Andrew Ferrier in the Business School uses podcasting to develop and assess students’ presentation skills. Throughout the duration of the course students are expected to submit 4 pieces of coursework, one of them in a form of a podcast. Podcasting is embedded within the course programme and assessment with a set of criteria produced specifically to help with the task.
The students received instructions from the technical point of view, how to work with audacity software but were also encouraged to use any other recording software, and how to operate the equipment but also in relation to the features of a good podcast. Before the task they were listening to business podcasts and evaluating them in relation to their quality.
Each person’s podcast is submitted to a forum where other students could comment according to the criteria.
Introducing podcasting into the course makes students concentrate on presentation skills and especially on how they verbalize themselves, drawing attention to the way they use their voice. This sort of activity is especially useful for English as a Second language students but also to native speakers as is helps to develop students’ employability skills.
The long term goal of the project is further building on improving oral skills and confidence through group work. Groups of students will produce a podcast and play it to others instead of a regular presentation.
