Podcasting
is a relatively new technology receiving mounting support in educational
practice from students and institutions alike (Copley, 2007), which requires
research into the real pedagogical outcomes. Evans (2008) found that students
have a perception of podcasting as a more effective revision tool than
traditional methods. This study investigates the benefit of using a podcast as
a stand-alone revision tool. A fully experimental design was utilised with 106
undergraduate students as participants, recruited into various revision
technique groups and tested for their recall of a lecture presented two months
previously. Results suggest that revising self-annotated PowerPoint slides was
a more effective revision technique than listening to a podcast alone, with a
marginally significant difference between the two, t(33)=1.977, p=.056.
Educators and students need to understand how best to integrate multimedia
learning environments into existing and tested educational methods, and be
aware of the limitations of new technology.
