Kim Thomas

Sometimes, a very simple idea can turn out to be genuinely revolutionary. Despite the geeky name, podcasting is a democratic technology that can be used by anyone. Podcasts are just digital audio files (MP3s) made available over a website; users can listen to them on their PCs, or download them to an MP3 player such as an iPod.

Podcasting may, as a handful of universities are discovering, have the potential to make education a more learner-centric experience. Several North American universities are already using podcasting, but one of the first UK institutions to do so was the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where physics lecturer Andy Breen decided to introduce it as an experiment in September 2004. Initially, he recorded his own course lectures and uploaded them to the department's virtual learning environment (VLE). The trial proved successful, and in February, it was extended to other members of the department. Currently four of Andy's colleagues are podcasting their lectures, and the college's library has created a pool of recording devices to enable other departments to follow suit.

In the beginning, says Andy, his aims were fairly modest: "We had students who were quite severely dyslexic on the course, and the idea of providing extra ways they could check notes was what started me thinking about this." The VLE enabled him to see who was accessing the podcasts, and he was surprised to discover that, in contrast to his expectations, they were being used by almost all the students on the course. Andy also monitored lecture attendance and found that it remained stable: students were not using the podcasts as a substitute for lectures, as cynics might expect, but to support and reinforce what they had already heard. Andy has talked to his students about how they use the podcasts, and received a variety of answers: "They're listening to them while revisiting lecture notes; some have it on the car stereo; some listen while they're doing housework."

Because physics lectures rely heavily on visual material, Andy also makes use of a mimeo board - a whiteboard that records what is written on it. He then uploads the content onto the website as an HTML file that can be used alongside the podcast.

Although it is still early days, Andy believes that the podcasts are having a beneficial effect on students' learning - results have improved since the podcasts were introduced: "The ones we see failing are the ones not turning up at lecturers and not accessing the online material."

Coventry University is another podcasting pioneer. Harold Fricker, lecturer in critical media practice on the BA in Media Production, has decided to make a formal study of the effectiveness of podcasting in education. What began as a one-term trial in summer 2005 is now a full-scale research project. Backed by a £10,000 grant from the university, Harold will, over the next 12-18 months, podcast his first year lectures and use focus groups and interviews to find out how students are responding to them. It's part of a larger project to establish a "smart campus", using technologies that can, in Harold's words "add value to the learners' experience". During that time he will also make links, both nationally and internationally, with other colleges using the technology.

Like Andy, Harold has found that podcasting has been very well received by students, and that there has been no fall in lecture attendance. Its great attractions are its flexibility and its inclusivity: it can meet the needs of a diverse range of students, including those with dyslexia, or visual or hearing impairments. It has proved particularly useful for those students who for good reasons can't attend every lecture: "There's a mature student, a mother with three young children, whose children were ill - she couldn't make it for a couple of weeks, but she could recoup by listening to the lectures on audio file format."

It's not just those with special needs who have benefited, however; it seems to be changing the way all the students learn. Harold believes that podcasting may create a new paradigm of teaching and learning; note-taking, for example, is "almost history," and podcasting is helping students to think more creatively and critically: "The idea is that they can actually ruminate, and listen again to lectures and tutorials as a way of encouraging critical, analytical approaches."

There have already been positive educational results: "The group of first years I'm teaching are extremely confident, and it has changed the way in which they're working. During interim critiques, reviewing their work, there's a noticeable change in how they're dealing with their own research, their own understanding, their vocabulary."

While podcasting initially seems to promise a shift away from the idea of the internet as a purely visual medium for transmitting information, some models of iPod now have video screens, and, in the next phase of the project, Harold hopes to use videocasts, which would allow students to see the lecture as well as hear it.

Podcasting is not without its critics, however. Both Andy and Harold have met resistance to the idea from some of their colleagues, many of whom have expressed a concern about copyright issues. When a lecture is available in digital audio format, it can of course be copied and distributed across the world. "There are some that see this as a negative, which somehow undermines their privileged position," says Harold. He acknowledges their concerns, but adds: "I don't want to be in a state where issues of copyright leave me in a state of stupor and paralysis."

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of podcasting is its democratising potential: its ability to create, in Harold's words, a "level playing field". Stanford University in California is already putting podcasts on its public website that anyone can listen to, while the science journal Nature has had tens of thousands of people subscribe to its free podcasts by Cambridge University researcher Chris Smith. Could this be the beginning of a trend that eventually gives people access to learning wherever they are in the world, and whatever their personal circumstances?