Use of podcasts in learning and teaching

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Technology has changed the process of learning and teaching in the higher education sector. We are using different learning management systems and software to share and create content. As such, educators are generally expected to be tech savvy and learners more knowledgeable.

Not all educators are excited about the change. Digital immigrants struggle to keep up with the speed at which the process of learning and teaching is changing. Many were born before the widespread adoption of digital technology, or grew up not using digital technology at an early age.  

On the other hand, digital natives easily meet the general expectation because they grew up using digital technology at an early age. For them, the transition is less complex compared to digital immigrants. They know exactly what to do and how to do it. 

To avoid becoming obsolete, digital immigrants in the higher education sector will need to work extra hard to narrow the gap between them and the digital natives. Spending huge amount of hours reading and experimenting with the use of digital technology in learning and teaching is one approach.

Moodle as a learning platform is designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalized learning environments. Educators have the freedom to design their unit or course webpages according to their learning and teaching strategy.


Both digital immigrants and natives need to work hard in order to understand how to use the various plugins. Learning to use simple plugins like the forum, quiz and glossary activity modules is a good starting point. For difficult plugins, like the wiki and the SCORM package activity modules, one will need the help of an experienced instructional designer or someone with strong practical knowledge of Moodle.    

The school of thought that digital immigrants will be less quick to pick up new technologies compared to digital natives is against the suggestion above. This means that a carefully planned approach is needed to help the digital immigrants. 

Audacity is a free, open source and cross-platform audio software that is easy to use. An educator can use to produce audio files or podcasts related to the topics in the units or courses they are teaching and share on Moodle.

This year (2019), as part of my learning and teaching strategy for the 3 units or courses that I am teaching, I have created separate forum activity modules for podcasts. The forum activity modules act as an educator podcast library for my podcasts.



I have so far produced different podcasts on: 
  • the different weekly topics
  • my reviews of assessment performance
  • general information for learners
I plan to do:
  • interviews with different knowledgeable individuals
  • commentary on current issues and events


The audio files complement other information shared in video or written format. It will also provide a variety for the learners. Instead of viewing videos on my YouTube channel or reading my blog articles, learners have a choice of listening to an informative audio file. 

Important equipment like a microphone is needed to record. Also, a proper sound proof recording room is needed for a better quality podcast. At the moment, I am using a headpiece with an inbuilt microphone and recording in a vehicle.

Another notable achievement that I should mention is the creation of a learner podcast library. In 2018, learners were tasked to select and answer questions related to various topics. They were required to answer the questions in a series of podcasts. Those taking the same unit in 2019 are doing the same tasks but answering different questions. Thus, learners have the opportunity to listen to what their peers produced in the previous semester.  



Podcasting is a task for learners that adds variety to the learning and teaching experience. Educators who are digital natives can use podcasts in strategic ways to make the learning experience interesting. Digital immigrants will need to work hard to catch up with this development.

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