To Podcast or not......

From now on, I will be referring to ‘podcasting’ as webcasting. Don’t ask why, but it sounds much more user friendly to me. (Maybe it’s a subconscious hatred of anything apple related that has seeped into my brain from my partner, who is of a Linux lineage!)

We ‘had a go’ at webcasting at work. Three years ago when I first started. It was brilliant. We got to make our own audio, edit it and host it. But that’s where it stopped. Why? Because as an organisation we are not in the place yet where we have time to create an interesting array of webcasts for audience. However we have slowly started integrating webcasts into our daily routine – mainly through video. In fact, one of the best webcasts created has been

 ‘Think you Know’,streamed on u tube and facebook, and a kind of marketing tool to try and capture the imagination. OK, so maybe it's not a webcast as such, but this is was sent 'viral' through the information highways.

And this is where webcasts come in for me. I am more susceptible to the video webcast than the audio one. If I have to listen to someone talk, I would rather see his or her face.  They say that webcasting demonstrates the power of audio over text (7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting | EDUCAUSE), but I am not sure that it does for me. Yes, it means that people can listen to material while on the go – but that really is dependant upon their preferred learning style.

As with many of the technology assisted learning tools we are coming across, they are useful in the right way. As a blended approach which gives the accessibility to all students. If I don’t own a mobile device, then I am at a disadvantage to my fellow students! I never learnt much in lectures either.

So here’s the dilemma. Webcasts can provide a really good learning tool, and there are many positive case studies to prove it. (I like some of the suggestions from the nursing centre about using podcasts for listening to abnormal heart rates.)

But, just as with some e-learning programme I have seen, they can be as dry and boring as those lectures I used to fall asleep in.