Podcasting in Geophysics Education: How to Learn Without Removing the Headphones

The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has caused innumerable changes in today's society. While ICTs are also present in the classroom, the approach to content during class time retains its traditional structure. Innovative proposals aiming to change traditional methodology could be of great benefit for students, seeking to turn the student into the centre of their own learning. Among these innovative proposals, the Flipped Classroom has gained more relevance owing its success to the use of video, audio and text files that are sent out before the synchronous class actually meets so that students have prior access to contents, downloaded into their smartphones and accessed whenever and wherever they wish. This paper aims to investigate the benefits of using an innovation “Flipped Classroom + Podcast” in a Geophysics course for Geology students at a private Chilean university. A descriptive research approach is used to determine if the use of podcasts has a positive impact on students' attitudes and if they are perceived as a useful tool in knowledge building. The data was obtained at the end of a six-month period through validated instruments such as Student Satisfaction with Educational Podcasts Questionnaire (SSEPQ) and “Student Response to Instructional Practices” (StRIP). Results and implications of this pilot study are discussed at the end of this paper and point towards students attaining greater motivation and engagement. Such findings have triggered further longitudinal studies to be undertaken for 2021, whose results would be available in the coming months.