Podcasting to inspire interactions within the transnational learning environment
Teacher Introduction
Afa’anwi Che
Afa’anwi Ma’abo Che is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He holds a Ph.D in International Relations from Swansea University, UK and is a 2019 research fellowship recipient from the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. His current research interests focus on security implications of growing Chinese engagements in Africa.
Key Points
The Peer Assessment activity provides an opportunity of:
Integrating student-produced podcasts in seminars provides opportunities for:
- Reducing in-class reticence by bringing student voices into the classroom for collaborative learning
- Providing formative learning feedback, including teaching-back or correcting misconceptions
- Fostering interpersonal skills, particularly communication skills
- Developing emotional connections in the classroom
- Enhancing learning motivation
Details on the podcast exercise, perceived usefulness in INS107, and step-by-step guidelines for adaption can be accessed?here.
Case Details
Basic audio recording and sound playing technologies have been around for a while. In the 21st century, audio podcasts have been adopted in various academic disciplines as instruments for communicating content from teachers to students (e.g. as lectures) and vice-versa (e.g. as assignments). In the Political Science and IR education field, using podcasts is relatively new but increased significantly during the Covid19 pandemic due to mobility restrictions. Dr Afa’anwi Che used audio podcasts innovatively by incorporating them into seminars to facilitate real-time vocal interactions among students and between students and teachers. In the department of International Studies, podcasts were previously used restrictively as student assignments. However, Dr Afa’anwi Che found the podcast assignment potentially relevant for reducing reticence and promoting his students’ participation inside the classroom. Upon exploring education research literature during action research, he noticed that the practice was uncommon; hence he reported and published it.
Generally, student responses to using podcasts to engage them in seminars were positive. As Dr Afa’anwi Che was keen to know what impact the podcasts were having on interactive dynamics in lectures and seminars themselves, he had informal chats and ran a formal quantitative and qualitative survey asking students what their perceptions of podcast usage in the module were and what challenges they faced in producing their podcasts and in participating in podcast-based discussions in seminars. Interestingly while his intention at the time of integrating podcasts in seminars was mainly to boost student voice in the classroom, students reported many other pedagogic benefits. Most notably, he was surprised when some students reported that the podcast exercise motivated them to engage more with module readings. But a few students expressed frustration with repeated recording and variation in the quality of podcasts, particularly with respect to accents, pace, and sound features.
- Dr Afa’anwi Che introduced student podcasts in seminars primarily to boost student interactivity in the classroom. However, he found through the action research that the podcast task motivated students to engage with module readings and other teaching and learning materials. This positive impact of podcasts on student academic motivation was the most notable takeaway. In terms of challenges, students reported difficulties catching what was being said in some podcasts due to variations in podcast pace, accent and sound quality. So it is important to accompany podcasts with podcast scripts/ppt to facilitate content comprehension among module participant.
- Colleagues seeking to use student podcasts to engage students in the classroom would find it productive to:1. Ensure submitted podcasts for class consumption are accompanied by podcast scripts/ppt to facilitate inclusive engagement, as some students might struggle to keep up with variations in podcast accents and sound qualities.2. Predetermine how the podcasts will be used in the classroom to facilitate student-student and student-teacher interactions.So, some preparatory work is required in terms of providing guidance to students with respect to expected podcast content and preselecting the most appropriate podcasts for predetermined purposes.
Technological Toolkit
LM Assignment Activity
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Overview
Audio podcasts are typically used in Political Science and International Relations education as one-way communication tools for conveying academic content from teachers to students as recorded lectures and from students to teachers as submitted assignments. While teaching a module focusing on International Politics of Development in Africa (INS107), Dr. Afa’anwi Che integrated student-produced audio podcasts in seminars for purposes, inter-alia, of inspiring in-class teacher-student and student-student interactions. While students are often expected to participate vocally in the classroom for active teaching and learning, including through discussions and debates, language and learning culture differences in a transnational environment such as XJTLU’s can contribute to classroom reticence, a challenge begging for innovative pedagogic remedies for effective verbal collaborative knowledge construction in the classroom. Through his PG-Cert action research recently published in the Journal of Political Science Education, Dr. Che shares students’ perceived pedagogic benefits and challenges of podcasting pedagogy as adapted in INS107.