Project overview

 

Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation for Transition (IMPALA4T) investigates using student-created podcasts to enhance students’ transition into Higher Education (HE). The project builds on the ten-factor design model developed by the University of Leicester’s Beyond Distance Research Alliance (BDRA) during the HEA-funded IMPALA project (impala.ac.uk). IMPALA4T delivers a model for capturing undergraduates’ informal knowledge and experience (‘hot knowledge’) into accessible podcasts of two types, Type A for the benefit of learners about to start their first HE course and Type B for those well into their first year (Level 1).

 

Studies of undergraduates’ satisfaction, academic performance and retention in HE identify the critical importance of the first year for shaping their attitudes and approaches to learning. Positive transition into HE has a direct impact on students’ later learning experience, particularly during their first year. Most interventions to support transitions are based on institution-driven approaches such as courses on learning and study skills. IMPALA4T uses podcasting to develop a new approach by tapping the knowledge and experience of current undergraduates. IMPALA4T builds on the ten-factor design model developed during the HEA-funded IMPALA project (impala.ac.uk).

Research questions

·         How does undergraduates' informal knowledge and experience, captured by students themselves and delivered through podcasting technology, support the transition of new cohorts of students entering HE? Can these Type A podcasts support informal learning that enhances new learners’ transition into HE? 

·         Do first year HE students perceive that they benefit from Type B podcasts, and if so how? Could their academic learning outcomes and performance improve?

 

IMPALA4T builds not only on IMPALA (impala.ac.uk) but also on work at GENIE (Genetics Education Networking for Innovation and Excellence), a Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (CETL) at the University of Leicester (le.ac.uk/genetics/genie/), on using learning technologies for supporting students’ transition into HE. GENIE provides a valuable test-bed for IMPALA4T, because science is often perceived by A-level students to be ‘black and white’, a misperception that can result in these students’ poor transition into HE. Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry is a critical friend to the project, validating the project outputs in its disciplines. UoL’s IMPALA partners will help to pilot, evaluate and refine the deliverables.

 

IMPALA4T outputs and deliverables will be reported and disseminated in usable formats to facilitate transferability and further research. The models and exemplar podcasts for improving transition into HE and the first year will be available across the sector.

 

Literature

 

IMPALA4T builds on studies of students’ transition into HE and the first year. It uses ‘hot knowledge’ to enhance transition, and podcasting as an innovative way to reach and address students on transition issues. 

 

For students, poor transition into university life and difficulties with its academic and social demands are key contributors to underachievement and drop out. An Ulster study found that up to 20 percent of new students encountered difficulties in adjusting, managing their workload and becoming independent learners, leading to 1 in 6 withdrawing (Lowe and Cook, 2003). Students’ preparedness for and awareness of HE are critical factors contributing to their successful transition into HE (NAO, 2002; Boyle, Carter and Clark, 2002). HE students’ age, ethnicity, socio-economic background and family HE history (Taylor, Barr and Steele, 2002) all impact on their preparedness for HE. New entrants may hold misconceptions and many are inadequately prepared for the university’s assessment procedures, hours of face-to-face contact and independent study required, the large size of lecture groups, and the choices to be made among modular options (Lowe and Cook, 2003; Byrne and Flood, 2005; Laing, Chao and Robinson, 2005; Robothom and Julian, 2006).

 

Preparation for HE should include understanding HE and its ‘institutional habitus’, meaning the values and practices of cultural or social groups that are embedded in and mediated through the culture of an institution (Reay, David and Ball, 2001, 2005). A student who is unprepared can feel like a ‘fish out of water’ (Thomas, 2002, p. 431). Support for transition may bridge the gap between ‘institutional habitus’ and a person’s habitus, but HEIs typically respond by providing formal courses in study skills (Hultberg et al, 2008; Walker, Matthew and Black, 2004; Knox, 2005).

 

The knowledge and experience of students who have already made the transition have rarely been exploited. Such knowledge is considered ‘hot knowledge’ (Ball and Vincent, 1998) that identifies ‘the socially embedded’ knowledge prevailing in networks of friends, family, relatives and neighbours, the people who are generally considered as ‘people like me’ (Hutching, 2003, p. 110). Studies on HE preparation report that potential applicants consider ‘hot knowledge’ to be more trustworthy than communication through ‘official’ sources (Hutchings, 2003).

 

Podcasting can capture this ‘hot knowledge’ and make it available to HE entrants and those studying at Level 1. Despite the interest in and links between informal learning and mobile devices (Sharples, Taylor and Vavoula, 2007), little attention has been given to exploiting novel ways of improving peer-supported transition into HE. Salmon and Edirisingha (in press) document four approaches to using student-created podcasts to provide first-year support: addressing students’ misconceptions and anxiety about HE; developing their reflection skills; advising them on their assessed work; and developing their research skills. IMPALA4T will tap into the knowledge and experience of students who recently made their own transition: it will use podcasting technology and mobile devices familiar to HE students. 

 

 

Methodology and the work plan

IMPALA4T will be carried out in two phases (Tables 1 and 2). Phase 1 has started: a learning technologist from BDRA, funded by GENIE, is creating Type A podcasts with 15 students from Levels 1 and 2 (see Table 1). The podcasts are available to students via the GENIE website and iTunes. Phase 2 will study these podcasts’ impact on 150 Level 1 Biological Sciences students while also developing and evaluating the impact of Type B podcasts later in the academic year.

 

 

Phase	Phase-1	Phase-2
Duration	May–Aug 08	Sep 08–May 09
Funder	GENIE CETL (£6,500)	Funding sought from HEA (£29,991.01)
Main objective and summary of activities	Development and delivery of student-generated podcasts to support transition from schools/colleges to HE (Type A podcasts); 16 to be released weekly from June 08.	Development and delivery of student-generated podcasts to support transition within Level 1 (Type B podcasts); 12 to be produced for each semester; weekly release   Researching (questionnaire surveys and cognitive mapping) the impact of Type-A and B podcasts   Sustainability and integration workshops with academic staff   Pedagogical model building and other project outputs   Dissemination

 

IMPALA4T is evaluated by a) questionnaire surveys of the podcast users’ experience and satisfaction, and b) cognitive mapping to gather evidence of the podcasts’ benefits to first-year students (via focus groups and personal interviews), student contributors and academic staff. Cognitive mapping creates unique ‘maps’ for analysing individuals’ and groups’ changing views, feelings and experiences. It is richer, more accessible, transparent and useful in investigating the effectiveness of interventions than conventional interviews alone.

 

 

Deliverables   1.    Transferable model of promoting student transition into HE through peers’ knowledge captured and made available though podcasting technology.

2.    Exemplars: A minimum of ten Type A and ten Type B podcasts, with their transcripts, that successfully supported learners’ transition into HE. These will be available to the sector via the project website.

3.    Use cases of student learning experiences illustrating the impact of podcasting for transition. 4.    Papers describing the IMPALA4T methodology for staff at other institutions to learn by example.

5.    Resources for HE practitioners for developing and testing IMPALA4T approaches.

6.    Guidelines for integrating podcasting and students’ transition experiences into institutional learning support strategies. 7.    Recommendations for the use of podcasts to support disabled students in their transition into HE and during their first year at university.

8.    Research tools for studying transition into HE.

9.    IMPALA4T blog and wiki from Day 1.

10. A final report and three papers for submission to conferences and journals.

 

 

 

Outcomes   1.    Significant improvements on the first-year learner experience in participating departments at UoL.

2.    Significant contribution to the Learning and Teaching, E-learning and Widening Participation policies and strategies at UoL. 3.    Significant contribution to the provision of technology-enhanced support for disabled entrants at UoL, particularly those who are visually impaired.

4.    Testing of the IMPALA4T models and other deliverables throughout the HE sector.

5.    Contributions to the literature on transition into HE.

 

 

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Literature Review on student transition to Higher Education

 

Robert Cane

IMPALA for Transition (PMPALA4T Project)

Beyond Distance Research Alliance

University of Leicester, UK.

January 2009

 

 

According to a House of Commons Select Committee Report (2001), one in six students entering Higher Education in the UK in 2001 was likely to withdraw from their course. Such attrition rates in higher education are clearly of particular concern and are the subject of a wide range of literature. Thomas (2002) lists seven factors influencing student retention: academic preparedness, academic experience, institutional expectations and commitment, academic and social match, finance and employment, family support and commitments, and university support services. The National Audit Office (2002) has also produced a similar list of reasons for non-completion. Tinto (1975) found that the process leading to a decision to withdraw begins with an incompatibility between the background of the student and the institution, which leads to poor academic and social integration on the part of the individual. This, according to Tinto, is influenced by such factors as starting ability, gender and class. Indeed, Laing et al (2005) noted that students from non-traditional backgrounds tend to have lower retention rates than those from traditional backgrounds (generally those with a family history of entry into higher education). Research has shown that groups such as those who found their course through clearing and students from the lowest social groups find it particularly difficult to get into and adapt to higher education (Baxter and Hatt, 2000; Connor and Dewson, 2001; Walker et al, 2004). As Walker et al (2004) suggested, given attempts to widen participation in higher education, it is necessary to address such issues surrounding student retention.

 

One of the most important phases in the student career is that of transition, both into and within higher education (NAO, 2002). It is at this point when many of the factors influencing student retention come to the fore. With a stream of new pressures (financial, academic and social), the period during which a student is starting university can be incredibly stressful, and such stress often leads to a significant reduction in academic performance, and can, eventually, lead to the student dropping out (Robotham and Julian, 2006; Chan, 2001). Chan and Lee (2005) have noted that much of this stress is reduced when students are clear about exactly what they have to do in any given class. As such, they hold preparedness for each class to be an important factor in successful transition. Indeed, Byrne and Flood (2005) identified expectations that do not cohere properly with reality, and a consequent lack of preparedness, as prevalent amongst poor performers, whilst Scott and Graal (2007) identified a misunderstanding of academic expectations, and, specifically, the level of attainment necessary in examinations, as key contributing factors to failure amongst first year bioscience students. This also seems to hold true for the subject matter studied as well as institutions and the requirements of higher education more generally. Tanimoto et al (2002) suggested that students have ‘facets’ of knowledge, with a certain understanding of concepts, but not necessarily a complete or completely correct one. Others have noted such preconceptions in subjects such as computer science, and Newtonian physics (Powers and Powers, 2000; Clement, 1982). The problem is overcoming such preconceptions.

 

Ozga and Sukhanandan (1998) have noted that, although much of the literature examines the issue in terms of variables relating to the background of the student (nature of previous education, class, gender etc.) and in terms of what the student is lacking in order to be properly compatible with the institution, it is necessary to identify the student as part of a social environment which includes interaction with the institution itself, and examine how that environment can be transformed to improve the choices made prior to starting university, aid transition and raise retention rates. In such a vein, Reay et al (2001) and Thomas (2002) stressed the importance of the institutional habitus, which consists of the embedded practices and values mediated through and present in the culture of the institution. In order for a broad range of students to flourish, this institutional habitus must be diverse and inclusive of different cultural backgrounds and it must be adequately and accurately understood by new and potential students, which means that the institution itself must adapt its practice to address the misconceptions born from non-traditional backgrounds. In other words, it must be recreated so that it is coherent with the personal habitus (the practices and values of the individual determined by their environment, including class, education and family) of each student (Thomas, 2002).

 

The solutions to this problem most frequently take the form of written information and formal study skills courses. For example, the University of York’s Department of Biology provides a leaflet to all future undergraduates detailing course options and what is to be expected of the teaching, which has been shown to be useful (Cook et al, 2005). In terms of study skills courses, the University of Leicester, for example, has a Student Support and Development Service, which offers a wide range of formal study skills courses through its Student Learning Centre, and the University of Glasgow run the Top-Up Programme for 17 and 18 year olds from schools with lower higher education participation rates (University of Leicester, 2008; and Walker, Matthew and Black, 2004). Mentoring programmes, in which existing students provide guidance to new students on all aspects of university life, also exist across the higher education sector (For example: McCormick et al, 2006). These programmes involving current students provide an element of ‘hot knowledge’ that is absent from the more traditional approaches to addressing transition. Hot knowledge is informal knowledge provided by those considered to be social equals in a similar situation who are without any vested interest in the content of the knowledge transmitted (Ball and Vincent, 1998). Thus, it is often seen as more trustworthy than the more formal knowledge provided by the university and its staff. In fact, in studying the process of choosing higher education institution, Hutchings (2003) has shown that students specifically tend to trust information about the higher education experience more when it comes from their peers. Yet, modern students do not only want their knowledge to be ‘hot’.

 

Downes (2005) has described the modern student as one who wants their information ‘on-demand’ and provided at ‘twitch speed’. This, he argues, is done primarily through the technological advances of the internet. Expanding upon such ideas, Siemens (2005) has created a theory of ‘Connectivism’ in which the important element of education is not the traditional building of a stock of knowledge, but becoming connected to the network through which knowledge can be quickly found and learning to quickly and thoroughly distinguish useful information from false or useless information. This network is, again, primarily related to technological innovations. Particularly important in this respect is the concept of Web 2.0. There is not absolute agreement over the definition of the term ‘Web 2.0’, but, roughly speaking, it is a trend towards the use of the internet in increasingly more interactive ways, with user created content being an important element (O’Reilly, 2005). In this vein many institutions provide student blogs detailing the experiences of current students so that potential and new students may learn from them (see, for example, Williams and Jacobs, 2004; and University College London, 2008). These blogs provide hot knowledge through a contemporary medium that is very much part of the ‘on-demand’ world of the modern student. However, useful as these projects may be, the realm of technology useful in education has expanded beyond them bringing with it new possibilities for flexible and informal engagement with future students and those struggling to make a transition.

 

Recently, much literature has focused upon the concept of mobile learning, or mLearning. This can be broadly understood as learning through materials that can be used anywhere, as opposed to learning undertaken in a traditional static context, such as in a classroom, at a computer or in a library. As Winters (2006) made clear, early work on the concept tended to define it on the technological basis of portable devices (PDAs, iPods, mobile phones etc.) being used for educational purposes, whilst less technologically focused literature has focused on the impact of mobility on the learning experience and the augmentation of traditional static pedagogic practices.   One of the most prevalent mLearning activities is the use of podcasts, which are not only mobile and informal, but can include many of the benefits of Web 2.0 technologies described above.

 

Podcasts are digital audio recordings (typically mp3 files) usually distributed by means of an RSS feed, which enables users to subscribe and automatically receive the next episode (Salmon et al, 2008). Once downloaded, these files can be transferred onto a portable mp3 player and listened to in any location or they can be listened to using an mp3 player on a desktop or laptop computer. In the last few years, podcasting, and specifically its use in education, has become increasingly more popular as new and more accessible software (for example, free audio editing software Audacity) and services (for example, online hosting services and services to create RSS feeds) have become available. In 2004, Duke University and Osaka Jogakuin College even distributed iPods to incoming students (McCarty, 2005). Indeed, iPods now have a ‘social cachet’ that allows them to be powerful educational tools (Chan et al, 2006). Furthermore, as Chan and Lee (2005) have shown that much of the literature demonstrates significant advantages to be gained from the presentation of information in an audio format. Information presented through audible media, for example, can provide a connection with the person presenting the information and a better sense of their meaning through tone and inflection, and can be used whilst the hands and eyes are engaged in other monotonous tasks. Tynan and Colbran (2006) have shown that students exposed to podcasting in education, place a great deal of importance on it as a support for their learning.

 

The most obvious use of this technology in education has been the recording of lectures (including, most frequently, public lectures) for mobile consumption by students, and, often, the public more generally (see for example: Colman, 2006; and Apple Inc., 2008). This has allowed lectures to be distributed ‘on-demand’, to be listened to when desired, as often as desired, and in a manner consistent with the media environment with which most students are comfortable (Downes, 2005). However, this is amere translation of traditional teaching methods into a mobile context and fails to fulfil the full potential of its medium: portable, easily created audio files available on-demand and suitable for use for short periods of time whilst undertaking other, ‘mindless’ tasks (Salmon et al, 2008).

 

Other pedagogic uses of podcasting have avoided such pitfalls by providing supplementary information to lectures in a style more appropriate to the medium. Taking advantage of readily available and easily used production tools, most of these podcasting initiatives involved the use of student created content to produce short podcasts often involving potentially engaging, short discussions of topics as opposed to the formal delivery of recorded lectures. Indeed, Chan and Lee (2005) refer to these as ‘talk-back radio style’ podcasts. For example, second year students at the University of Leicester created podcasts on the ethics of genetics for first year students, and students at Swarthmore College have created podcasts discussing passages from novels (Cane and Cashmore, 2008; and Evans, 2006). From the literature, two main benefits of the use of student created content can be deduced. Firstly, it provides opportunities for the students to develop their abilities in ‘meta-cognitive thinking’ and provides opportunities for such thinking and reflection (Chan et al, 2006). And, secondly, it uses ‘hot knowledge’, which may be more easily and readily assimilated by the listeners than information gained from the ‘cold’ source of the lecturer (Ball and Vincent, 1998). When these benefits are considered alongside the general benefits of mLearning technologies, the use of podcasts in education is clearly an interesting and potentially important new development.

 

These benefits, particularly the presentation of ‘hot knowledge’, make such podcasts, potentially powerful tools for aiding student transitions. Such ‘hot knowledge’ is not only more readily accepted by future students, but it can also help to integrate students into the University’s community and bridge the gap between the student and the institution (Lee et al, 2007). By presenting this ‘hot knowledge’ in a manner that allows flexible use and meshes with prevailing patterns of media consumption and information gathering, podcasts are potentially more likely to be used and trusted by incoming students than traditional materials (Downes, 2005).

 

Some universities already use podcasts for the purposes of aiding transition and increasing student understanding of the nature of higher education. Most of these, however, are focused more on promotion of the university or department than on bridging the gap between student expectations and the reality of higher education (see for example: Brunel University, 2008; University of Warwick, 2008; and University of Nottingham, 2008). Perhaps the best example of the use of podcasts in the context of transitions is a project undertaken at Charles Sturt University in Australia. This project started out as just a pilot group, but now encompases a wide range of uses of podcasts (Chan and Lee, 2005; Chan et al., 2006; and Lee and Chan, 2007). The first podcasts used at Charles Sturt University aimed to aid the transition of students in the computer sciences, where misunderstandings about what exactly the subject entails abound. These student-generated podcasts were listened to before classes in order to address these misunderstandings and ease transition into the relevant mode of studying. These podcasts were followed by many others including interviews with textbook authors, guidance and feedback on assignments, and ‘topic trailers’. Analysis of these podcasting efforts has shown that they were of benefit not only to the students listening to them, but also to those creating them (Chan et al., 2006). However, whilst these podcasts have included some coverage of general issues of transition into a new institution, they do not seem to have covered many of the key issues facing new students outside of specific course content, such as accommodation or generally settling in to the social environment.

 

Thus, IMPALA4T is investigating the use of short podcasts consisting of students who have recently made the relevant transition presenting their own experiences on a number of subjects important to transition into university, and, later, between levels within it. This will take place within the University of Leicester’s School of Biological Sciences, and will deal primarily with transitioning into the study of the biological sciences in higher education, which, as noted above, can often prove important to the academic development of the student (Scott and Graal, 2007). However, much of the information provided about life at university will be suitable for students in any discipline.

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