The Evidence for Learning Podcasts

Should Podcasting Be Part of Your Learning Mix? is a free guide for anyone weighing up audio as part of their learning provision. Written by John Helmer, a producer with more than 200 episodes across four learning podcasts and co-host with Donald Clark of the Great Minds on Learning podcast about learning theory, the paper sets out what the cognitive science supports about learning through audio. It pinpoints where the medium's real strengths lie, and where it is less effective. It ends with ten questions readers can answer about their own organisation.

The paper's central argument is that audio does things the rest of a learning mix cannot. It accesses learner time that screen-based media can't reach – the commute, the walk, the drive between sites – which matters particularly for the large proportion of the workforce that does not sit at a desk. It carries unusual levels of trust. And the interview format draws knowledge from subject matter experts (a notoriously difficult thing to do) in a more approachable and digestible way, often, than written material can.

"This is a young practice and it's growing quickly," said Helmer. "Though there have been some academic studies, what I haven't yet seen is somebody sitting with the research and working out what audio-first learning is actually best at bringing to the many demands made on learning teams today. I wanted to give people something they could take to a budget conversation or a meeting with stakeholders."

The paper also examines claims in circulation that the underlying research does not support – including the widespread idea that Richard Mayer's work on multimedia learning justifies audio-only delivery, and the belief that audio produces better long-term retention than visual material. Helmer notes that he has repeated the second of these himself from a conference stage.

Interest in the field has been building. The Podcast Learning Festival ran in London earlier this year, and specialist providers have emerged to service organisational demand.