The Quantitative Effect of Students Using Podcasts in a First Year Undergraduate Exercise Physiology Module

Abstract

This study reports the quantitative effect of students using podcasts in a 1 st year undergraduate exercise physiology module. From a cohort of 70 students, 50 volunteered and completed the study. Using a pre-post random allocation research design, students were allocated to either a podcast group (PG) or control group (CG) based on a 32-question multiple-choice exam. The PG then listened to six podcasts over six weeks, while the CG were provided with an exact transcript of the podcasts in printed form to ensure that both groups were provided with the same content. After six weeks, both groups were reexamined using the same test. Data were analysed using the effect size statistic and 90% confidence intervals. The CG improved their exam performance by 43%, whereas the PG improved by 46%. The difference between the groups on the post-test was a mean effect size of 0.19 (90%CI:-0.16 to 0.53 [trivial to positively small]). There is almost no chance that the true effect in the population is harmful. The results of this study suggest that using podcasts provides little quantitative benefit for students over and above written text when learning exercise physiology.

Use of Lecture Capture in Undergraduate Biological Science Education

“…So, the lecture videos in this instance can primarily be viewed as supplements -rather than replacements -to lectures, although this may be influenced by learning approach, as discussed below. While some previous research has shown positive relationships between lecture capture and performance (Bollmeier, Wenger, & Forinash, 2010;Francom, Ryan & Kariuki, 2011;Harrigan, 1995;McFarlin, 2008;Vajoczki et.al, 2010;), null relationships have also been observed (Abt & Barry, 2007;Brotheron & Abowd, 2004;Joordens et al, 2009;Powell & Barton, 2010;). This study therefore lends support to the finding that at least in certain contexts, provision of lecture capture to students as an additional course resource is positively associated with an increase in performance.…”

“…Here, use of lecture capture for 100 minutes was associated with a grade increase of 15% (Cramer et al, 2007). However, the finding of improved performance with the use of lecture capture is not equivocal, with several studies noting little to no effect on student grades (Abt & Barry, 2007;Brotheron & Abowd, 2004;Powell & Barton, 2010). For example, when lecture capture was used to make more time in class for active learning activities such as discussion and student questions, there was no noted improvement in performance (Jensen, 2011;O'Bannon et al, 2011).…”

Educational podcasts: A genre analysis

“…A growing number of higher education institutions around the world have incorporated podcasts into both on-campus e-learning modules (Hew, 2009). Despite the growth of podcasting in educational institutions, however, there is little empirical evidence of its tangible effects for improving student grades (Abdous, Facer & Yen, 2012;Abt & Barry, 2007;Kemp et al, 2010;Lazzari and Betella, 2007).…”

The effectiveness of educational podcasts for teaching music and visual arts in higher education

“…By contrast, some researchers found a similar effect on student learning when using other review materials and did not find that the use of podcasts had a significant effect in enhancing student grades (Copley 2007;Lazzari, 2009). Abt and Barry (2007) adopted an experimental research design in the delivery of a physiology course. They found no significant difference between the podcast group and the control group.…”