Wk2 Act1 – Case Study 30 – Use of Podcasting in Archaeology

Aim

Introduce the use of podcasts to enable students to see images of archaeological sites or objects with expert audio commentary.

Audience

Two cohorts each of 100+ students; year 1 undergraduates and MA students.

Problem

Many first year students have not visited the archaeological sites concerned and find it hard to visualise the topography of the spaces. Students previously relied on tutor showing images via powerpoint or posted on the web.

Solution

Lecturers would use their own images gathered from previous field projects. A trial was setup to initially support some of the studies of on-line material.

Design

Podcasts were created on field trips using separate devices, (hand held Olympus recorder for audio files and Canon powershot for images) and combined using Mac iMovie software. A 3 minute podcast takes approximately 60 minutes to produce from raw recordings.

Training

All material was prepared by the lecturer of the module. Creating materials using the Mac OS X software was fairly intuitive compared with Windows making it easier to experiment.

Method Delivery

There was no requirement for iPod or MP4 players to view as podcasts are linked from topic folders within Blackboard on university site. PCs required Quicktime. Podcasts could also be downloaded from iTunes or a commercial server to portable devices.

Benefits

Podcasts aimed to fill in the gaps of level 1 student’s lack of awareness in recognising key monuments and sites. Podcasts provided ‘eye witness’ accounts of specific sites whilst enabled walk through experiences. Stronger responses to image recognition were reported in examinations. Students felt they were engaging and enjoyed the learning. Shared podcast creations with colleagues in North America

So what is innovative about this case study?

1. Focuses on student centred learning encouraging a collaborative experience using and creating own podcasts.

2. Podcasts enabled students to prepare prior to site and museum visits.

3. Students with mobility difficulties could gain ‘walk through’ experiences on sites which might preclude their access.