There's good news for all of us who have sat in class, sleepy-eyed and bored to tears and asked ourselves just this.
Read a recent article in the Globe and Mail the other day, which led me to this article about how students who download podcast lectures actually score higher than those who attend the actual lecture!
"A class of 64 psychology students was divided into two groups. The first attended a regular course lecture and the second only listened to a podcast of the lecture. All students received printouts of the PowerPoint slides used in the lecture.
The results showed significantly higher scores (71 percent average) on an exam of the course material for students in the podcast group. Those who attended the in-class lecture scored 62.5 percent. Scores for students who took notes during the podcast lecture rose to 77 percent."
One of the key reasons for this, they suggest, is that students can repeat the material, whereas in the real lecture, the material is only available once. Certainly, it would seem that this could be applied to all sorts of learning material- employee training programs, web-conferences, and other information resources. Also, it may a good way to complement current educational programs in high school or elementary school, especially with the increasing size of classes and higher student-to-teacher ratios.
Certainly an interesting find, but I would definitley be hesitant to shell out $600 CND tuition for a class taken via an audio podcast, if that is where this development may lead!
Still, one more reason to sleep through lectures! Although, good luck passing Calculus.
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