Use of short podcasts to reinforce learning outcomes in biology

Podcast, a powerful Web 2.0 tool increasingly used in higher education, refers to an audio or a video file which can be automatically downloaded to one’s computer as it becomes available, then later transferred to a portable player for listening. The technology thereby enables the user to listen to and/ or to watch the content anywhere and anytime. This paper describes an exploratory study conducted at University of Minho, Portugal, in a 2nd year graduation course, where podcasts were introduced and used as a tool to present learning outcomes and to give some study guidelines The research was conducted in order to evaluate students’ and teacher’s reactions to the integration of this resource in teaching/ learning as well as students´ interest in having podcasts in the future. In conclusion, students and the lecturer considered the introduction of podcasts a very positive experience and they would like to have access to podcasts in other pedagogical contexts.This work was supported by FCT project PTDC/CED/70751/2006