Learning and Teaching Strategy update 2008
Faculty of Arts
Interim Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching): Dr Thomas Munck
(T.Munck@history.arts.gla.ac.uk)
Title of case study: Podcasting Archaeology Level 1 and 2 lectures
Keywords: technology-enabled learning
Description
In the Level 1 course Archaeology of Contemporary Society (ACS) and the Level 2 course
Archaeology of Europe and the Mediterranean (AEM), equipment was purchased in 2007-08
to allow lectures to be recorded and made available as podcasts within Moodle. All 23 ACS
lectures were recorded, and 10 of 24 in AEM. Nine of the lectures recorded had slides as
well as audio, and one other was a multimedia presentation.
Usage statistics from Moodle may include some repeat access but showed overall average
downloads per lecture of 35 (with a class of 51 in AEM) and 19 (out of 59 ACS students).
Students made considerable use of the podcasts as part of their exam revision (for AEM,
around one third of access was in the week following the lecture; the rest was in April/May,
just before the exam. In ACS, about half of access was during the course, and 35% was
within three weeks of the exam).
In addition to observing class dynamics and seeking students’ views during the last lecture,
the lecturers obtained formal student feedback through an online questionnaire. All students
responding (35 out of 110) said they found the podcasts Helpful or Very Helpful. 86% of
AEM students and 96% of ACS students said availability of podcasts would make them miss
a lecture Never or only Very Occasionally.
85% of ACS and 93% of AEM students strongly supported the continuation of podcasting.
The precise effect on learning is very hard to gauge, especially after only one year, but AEM
results were definitely above average. ACS results were broadly in line with previous years,
although the use of the podcasts was lower than in AEM.
Conclusion
Student feedback shows that podcasts allowed students to catch up more easily after
absence due to illness. Checking points of uncertainty and revising for exams were the other
key benefits. There was no obvious dip in attendance and this is consistent with the
students’ feedback that podcasts would not tempt them to skip lectures.
Lecturers felt that more students were watching the slides and the lecturer and engaging with
the content, rather than burying their head in their notes. In AEM, there were noticeably more
student contributions (both elicited by the lecturer and volunteered). This made it feel like a
more active and engaged learning experience. This was also expressed in the student
feedback: ‘knowing that the lectures are being recorded means that you can pay much more
attention to the lectures, and therefore learn more while there.’
Podcasting will continue to be used in these and other courses in the Department of
Archaeology, and other courses within the Faculty are adopting this technology as well.
Dr Michael Given (m.given@archaeology.arts.gla.ac.uk)
Dr Jeremy Huggett (j.huggett@archaeology.arts.gla.ac.uk)