Teaching Smart with Podcasts

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of digital technology, such as podcasts, to stimulate the learningenvironment in engineering education by advancing student learning from a focus on fixed disciplinary content andhabitual examples towards higher procedural and conceptual knowledge forms. The paper examines how a pedagogicallyaligned use of podcasts can support deeper and more integrative learning in an engineering course. The findings reveal theimportance of plannedpedagogic alignment between content knowledge and the use of technology, and expose the role of aqualitatively enhanced student–teacher interaction in re-centering teaching on active learning and on problem-oriented,functional knowledge. It shows how minor alterations in teaching design caused by the integration of digital tools, in thiscasethe useof podcasts, canenhance studentlearning. However,in order to extendbeyond reproductivelearning, podcastshave to be part of an engaging pedagogic design involving active learning and provide a privileged space to stimulateinquiry and encourage multiple perspectives. Informal access to teacher/expert facilitation in small study groups canprovide a less intimidating support to help navigate the troublesome realms of disciplinary advancement and prepare forfuture challenges.