The Role of Podcasts in Higher Education Worldwide and in Georgia

Abstract

The podcast as the technique of enunciation, was born in the United States in 2001 when Dave Winer, an entrepreneur and computer developer inserted the first sound file. In 2003, Christopher Lydon, an American journalist, used this technology and started broadcasting the first media podcasts to offer a "show about the world". In France, the first site in French for podcasts was born in 2002. Its creator Arte Radio immediately saw great success. In this way, the practice of podcasts begins to invade all of Europe and the whole world. The podcast is becoming a medium that wants to offer a different vision from traditional media, whose subjects are chosen by the listeners. Unlike conventional radio, audience concerns are no longer taken into account, freedom is greater as an intimate medium, and lyrics are less calculated and less restrained. Nowadays, the podcast has attached itself to major institutions and different fields in which education and higher education occupy an important role. Considering its popularity, many university education institutions have opted for a particular mode of broadcasting audiovisual educational content: podcasting.

In our article, we will try:

• Explain the effectiveness of this new method when teaching;
• Find and analyze why students often prefer podcasts to traditional courses;
• To present qualitative and quantitative research on the use of podcasts in education, as well as to make a statistical comparative research of Georgia compared to other countries.