Report on Tara Brabazon's workshop

Podcasting postgraduates
Tara Brabazon

Dr Maureen Spencer, Middlesex University Business School and Professor Tara Brabazon

Tara Brabazon of Brighton University passionately conveyed her enthusiasm for podcasts for teaching and learning. Podcasts are easy to create and easy to access. Moreover, her main argument was that audio resources defamiliarise students’ learning environment in a constructive manner. Tara, together with colleagues, explored the various roles and functions of podcasting in postgraduate education. She presented brief audio accounts of her students’ work at Masters' and doctoral level and emphasised how important it is to keep podcasts brief and to the point. Following that, participants created their own podcast by introducing themselves and sharing their thoughts and experiences on podcasting. Many colleagues across different Schools mentioned improving formative feedback as an important objective, whilst others centred on affective aspects of learning. Other areas, such as students’ individual preferences regarding visual vs. audio media appeared to be more troublesome. But, quite often, so is learning.

Mike Mimirinis
e-Learning Academic Adviser
Middlesex University