This pilot study was designed to analyze the perceptions of medical students to short-duration podcasts in biochemistry. Specifically, the study was designed to analyze how and why students accessed podcasts and their experiences in the process. Additionally, an exploratory analysis of the use of podcasts and students’ performance in the assessments was also done. Overall, podcasts were well received in this study and students perceived 3MTLs mainly as a supplementary learning tool. Students felt that 3MTLs were a valuable addition to routine teaching practice and suggested extending it to other topics. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis indicated that students mainly used 3MTLs for revision purpose after having read the topic. Particularly, students reported using 3MTLs for a quick review before assessments. This aspect was corroborated with a spike in the number of visitors and views of 3MTLs a day before assessment in the e-learning portal (data not shown). A smaller proportion of students used 3MTLs as a preparatory tool for gaining a topic overview. Additionally, students also felt that 3MTLs were helpful in improving their understanding of the topic, clarify concepts and focus on important points. These findings are consistent with other previous studies involving podcasts [5, 24, 30,31,32, 53].
Interestingly, half of the students perceived that the length of podcasts was optimum while an equal proportion suggested that the duration of podcasts can be increased to about 5 min. The survey by Matava et al. showed that podcast listeners preferred different podcast durations depending on the content [41]. For case presentations, procedural skills, journal article summaries, and discussions, the preferred podcast duration were 5–15 min, while for recorded lectures, a 15–30 min podcast was preferred; podcasts >45 min were least preferred. Matava et al. explain this observation as “respondents perceive that a certain amount of time is necessary to convey key learning objectives” [41].
Respondents in our study also indicated a preference to the audio and visual component in podcasts similar to few earlier observations [5, 34, 41]. Students noted that the teacher’s voice-over in the background was reassuring and useful in learning while the visual component in the podcasts made them lively. A few students felt that 3MTLs were more useful and interesting compared with reading texts. However, these observations were not shared by the majority, and a few students specified their preference to reading as the reason for not using 3MTLs. These observations further reiterate about different learning preferences among students. Certainly, the inclusion of audio-visual component in podcasts would be advantageous for students with aural, visual or multimodal learning preferences [2].
It was noted that the majority of students reported using smartphones to access 3MTLs followed by laptops. This observation was an interesting contrast since, several studies conducted before 2014 have reported that podcasts were accessed by listeners mainly through computers followed by portable media players [5, 6, 10, 31,32,33, 37, 41, 54,55,56,57]. However, general podcast listenership trends in the USA and UK has shown a shift towards smartphones after 2014 [58, 59]. Keeping in line with this trend, the more recent studies in medical education also indicate that podcasts are mainly accessed through smartphones over computers [60, 61] and our results corroborate with this observation.
Attention to technological issues of podcasts and their perceptions to users are important. Earlier observations show that technological issues are often cited by students as barriers to accessing podcasts [32]. Findings from this present study also indicate technical issues: ease of downloading (streaming) 3MTLs had lower ratings (Fig. 2 ii) and several students who did not access podcasts cited download issues and bigger file size as reasons. Additionally, the ease of downloading was rated lower among students who accessed 3MTLs on phones compared to computers (data not shown). A probable reason for this could be that podcasts were made available through the institution’s e-learning portal, a website best suited for use with computers. An alternative option to overcoming issues with the medium of delivery would be to make podcasts available through more than one portal that allows video streaming (e.g., YouTube, Facebook). Other device-related technical factors could be issues related to internet connectivity, server, browser compatibility, device’s storage capacity, software or hardware. Concerning the format of podcasts, the major feedback provided by students in this study was towards the improvement of audio and video quality. A major reason could be that only basic equipment was used for recording the podcasts. The investigator’s lack of experience in podcasting could be another contributing factor. Also, 3MTLs were made available in 320 × 240 image resolution ideally suited for viewing in handheld gadgets. It is possible that students who accessed podcasts on devices with larger screens may have rated the video quality lower. However, production of high-quality video podcasts would also require more preparation time, costlier recording equipment, and larger file sizes, amongst other factors. The costs and benefits would need to be weighed while considering the production of video podcasts. However, it is important for podcasters to be aware of these issues while deciding on the format and medium of delivery of podcasts.
An exploratory comparison of scores in summative assessments also suggested that use of 3MTLs was associated with better performance. A few studies in the past have used a pre-test-post-test quiz to assess the effectiveness of podcast implementation in comparison to lecture-teaching and showed weak evidence for improvement in podcast group [25,26,27]. Comparison between teaching with lectures and video podcasts by a crossover trial observed that student evaluations were not different between the two formats [8]. In this study, the overall mean scores were not different between students based on 3MTLs usage, suggesting that factual recall is similar amongst students, irrespective of podcast usage. However, the pairwise comparisons revealed better scores amongst 3MTL: Heavy users. It is further possible that a subset of students in 3MTL: Heavy-users may be the primary beneficiaries of 3MTLs since sub-stratification of 3MTL: Heavy users showed that benefit was consistently observed only amongst ‘Above-average performers.’
Some potential confounders of this study are factors about the student’s background related to school education, study habits, learning preferences, and availability of gadgets to access 3MTLs (Additional file 6). The questionnaire was designed to collect information on some of the above factors, but, no patterns were detected in the use of 3MTLs (data not shown). Participants were recruited by convenience sampling, and hence there is a possible sampling bias in the study. There is a possibility of response bias considering that investigator (AR) and participants are well acquainted and AR was also involved in the delivery of lectures, creation on 3MTLs and feedback collection. Another limitation of this study would be the lack of baseline pre-test scores on the topics under study. Finally, data on the total number of views and visitors from the website statistics may be an underestimate, since it does not account for files downloaded and transferred to students by other means. In comparison to previous studies, there are also a few aspects of the methodology of this current study that are worth mention. A major difference would be that fixed, short-duration podcasts aimed at providing highlights of the topic were used in this study, while others have used moderate- or long-duration podcasts [8, 25, 30, 34]. Also, in this study 3MTLs were only provided as a supplementary tool, and hence, assessments were held as per routine teaching schedule, and no additional assessments (specifically related to 3MTLs) were conducted.
Authors’ perspectives
Informal feedback from medical students at CMC, Vellore often suggests that students find biochemistry a difficult subject to study and remember. Lecture capture is not practiced in the author’s institution, and hence students are limited to, lectures and text-based learning resources. The idea for developing podcasts evolved to provide additional resources for students with different learning preferences. The inspiration of the time frame was partly from the Three Minute Thesis competition conducted by University of Queensland, Australia (https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au/). The responses from faculty and students for pilot podcast episode were motivating, and the idea eventually evolved to cover the entire module. The author’s department and institution were supportive, however, no additional resources were obtained from any source. The podcast recording and delivery were done by the author himself using his personal equipment. Planning and creation of each podcast episode required about 6–8 h. The script for the podcast was written in advance and rehearsed multiple times to ensure it fits the time frame. The author found the implementation of podcasts in his teaching module was, by itself, an enriching experience. Though podcast development is laborious, they can be reusable tools to deliver high-yield information to students and may also partly relieve the burden on faculty occupied with clinical, research or administrative responsibilities. In institutions, that do not follow lecture-capture approach, short and moderate-duration podcasts can be useful alternatives.