OERlabs Openbook/Headnotes (Podcast)

Podcast as a tool for reflection

The following text is an abstract of an article submitted here on the topic of podcasting and higher education:

Reder, C., & Lukács, B. (2018). Offene Bildungspraxis erlebbar machen – die Rolle von Podcasts für Projektdokumentationen und Reflexionsprozesse. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie Und Praxis Der Medienbildung, 32, 17-27. https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/32/2018.10.20.X

This paper deals with the question of how reflection as part of academic media literacy can be addressed at universities. An example of this is a practical project, where students in labs come into contact with Open Educational Resources (OER), but above all with Open Educational Practices (OEP) and open teaching material. There is also focus on other relevant university actors, which together with the students discuss how not only OER, but more importantly OEP in general can be established at the university, in order to facilitate access to open education for lecturers and learners alike. On the basis of this practical experience, the article outlines the project's podcast that works as an instrument documentation and also as a channel, wherein project staff at both universities, as well as other university stakeholder can openly reflect their experiences. The question addressed relates to which project elements can be supported with a reflective approach regarding open-learning and -teaching practice at the university, and how Open Educational Practices can be more than content for lectures, and instead sustainably be implemented as part of developmental higher education projects.

Project openness via audio

The top priority for OER projects should be to work as openly as possible. This includes not only correct licensing of the created material, but also an open attitude and a transparent work process. In many cases, social media are now used as a documentation platform. Interested parties can experience the events surrounding the project in real time, e.g. via Twitter or Facebook Timeline, when attending conferences or sharing relevant links. There is a personal connection to the audience, but there is a clear limit, because one does not get a real insight into thoughts and experiences. A podcast provides the audience with an insight into conversations between the project team members who, although prepared accordingly, offer the opportunity to look into the project from the outside, but can also create a basis of trust. The same can apply to conversations with stakeholders - in many cases a written interview does not convey the same, even emotional, effect as a voice or video recording. Ultimately, podcasts within the framework of a project enable project staff as well as interested parties to achieve a further level of openness.

Breaking habits (vs. written project documentation)

Working with OER often shatters the habits and practices of the educational system. The open sharing of material, the editing and further processing of content is neither part of the everyday work of students nor their teachers. One of OERlabs' aims as a project was to change practices. This applies not only to the work with educational material, but also to the work processes of actors in the field of education. In higher education and in project work, this affects certain established project processes (e.g. written project documentation or interim and final reports). One possibility to create change here is to design the basic work differently, as in the case of the Bildungsshaker Podcast to present the project documentation with the help of voice recordings.

Therefore the claim is that through such media or formats, which are also already established, they can be used in a somewhat different context in order to bring about possible changes in perspectives. As soon as interested parties are suddenly confronted with an audio recording instead of a written documentation, a new awareness for work processes can possibly be created. This can have an impact on these people's own work by making their own reflection process more open. Ideally, these people will not only become more open through their own changed reflection process, but will be confronted with more different processes, whereby changes in posture, and ultimately openness, can calibrate themselves as the norm.