenting, creativity and reflective learning skills. Most of the studies about educational usage of podcasts are merely surveys to investigate integration of podcasts into educational context and its effectiveness on learning and achievement. 9

Problem IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. The literature is still poor of examples, case studies and evaluations of students created podcast 10

Purpose of Study IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. From this point, in this study, it is aimed to explain students’ experiences of both creating podcast and utilizing from podcasts by building an environment for students in which they could actively participate in and involve in groups to develop their own podcasts. 11

Method IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Study Group The study group is consisted of 50 third-year students, from department of computer and instructional technology education. –16 female and 34 males 12

Method IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Data Collection Data is collected with a tool, consisted of open ended questions. Questions are asked to determine; –Student’s prior experience of using or creating podcast –Technologies which students use for listening podcasts –Difficulties of students’ in the podcast creation process (organizing text, scenarizing text and recording sound). 13

Implementation Process IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Topics of course subjects are determined in terms of weeks Topics are assigned to groups to create their podcast by scenarizing subject after course Group members took notes of their subject to prepare their podcast scripts in courses Scripts are sent to lecturer for control and feedback to revise Groups created their podcasts by recording sounds of content text and received approval content and sound quality Weekly, students created podcasts are uploaded to Moodle 14

Implementation Process IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. At the end of the term, open ended questions were asked to all students to explain  students’ podcast creation processes,  utilizing from other groups’ created podcast,  general experience of podcast,  podcast usage. Answers of open ended questions are examined by content analysis method and similar or same answers were categorized. 15

Findings and Discussion Students prior experience of using or creating podcast;  Only 1 student used podcast before this course  4 students created podcast before this course. IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. This finding pointed out that podcasting in this study, was a new technology for students. 16

IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Findings and Discussion f% Laptop/PC4183,7 MP3510,2 MobilePhone24,1 Ipod12,0 Total50100 Technologies used to listen podcast Despitepodcast provide students to be listened where they want and when they want, most of students preferred to listen podcast on their computers 17

IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Findings and Discussion The experiences of students during creating podcast in group process are examined under four phases;  organizing text,  scenarizing text,  recording sound  other 18

ETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Findings and Discussion PhaseProblems Text organizing Could not take a common decision on editing text in groups Couldn’t organize content text in a conversational form Couldn’t access sufficient resources for content Difficulties while organizing content as authentic and original Problems with breaking out content text into meaningful pieces Difficulty with determining important points in the content Scenarizing text Difficulties to edit plain text to dramatize content Topic as not being suitable to scenarize The difficulties during podcast creation process, expressed by students 19

ETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Findings and Discussion PhaseProblems Recording Difficulties with clarity of recorded sound Difficulties with finding a feasible environment to record Can not adjust the tone of voice appropriately Having a scratchy sound after recording Can not set up a natural atmosphere Other Problems within groups (making a co decision, coming together) Selecting the person to vocalize Lack of experience Non qualified products as a result The difficulties during podcast creation process, expressed by students 20

Conclusion IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. While the participants were Computer Education and Instructional Technologies students, most of the students had no prior podcast experience prior this study. This result can be related to the fact that podcasts are relatively newer tools than many other learning management systems, wiki, blogs, forums or discussion boards. Although all of these students listen to music or watch videos by downloading them to their portable tools or personal computers, only one student claimed that he or she used podcasts before. This finding can be related to the fact that, despite students listen music or watch video with their portable tools or on computers, they are not aware of this as a podcasting activity. On the other hand because podcast is relatively a new term for students which they probably met in this course, they responded to this question, taking into consideration only educational podcasts, ignoring their daily life. Most of the students stated that they use their personal computers to listen podcasts. It can be suggested that, although listening materials can be found and listened to everywhere, to concentrate on and not to distract their attention, students preferred listening to educational podcasts on their computers while sitting although they listen to content of entertainment such as music or video on their portable devices. 21

IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Suggestion  In future studies, the factors affecting the integration of podcasts into the learning-instruction context should be investigated in detail.  Because podcasting was the first experience of most students in this study, they had various difficulties while they were creating podcasts. Hence, in further studies, students’ experiences with podcasts at different time periods and different in different forms (user or creator) can be examined to reveal the differences amongst the processes or difficulties of podcast creation. 22

IETC 2010 Hacettepe University Mazman, S.G., Usluel, Y. K. & Çevik, V. Suggestion This study investigated podcast with students of computer education and instructional technologies department who are already compatible with professional context and the course context. Future studies should also focus on the experiences of students studying at different departments in relation to their podcast creation, downloading, and listening processes. 23

Hacettepe University Usluel, Y. K. & Mazman, S.G. IETC 2010