I’m still reading around Kranzberg’s first law of technology and its application to educational technologies. Whilst doing a search in the EBSCO database, an article called ‘ipods aren’t just for tunes’ popped up (Ragusa et al 2009). The article discusses the use of ipods as a technology to support learning in Australia and provides a sound example of how a new technology can be used for uses other than originally intended.

The ipod was, initially, a device for listening to music. However it rapidly evolved into a device for listening to audio and podcasts, including podcasts of an educational nature. Browsing iTunes reveals a host of educational podcasts available free of charge.

It could be argued that this was a natural progression for the ipod, building on the earlier use of records, audio cassettes and CDs for educational materials, self-study and distance education.

In a similar way, the advent of the ipod triggered the development of similar devices and portable music … culminating in the combined mobile phone, Internet device and audio player, the Smartphone. Educational resources are now more portable than they ever were – whether podcasts or cloud-based and accessible ‘on-the-move’.

I would however, argue that podcasts are only one tool in the educational toolbox. 50% of internal learners responded negatively to the podcasts compared to 14% of external (distance) learners. Ragusa et al (2009 p682) found that the key comment from internal learners reflected a view that podcasts should not be a replacement for text. Ragusa et al explains this as the internal learners lacking ‘the social skills necessary to perceive audio learning as a viable alternative’ and revealing the ‘traditional socio-cultural norm that learning tools are best restricted to textbooks’.

It is difficult to contrast two different learning environments and draw valid conclusions as the number of factors involved are large and diverse. Ragusa et al does consider the possibility that the internal learners may already feel that their social (auditory) learning needs are met by the face-to-face contact provided by a traditional learning environment, whilst the distance learners do not have this experience and thus potentially place more value on the podcasts to provide this.  In the argument for a new norm for online learning and in particular podcasts, Ragusa et al often seems to be in danger of trivialising the current preferences of learners as merely a by-product of their socially constructed understanding of learning. Other research suggests that pure auditory learning is not the most effective, for example Dale’s Cone of Experience which suggests that 20% of information received aurally is remembered. Generation Y and Z both continue to be well versed in text-based communication using Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging and SMS.

One benefit of podcasts identified by both groups of learners in Ragusa et al (p683) was the up-to-date content compared with printed materials. This expectation that materials will be revised may be an unanticipated consequence of the Internet age – with rapid moving technological developments and the fast transmission of new knowledge.

References

Ragusa, A. T., Chan, A. and Crampton, A. (2009) ‘ipods aren’t just for tunes: exploring podcasting as a socio-cultural technology facilitating student experiences of higher education in rural Australia’, Information, Communication & Society, 12(5), pp. 678-690, [online] EBSCOhost Available from: http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=43744012&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed 30 January 2011).