Hürst, W., Welte, M, & Jung, S. (2007).  An Evaluation of the mobile usage of e-lecture podcasts.  Proc. of the 4th Intl. Conf. on Mobile Technology, Applications and Systems (Mobility 2007).

Link: An Evaluation of the mobile usage of e-lecture podcasts by W Hür...

This paper evaluates the educational value of podcast lectures (e-lecture podcasts) for students in a computer science lecture at a German university.  The podcasts were available in formats for use with computers (higher quality) and mobile devices (lower quality).  Surveys of students included those registered in the campus-based course and those classified as external users.  The authors conclude that podcasts are more valuable when used with mobile technologies.

The authors define podcasting as “the delivery of audio and video files over the Internet via RSS feeds” which includes audio podcasts, vodcasts (video podcasting), and screencasts (p. 16).  The e-lecture podcasts were made available to students via RSS feeds in podcasting directories and at the Apple iTunes store. 

Hürst, Welte, and Jung (2007) conducted surveys of local and external students taking the course, but inexplicably completed the surveys at different times in the semester for both groups.  The local students were surveyed in the middle of the term and given credit in the course for completing the survey, while the external students were provided an online survey at the end of the semester.  Further calling into question the validity of this research method is the fact that students registered in the course had to take an exam to receive credit at the end of the course, whereas the external students were not getting credit for the course at all.  It seems odd to do a comparison study with two groups that may not share the same motivation to participate in the course.

The first survey of 77 local students reveals that only 7 students were taking advantage of the podcasts, which seems too small a number upon which to draw any conclusions.  However, Hürst et al. (2007) note that these students preferred the high quality of the PC versions of the podcasts, even though 40 students did not even have a mobile media device.  The authors also note that the audio versions of the podcasts were the least popular compared to the vodcasts and screencasts.  They were also surprised that some local students substituted the podcasts for attending the lecture.  This reaction can be attributed to their assumption that those taking this advanced class were highly motivated in the first place.

A higher number of external students completed the survey.  107 students started the online survey with 75 completing it.  As with the local students, Hürst et al. (2007) find a low usage for the audio podcasts amongst external students.  These students seemed to appreciate the ability to subscribe and download the podcast automatically as well.  The authors were “very surprised” to learn that these students used the podcasts on both PCs and mobile devices and that a preference was shown for utilizing the podcasts on computers (p. 21). 

Hürst, Welte, and Jung (2007) remark that “students often appreciate the pure availability of various offers in different formats and characteristics although they do not take advantage of all of them” (p. 22). They attribute the change in attendance of the local students and the preference for the PC versions of podcasts to the unique mobility feature of podcasts.  The authors also believe that the use podcasts through popular delivery platforms like the Apple iTunes store allows them to reach more students but this does not improve the learning.

Although this study has some limitations, which the authors readily acknowledge, it does indicate a preference amongst students to learn from high quality podcasts designed to deliver a combination of audio and video.  The authors recognize the importance as well of having the podcasts available through subscription services to be downloaded automatically rather than having students download the files manually.  The paper hints at the real value of using podcasts as a vehicle of support for student.