Welcome to the 21st Century, where no longer do students have to sit through boring lectures in a filled classroom! Instead, they can go home and listen to boring lectures using podcasts. I'm kidding!
I believe that podcasts could be very valuable learning tools. First, imagine yourself as a special ed student in a classroom of middle school students. The teacher is up front and expects you to take notes while listening to him/her go on about the importance of photosynthesis. You struggle to keep up with jotting down the main points, let alone trying to figure out what photosynthesis even is! Luckily, you can go home, or anywhere for that matter, download a podcast of the lecture, and you're ready to take it all in- at your own pace! That is the beauty of podcasting; you can rewind and listen to it as many times as needed to understand the concept.
Now what would be even better is if that teacher was using vodcasts! These would appeal not only to audio learners, but also to visual learners. It's quite difficult and even uncomfortable interrupting a teacher in the middle of a lecture to ask them to slow down or answer a question you may have. Having these lectures online to rewind and replay as much as needed would be helpful, and gives you the chance to reflect on what has been taught and write down any questions that you might have. (I am assuming there is follow-up of some sort from the instructor, along with practice, and assessment.)
To take learning even further, having students create their own podcast (as our assignment requires us to) makes the tool even more valuable. I like the idea mentioned in our textbook, Web 2.0, on page 57. "The students plan and produce full podcasts covering class news, movie reviews, fashion, sports, and more." What a great way to introduce the power of research, writing, and preparation!
In the article, Using Podcasts in the Classroom, the author says, "Making their work public motivates students to do their best work–their most creative, planned, and precise work." I believe this could be used for almost any subject area, and students would put forth more effort to make sure that what they are doing is high-quality work. Not to mention, it would be fun for them!
My only concern with podcasts would be the time commitment. In a 45-minute period, how do you get podcasts researched, written, and created for groups of students? I suppose what I'm doing with the instructional videos would be considered a vodcast, and even these take a lot of preparation and extra time on my part. Something to think about I guess.
Stay tuned for my podcast used with 6th grade Math Students!
I believe that podcasts could be very valuable learning tools. First, imagine yourself as a special ed student in a classroom of middle school students. The teacher is up front and expects you to take notes while listening to him/her go on about the importance of photosynthesis. You struggle to keep up with jotting down the main points, let alone trying to figure out what photosynthesis even is! Luckily, you can go home, or anywhere for that matter, download a podcast of the lecture, and you're ready to take it all in- at your own pace! That is the beauty of podcasting; you can rewind and listen to it as many times as needed to understand the concept.
Now what would be even better is if that teacher was using vodcasts! These would appeal not only to audio learners, but also to visual learners. It's quite difficult and even uncomfortable interrupting a teacher in the middle of a lecture to ask them to slow down or answer a question you may have. Having these lectures online to rewind and replay as much as needed would be helpful, and gives you the chance to reflect on what has been taught and write down any questions that you might have. (I am assuming there is follow-up of some sort from the instructor, along with practice, and assessment.)
To take learning even further, having students create their own podcast (as our assignment requires us to) makes the tool even more valuable. I like the idea mentioned in our textbook, Web 2.0, on page 57. "The students plan and produce full podcasts covering class news, movie reviews, fashion, sports, and more." What a great way to introduce the power of research, writing, and preparation!
In the article, Using Podcasts in the Classroom, the author says, "Making their work public motivates students to do their best work–their most creative, planned, and precise work." I believe this could be used for almost any subject area, and students would put forth more effort to make sure that what they are doing is high-quality work. Not to mention, it would be fun for them!
My only concern with podcasts would be the time commitment. In a 45-minute period, how do you get podcasts researched, written, and created for groups of students? I suppose what I'm doing with the instructional videos would be considered a vodcast, and even these take a lot of preparation and extra time on my part. Something to think about I guess.
Stay tuned for my podcast used with 6th grade Math Students!
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