[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Jonathan_Noorin.jpg” caption=”Jonathan Borrelli and Noorin Manji are working as research assistants in Experiential Education in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]Pick a topic, any topic, and there's probably a podcast about it.
From pets to poetry, podcasts are available on virtually any subject, but can they be used as a learning tool?

McMaster students Jonathan Borrelli and Noorin Manji are trying to answer that question. They're working as research assistants in Experiential Education in the Faculty of Social Sciences to find out if podcasts can enhance the learning process.

Podcasts are just one of many new learning technologies that professors can use to “reach different types of learners,” says Borrelli, a fourth-year political science student.

“It makes learning more interactive,” adds Manji, a third-year sociology and anthropology student.

Working as research assistants was an experiential learning opportunity in itself.

“I've taken a statistics course, and this internship has allowed me to build upon the knowledge I gained from there,” says Borrelli. “It was some of the exact same things I learned in class: how to present statistics in proper format, how to perform a research project, how to write for a research project. It was definitely experiential education at its best.”

Their responsibilities include entering survey data into a database, analyzing that data using various types of software and forming conclusions to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Then they presented their findings to faculty members.

“This internship position has opened my mind up to entirely new possibilities that I had never previously considered,” said Manji. “I feel very lucky to have worked with such dedicated, understanding and cooperative peers and supervisors in the department of Experiential Education.”

Manji said she would recommend the position to “anyone interested in working hard and having fun,” adding that she developed a variety of skills, such as data analysis, time management and teamwork skills.

The student job profile is a weekly series about students working on campus.