The Podcast, the PowerPoint, and the Pie-in-the Sky Web site
Abstract: This paper presents results from an ongoing, three-year case study of the perspectives of 13-year-old students on the value of podcasts, PowerPoints, and Web sites for their own scholarly advancement. Thus far, one hundred sixty nine middle school students over a span of three years at the University Laboratory School in Hawaii completed an 8-item Likert scale survey and three open-ended questions regarding their perceptions of each type of multimedia. Majority of the students favored the creation of Web sites in the eighth grade, but shift towards PowerPoint presentations in higher grades. Results indicated that podcasts are not favored at younger or older grades. Students cited that PowerPoints forced them to be organized and make more critical decisions towards relevance, therefore making them prepare better presentations and research papers. Implications for teaching and learning strategies are discussed.