ascilite 2006 conference podcasts

It’s been a buzzword throughout the ASCILITE conference – and no, it has nothing to do with what we’re doing here with our podcasting blog!

Whatever you think about it, podcasting seems to have people talking at ASCILITE 2006. Belinda Tynan and Stephen Colbran from the University of New England were certainly the focus of much attention this afternoon in their presentation on podcasting in the UNE Faculty of Law.

In one of the largest studies undertaken so far, Belinda and Stephen tell their own ‘war story’ about student reactions to podcasting of law lectures – and it’s a happy ending. Forget about stories of pandering to the needs of the net generation – over 30 percent of their students were over 35s, and still loved it! From allowing students to control the delivery of content (pause, rewind) to the flexibility of managing their own time, students found that podcasting had a positive influence on their learning, including increased comprehension, engagement and motivation. It even influenced attrition rates!

Podcasting clearly has great potential, and we were glad to be able to chat further with Belinda and Stephen about their work and what the future holds beyond podcasting. It’s our prediction that we haven’t heard the last from these two . . .

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