Podcasts

According to the article, Podcasting 101, and the New Oxford Dictionary, podcasting is ?a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player. It?s a digital audio file that?s created, shared and heard. (Eash, 2006) Some instructional uses of podcasting would be to deliver a remedial or extension lesson or research information. It states in the article that students learn to ?research, write, develop vocabulary, speak effectively, manage time, solve problems and grab attention? through creating podcasts. (Eash, 2006) Some examples of student projects using a podcast include reporting on visits to places in the community, oral history interviews, dramatization of student?s creative writing and book reviews

Some instructional reasons that the author gives for supporting the use of this new technology in schools is that it gives ?learners point of need access to information, and it disseminates information in exciting ways.? (Eash, 2006) 

Podcasts use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology, which allows you to find, subscribe and download podcasts from the Internet. With RSS, if you subscribe to a podcast, updates are immediately downloaded to your computer, you don?t have to look for them.

I searched for Coulee Kids Podcasts, which the article used as an example of using podcasts as a way to share student learning. I was very impressed. The students recorded on podcast a week and each podcast was delivered by a different student on a subject of choice. Access to the podcast was through their website which also included a Book Blog and an Online Journal. Under the link, teacher materials, they included a podcast rubric and a podcast planning sheet which were created through a collaborative classroom effort.

There were several ideas in the article and on the Coulee website that I would like to use next year. I will be a new Media Coordinator, so the idea of using a podcasts as part of the Media Center orientation tour really interested me. I could see how much more fun it would be for the students and myself! A podcast would mean that I won?t have to repeat the same directions a million times and the students can work in smaller groups! I think that I would record the directions so that the students begin at different points in the media center and perhaps have activities that they are to do along the way. I might also use the idea from Geocaching and leave tips for the next place in the media center they are to go to. I am also thinking about doing an oral history project with the 4^th grades next year, and if I do I would like to have a website that keeps track of our progress. As a part of that website, the students could record interviews on a podcast and record their reflections on either a podcast or a blog which I think would be of interest to the whole community. Another general use would be to podcast book reviews or to have older students read aloud stories for younger students to listen to.

Posted at 05:14PM Jun 18, 2006 by LEOUSIS, REBECCA in General  |  Comments[0]