Pedagogy and Podcasts

You could argue that educational podcasting is now beginning to come of age. After all, podcasting as a medium for sharing information has been around since late in 2004.

Over this period, the ubiquitous MP3 format for audio podcasts continues to make a strong contribution to the development and gradual expansion of educational podcasting. Nowadays, with the addition of both enhanced and video podcast formats, educationalists now have a choice as to which to use and that very much depends on pedagogical considerations.

So educational podcasters can now consider the relative merits of each format and base their selection on whether the format will enrich the learning experience. Some topics will always present well in audio format and with the tremendous mobility afforded by MP3 players, this is likely to remain extremely popular for some time yet. However, with the gradual increase in the use of internet-based virtual learning environments by schools and colleges, podcasts are beginning to appear as a resource in course programmes.

So now there are pedagogical considerations for educational podcasters to think about, just as there are in any other medium for teaching and learning. Some sunjects and topics will undoubtedly benefit from the use of still and moving images with audio. One is in the world of mathematics and science.

At present, tehre are science podacsts using all three formats. Sadly, the few channels that do exist for mathematics rely on an audio format. This seems a pity as many mathematical ideas often rely on the visual component to communicate meaning and aid understanding.

Perhaps there is still some way to go in the development of the infrastructure, technology and popularity of podcasts in the enhanced and video formats before educators consider them as alternatives to the "normal" audio formats.