The Use of Postcasting/Vodcasting in Education

Background

Podcasting was primary used in tertiary education to make lectures available to students in order to clarify difficult parts and emphasize important ones. Later on, podcasts were replaced by vodcasts. Currently, there are four kinds of vodcasts that are used in education: lecture-based, enhanced, supplementary, and worked examples (Kay, 2012). A lecture-based or “substitutional” vodcast is a recording of an entire lecture. Thus students can experience what happened in the lecture hall without actually being physically present. An enhanced vodcast is video footage of a slideshow (e.g., Powerpoint or Beamer presentations) that is presented with an audio explanation. Supplementary vodcasts are designed to augment the teaching and learning of some courses and may include administrative support, real-world demonstrations, summaries of lectures or textbook chapters, or additional material designed to broaden or deepen student understanding.

There are also other ways to classify vodcasts. For example, depending on whether a vodcast is offered in segments or not, one can talk about segmented vodcasts or non-segmented vodcasts, respectively. In addition, the pedagogical strategy can be used to categorize vodcasts. In particular, there are three different teaching approaches. The first is called receptive viewing and includes vodcasts to be viewed by students in a passive manner (i.e., like watching a movie). There are problem-solving vodcasts that are designed to explain and help students in learning how to solve problems and exercises related to their courses. Naturally, such vodcasts are useful for people who study science, mathematics, or engineering. A third category includes vocasts that are created by students for students.