https://shura.shu.ac.uk/13284/1/Middleton%20Reconsidering%20the%20role%20of%20recorded%20audio.pdf

And listen to the podcast: https://soundcloud.com/edsurge/a-podcast-for-every-discipline-the-rise-of-educational-audio

As you are reading and listening, please reflect on the following:

-What are some reasons of using audio materials in education?

-Do you think educational audio is valuable? Why so?

Optional:

-Is there an instance when you created, used or listened to an audio material/podcast particularly useful for enhancing learning? 

-Why do you think the audio material/podcast was effective?

Audio cater to different learning needs. For example, it can help learners with dyslexia by non-text-based media or people who are deaf (like the woman in this video) who value being able to playback recordings (MELSIG 2014). 

It is easy to learn how to create audio materials and how to use them. The perceived technical complexity of podcasting is mostly absent, where its pedagogic rationale would seem to dispel any associated anxiety of the academic producer(Andrew, 2016).

Learners can use audio materials anytime, anywhere. Education is theoretically no longer bound to its lecture theatres and classrooms, nor is it dependent on people being co-located, whether they are formally participating in the course or not.

Audio materials occupy a small amount of computer space. Merry & Orsmond (2007; 2008) confirm that audio feedback is more practical compared with another feedback as its electronic format makes it easy to archive, copy and distribute.

2. I think educational audio has its unique value, but this value often has limitations. Under the above problems, its advantages are already obvious:

However, with the development of new media, we can access video teaching materials more and more conveniently. I think the combination of verbal and pictorial learning can make people more focused. Moreover, the video also has audio characteristics and can be used as audio under special conditions.

3. I used to listen to some teaching audio about cooking while I was cooking. Because I will be distracted while watching the video and cooking at the same time, but I can listen to the producer's instructions to make the cook.

4. Because I think that audio materials 'liberate our eyes' and do not require us to sit in front of a computer or hold a mobile phone by hand, however, in my opinion, the efficiency is limited because I cannot concentrate if this knowledge of the audio is complicated. Therefore, for me, audio materials are limited to learning some relatively simple knowledge.

Tianlin Jiang / Taylen

Do you think educational audio is valuable? Why so?
Yes, I think educational audio is valuable because students are able to learn and communicate effectively with high-quality audio, which can improve the educational experience for both teachers and students. However, sometimes it is a bit difficult for students to read effectively while listening to the audio.

PL

1, It can be boring and fatiguing if students should always dive into reading tons of essays or other materials. Audio can be a good way to spice up the learning.
2, I found audio can be more clear and easy to understand compared with reading, as narrators usually use oral English to speak and express their thoughts, which is 100% easier to comprehend than reading a formal academic paper.
3, Audio can be more first hand, some theory or hypothesis can be explained by the author himself instead of reporting the author's main idea by written text.
4, If students are engaged as the content creators of the audio, they will gain more than knowledge, they can practice collaborating, task accomplishing, time managing, self-monitoring and technology learning.

Do you think educational audio is valuable? Why so?

yes, it's valuable. Professors can provide a variety of media for students to acquire information and knowledge. Then, students can choose their preferred way to learn, which improves flexibility and malleability in learning. It can inspire students' interest and promise them more time investment in learning. They can practice collaborating, task accomplishing, time managing, self-monitoring, and technology learning.

Is there an instance when you created, used or listened to an educational audio material/podcast that you thought was particularly useful?

yes, I listened to ESL PODCAST before to learn oral English and practice pronunciation. Chinese English language education puts speaking in a minor position for many reasons. As a result, people are poor in speaking, mainly because they are not exposed to enough English speaking materials. Those pedagogic materials are usually fossilized and unpragmatic in real life. At this point, podcasts can be a good input for students to learn language by imitating the conversation or speech. Besides, some podcasts say something about other subjects, like music, literacy, history, science, etc. Students will have more choice to find their interest and associate hobby with language learning.

-Yvonne (YUJIN YANG)

B.  Comparing the pure text, the audio can include more information(e.g. sound, emotion ,and atmosphere), a planar class without visual pictures. It creates a new learning place where is full of social presence, unconstrained by time and place ( Middleton, A. 2016),

C. I never use audio or podcast as formal learning material. I use podcast for listening to some interesting news. But for myself, it can be the supplementary materials for formal classes but not be the formal class, because it is hard for me to concentrate on audio, I will distract if I only use my ears for receiving information. Therefore, I think that audio is effective when it is auxiliary material for a formal class.(subjective personal view)

Xueyi Zhao

The use of audio materials in education, more intuitive, is conducive to stimulate students' interest in learning; The audio materials can make up for the deficiency of language description, make the content of textbooks concrete, visualize, stimulate and guide the development of students' thinking.
Students can have an intuitive understanding of book knowledge and emotional understanding, can effectively improve class efficiency, increase knowledge capacity. At the same time, the development of students' observation ability.Education is theoretically no longer bound to its lecture theatres and classrooms.