Ken Carroll

Recently, Lisa Neal, editor in chief at E Learning magazine blogged a rather odd piece called Ten Reasons Why Podcasts are Inferior to Text. I think the post is misleading to anyone wanting to know about podcasting. I’m surprised the editor in chief at E Learning Magazine could have written it.

Her argument is somewhat muddled. The sub-heading doesn’t follow meaningfully from the title. It reads

Ten reasons podcasts don’t work for education…

So first, podcasts are inferior to text, and then they just don’t work for education. If the second statement did follow from the first, would it then mean that, apart from text, no other medium had any value in education? (You could probably argue that every medium is inferior to text, in that sense.) Should e-learning then stick to text only at that rate? Hmmm.

Given these types of logical implications, it seems an odd direction for her to take. But a comparison between text and podcast is moot anyway, because no-one has ever suggested that podcasts were superior to text, that they should be isolated from it, or that they should replace it, etc. As one ChinesePod learner, Dave, commented

I don’t like the idea of placing text in the ring versus podcasts because both offer different benefits. It seems analogous to comparing the virtues of vitamin D with vitamin C–they’re both good for you so creating a scenario where they ought to battle it out is absurd.

The real issue

The real question, to my mind concerns whether podcasting can enhance text, or go beyond it. My answer is yes it can, and for most subjects. With language learning this is obvious - podcasts provide up-to-date audio samples of the target language, often upon user request or in response to a problem. (Imagine learning languages from, ahem, text only.)

Secondly, when properly designed, audio can very effectively intergrate other elements. At SpanishPod, we use the podcasts, not just for samples of the language, but also for commentary: hosts talk about the content (grammar, vocabulary, culture) in a spontaneous, two-way, exchange that adds the human element that textbooks cannot. Lessons become events that bond practitioners with learners, personalize the experience, and aid memory. Human conversation brings an emotional dimension to the content and triggers cognitive faculties that text alone cannot. (More engagement, more learning.) It allows practitioners demonstrate and offer insights into managing context as well as cultural insights, socio-cultural competence, discourse competence, language awareness, register, pragmatics, and a number of things that textbooks traditionally do not.

And all of this is actually hyper-efficient: natural human conversation is way, way more efficient than formal, written exposition for many purposes. Podcasts also allow for sound effects, stories, guesswork, cognitive depth, humor, and more.

It is true that you cannot search a podcast as you would a text. But there are endless ways to deal with that problem: We separate the core dialog from the rest, for example, so that listeners can simply click on the part they wish. Meanwhile breaking down the podcast on a structured basis also helps. With SpanishPod, for example, you have the

• Intro
• Dialog
• Translation
• Commentary
• Dialog repetition
• Cultural Observations
• Ending

A standardized approach to the audio design means that users know the times where they find each of these elements after 2 or 3 listens. I’ve never actually heard a user complain of getting lost in the audio because lesson are short and there are clues all over the place.

I actually believe that audio and visuals are the great new frontier that, when integrated with text, will open all sorts of new learning possibilities. I won’t be abandoning these inferior media, but continuing to spend thousands of hours delving deeper into them. Clearly, however, we are all at an early stage of understanding the new media.

I’ve tried to contact Lisa. I may ask to see if she’ll give me a space on E Learning Magazine to explain why I love podcasting. It’s time to let the world know about this!

Ken Carroll