Podcasts As A Learning Method In Engineering Education

Multimedia has been integrated in education the last 40 years but podcasts have more recently become popular. Since 2006 podcasts have become increasingly popular in Sweden and nowadays podcasts are used in all types of contexts but are yet to find a place in engineering education. Students do not acquire knowledge or solve problems in the same way. Using a mix of methods in teaching is therefore important if one has the ambition to democratize the learning processes and give students the same opportunity to learn. Traditionally, much of the university education has been based on lectures in classrooms and reading literature. During the pandemic, teachers switched to video lectures and online lectures. Even though all types of multimedia are involved in teaching today, podcasts have not become established as a learning method. This paper explores in what ways podcasts can be beneficial in engineering education. Specifically, the paper investigates what preferences students have on how podcasts for engineering education and how teachers effectively can design and develop podcasts in courses as a learning method. By addressing the gap of evidence on podcasts in engineering education, the findings contribute with effective solutions on how podcasts can be developed and implemented that will help students in their learning processes