The article I read gave an easy to understand definition of podcasting. It said that, "A podcast is a series of audio or video on the web that can be cataloged and automatically downloaded." (learninginhand.com) It also gave several examples of educational podcasts that teachers could use: "Grammar Girls... MathGrad...and First Amendment Minute." Getting these podcasts for classroom use is a quick and easy process. After opening Itunes or Yahoo, use the search tool to find what you need. There are also podcast directories like Podcast Alley that can help with your search. After you find your podcast, simply download it and it's ready to be heard or seen on your computer or MP3.
Podcasting is a great tool in the classroom. The simplicity of the process makes it very useful and efficient for both teachers and students. It is also a good way to enhance a lesson or lecture. One of the greatest benefits to students, in my opinion, is that the podcasts can be put on their iPod and listened to at any time. This makes podcasting a very convenient study tool. While students may not always be near a computer, an iPod is small enough to carry anywhere. Another great use of podcasting is to have students make their own podcasts. This will allow them to be creative and to present information in a way other than papers or essays.
As with any new technology, podcasting has room for improvement. Since it is a fairly new concept, many teachers and students are not familiar with podcasting. It is important that teachers be educated on this subject so they can effectively use it in a classroom setting. Also, whenever dealing with the internet, it is important to make sure the students are not receiving inappropriate content.
To read this article, visit
http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/
2 comments:
You have a very good article and hit all the important parts of a podcast. The most important part, I believe, for a teacher would be monitoring the content in which the students recieve.
How I've seen podcasts used in classrooms is mostly the teacher subscribes to podcasts and then hand-picks the episodes for students to listen to. For instance, when students are studying Japan, the teacher would find episodes from various podcasts about Japan. The teacher makes a playlist of these episodes in iTunes for syncing iPods or listening. Or, these episodes can be burned to CD. Tech savvy teachers might even make their own news feed containing just those individual episodes.
Broome is right in that the teacher will have to monitor content. I like to remind teachers that iTunes has a Parental Control setting where content marked "explicit" in the iTunes Store won't be downloaded. This isn't a perfect solution because podcasters self-identify their content as "explicit." You can't always trust that podcast content is school-appropriate (or accurate, for that matter).
P.S. Thanks for reviewing my site!
Post a Comment