10 votes contributed to this data regarding a person's capability to learn from a podcast. Clearly, most people have the hardware, software, and knowledge to learn from a podcast, but their willingness and motivation to learn this way is an area that needs further inquiry. Also, more respondent's are needed to contribute to this poll.

Baseline data......

I posted the question on Fast Company Polls....

Do you have the capability (hardware, software, and knowledge) to learn from a podcast?

And 90% of the people that responded said yes. That is encouraging considering the cost of owning hardware to view podcasts, the knowledge involved in accessing podcasts, and the time involved.

10% of the posters responded they would not want to learn via a podcast. It would be beneficial to know the particular reasons why learning via a video online is not ideal.

Delivery Questions

In our busy lives, having to attend a training at 5pm, after a long day's work, needing to do other things like.....

pick up children
do homework
run errands
exercise
relax

...does not encourage people to want to participate in professional development. Alternatively attending a training during the school day is not feasible since people need to be at school. Principals, assistant principals, department chairs, curriculum specialists, etc., all need to be at their school site.......inspectiing what they expect. Having an alternative method delivery, like a podcast, would afford people the opportunity to increase their knowledge in areas that would benefit their work. Although watching a video is non-interactive, it does provide a learning opportunity. How beneficial it is remains to be seen.

My Action Research Question

I would like to know if podcasts are a viable method of delivery for e-learning/training.

For great background information on podcasts, see......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast


If you want to learn more about e-learning, see......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning