Transcript L314 A buen puerto

Available online http://octel.alt.ac.uk/course-materials/
Maximising learning for minimum
cost: iTunes U as an example
Fernando Rosell-Aguilar
ocTEL, 4th June 2013
@FRosellAguilar
Outline
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Personal experience of podcasting
Podcasting as a learning technology
Teaching strangers
The OU on iTunes U
Survey of iTunes U users
Results
So what?
Personal experience
• Interested in teaching
and learning
• Innovation
• Geek
• Create videos –
transferred to iPod 5th
Gen
• Research
Potential for learning
• Convenient and easy to use
format
• Attractive
• Motivating (“Not feel like
studying”)
• Easy access
• Portability
• Value for money
• Publicity / Face value
© Matthew Martin (The Times 5/5/2006)
Embedding podcasting in teaching
• Self access
• Directed learning
– In class
– Out of class
Taxonomy of
learning podcasts
• Self-developed
– Teacher-developed: for own established audience
– Student-developed
• Using existing resources
– Authentic materials
– Specialised “courses”
– Other people’s self-developed materials
Previous research
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Liked – novelty?
Supplementary to main teaching
Low level of transfer to mobile devices
Perceived as academic activity
Contradiction of potential benefits of
podcasting vs actual use: Context
• Difference internal / external learners
iTunes U
• Launched in 2007 (US & Can)
• June 2008: Australia, NZ,
Ireland, UK
• Jan 2009: France, Germany,
Switzerland
• 2013: 1 billion downloads
• Oxford University 60,000
downloads in its first week
OU on iTunes U
• Over 62 million downloads
• Over 8,402,400 visitors downloaded files
• 434 collections containing 3,422 tracks (1,630
audio, 1,792 video). 97% of the tracks have
transcripts (in PDF format)
• 423 OpenLearn study units as eBooks (ePub),
representing over 5,000 hours of study
• 79 iTunes U Courses
• Different type of resources: chunking
iTunes U resources = OER?
• Making materials available as podcasts fits
with the principle of using technology to
provide educational resources
• © mainly remains with the providers. No
permission to modify or repurpose the
content.
• This is changing: Oxford University, Stanford
and MIT now offer some of their materials
under (CC) licences.
BUT
• Teaching strangers
– Don’t know who’s listening
– Don’t know what they do
– Don’t know what they think
Survey
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Link on all OU on iTunes U pages
21 months between 2009 - 2011
2129 responses collected
1891 analysed (ticked “use for learning”)
– Profile of OU on iTunes U users
– Use of resources
– Interest in the resources
– Listening habits
– Rating of materials
Here comes the interactive bit!
• Male or female?
• Age?
Under 25/25-55/55 over
• Where are they from?
UK/Rest of Europe/US/Asia
• OU students?
• Why interested in OU iTunes U resources?
Personal interest / work / relevant to studies
• Transfer to mobile device? – listen on the go?
My own hypotheses
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Gender: more males / difference by subject
Age: teenagers, older users
Employment status: students (few OU)
Mobility: despite previous research - YES
Rating: good
Paying: no
Enrolling: no
User profile: age
User profile: gender
56% Male / 44% Female
Profile: where they live
Language learners
Non-language learners
Profile: occupation
Profile: OU students?
Profile: OU students?
Language learners
Yes
No
Others
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Why interested in OU resources?
A mobile technology?
Transfer to mobile device
Always
Most of the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
A mobile technology?
Where do they listen?
Rating for OU on iTunes U
resources
• Quality:
• Do they think they’re learning: 97.2% YES
The future of our teaching?
• 45% of respondents would consider paying for
the content.
• 69.1% would be interested in taking some
form of assessment (for a fee) leading to a
qualification based on a fuller version of the
current content on iTunes U at the OU.
My own hypotheses
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Gender: more males than language courses
Age: teenagers, older users
Employment status: students (few OU)
Mobility: despite previous research - YES
Rating: good
Paying: no
Enrolling: no
So what?
• First ever large scale study of iTunes U learners
• Personalising the stranger: information on the
type of user, what they do, and what they think
• Some as expected / some surprises
• Differences between subjects
• Difference internal and external learners
• Mobile learning
• Casual learning
So what?
• Replicability: difficult
• Applicable to external learners from other
institutions
• If you know your audience, you can make
informed decisions: design, delivery strategy
• Not research: enrolment, brand, exploring new
revenue generation
• Still unanswered: learning outcomes,
measurable results, engagement…
• BUT DO WE NEED MORE?
Podcasting for teaching and learning
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Proliferation of resources
Personalised learning (high / low brow)
Up to date
Convenient / just in time learning
Place and pace
Low cost
BUT: digital literacy, appropriate level,
quantity, quality, format
Gracias
[email protected]
@FRosellAguilar
Publications:
http://tinyurl.com/PubsFRosellAguilar