My review and notes on an H808 colleague's podcast.
Original name replaced with Sue to protect privacy
1) Sound Quality?
Desired qualities? Low enough sampling rate that it is fast to download, and does not demand more storage space on a computer then is necessary. Yet the sampling rate must be high enough so that it supports clear message delivery without drawing attention to itself. 16000 mono with a 32 bit sampling rate would seem a well suited choice for this. Unfortunately it is mildly undermined by the constant presence of a background hum which appears to compromise low pitch sounds. I also noticed that the recording balance in Audacity read minu 0.3 off the zero mark. I am not clear as to the relevance of this but from my experience such a change is an anomoly. Speculation on my part but the background hum may have been caused by the presence of a magnetic field coming from another piece of electronic equipment nearby or improper grounding of the recording device.
2) Broadcast quality? - well constructed / intelligible
Desired qualities? Podcasts succeed when they have the listener's "buy in" from beginning to end. Part of realizing this requires organization and structure similar to what most of us expect from radio programming. Part of this requires information to be succinct, and well sequenced so that its purpose is clear and focussed on the topic at hand. Sue shows careful attention to sequencing her podcast. She begins by providing fairly detailed background information on her educational context and how it contributes to her choice of the highly relevant elearning topic of - reflective writing - as the focus of her podcast. This topic is then explored in the remaining five minutes of the podcast through seven carefully chosen and sequenced question and answer sessions. Each question is presented by a colleague and then fielded by Sue using information gleened from the topic of reflective practice in Units 2 and 3 of H808.
While the introduction provided interesting background information on how she came to choose the topic of reflective writing for her podcast, the delayed introduction of her target topic may undermine listener engagement. A possible alternative here might be to make such background information available in optional text form as a preamble to the podcast or retain it but with a detailed printed time sequence script with a breakdown of subtopics in the podcast. The later strategy affords listeners the option to include or not include this selection in their listening.
3) Suitability? does it meet the needs of the intended audience
Desired qualities? A clear understanding of who the target audience for the podcast is. With Sue's podcast, the Intended audience appears to be key stage 2 to 5 educators in the UK who may be already aware of reflective writing but may not be so familiar with either the rationale for it or how to best realize it... though it is not entirely clear if by reference to "student" she is referring to teachers as students or teachers who are to facilitate reflective writing with their students. Questions are well selected and well sequenced to ensure a basic understanding of reflective writing and its importance.
4) Length? is it of an appropriate length for the subject / intended audience
6:25 minutes in 16000 Hz mono
Desired qualities? Of sufficient length to cover the main points of the topic and yet still short enough and to the point so that once the listener has bought into the importance of the topic, they choose to listen to the podcast in its entirety. Sue's podcast is short but rich in content. The seven carefully chosen and sequenced question and answer sessions serve as mini chapters for quick reference and future access. Such a structure (with the possible exception of the extended introduction), supported a high level of engagement from me.
5) Interest?
Desired qualities? Very subjective aspect of the review. Highly dependent on many variables - how relevant the topic is, how it is organized, how it is supported, how creatively it is presented, how enthusiastic the speaker is. My personal interest was in hearing how a colleague engaged with the task and how successful she was in producing what is likely her first podcast - something I can declare to being highly successful.
6) Academic quality? is it based on research / argument / opinion
Desired qualities? This is also problematic to clarify. A lot of this will be determined by the interests and needs of the target audience... of which I'm not at all familiar with. However, from my perspective Sue's podcast presents a distillation of academic articles on the subject of reflective writing in the easier to digest, question and answer format.
7) Suggestions for improvement?
Ideas that occured to me? More choice in how to listen to the podcast. For example, the current set up demands listening to the whole podcast. However, with an index of topics and subtopics and their timings, the listener can choose to commit the amount of time they wish to listening. This gives adult learners who are often time starved and task oriented .. a chance to quickly assertain the importance / relevance of one resource amongst many to warrant investing the time required to listen to all or part of a podcast. Another idea? Much of the podcast sounded scripted - something unavoidable certainly when doing it the first time - but this might be minimized more through the use of note cards thus making the podcast sound more authentic and convincing. Much of the power of a podcast to engage the listener comes through the emotive qualities of the speaker as well as the actual content. Another idea? Invite the opinion of the questioner to share differing perspectives on the same questions and by doing so, invite the opinion of listeners.
8) Suggestions for use - if it were part of an information source for practitioners, what brief notes would you put on the site to place the podcast in context
Ideas that occured to me?
I might include a brief abstract with time lines and with specific reference to sections of the podcast to target specific topics that may be of interest to target listeners. I might note the background of the speaker and interviewer and include a bibliography of important sources that were to help realize the podcast. Ideally I would also encourage the setup of an online discussion board to invite listeners to question, discuss or share points related to the presentation so that engagement with the presentation is not left to just passive listening.
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