Monday June 19, 2006
Blog #6 Podcasting
Description of Tool/Resource/Strategy
According to Eash in ?Podcasting 101?, ?The New Oxford American Dictionary defines podcast as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player."'-^ In other words, it's a digital audio file that's created, shared, and heard.? Podcast files can be audio, video or both. They can be downloaded and listened to immediately or saved for later.
Key Findings from Reading
Podcasting offers options for students with diverse learning needs, from the student who excels to the student who needs teacher materials and tutorials. If the files are video, it also offers the visual learner an option for repetition along with the audio learner. For the kinesthetic learner, a podcast can be played at home when movement is free. According to Eash, ?The podcast is a viable alternative for delivering research content or lessons to students who need remedial or extended support.? Podcasts offer another alternative to engage the digital student.
Reflection
The student profile for my programming courses vary from students who excel easily at everything to the student with an IEP requiring copies of teacher notes and extended time. Podcasting would offer a wonderful alternative for my students to review lessons with which they may have had trouble. The lesson could be repeated anywhere at anytime.
I would like to create audio-visual podcasts of the more difficult topics/skills in my classes. A student would then be able to review the process of creating a class structure or an array or whatever the skill is for that lesson. There are so many topics that I could cover in short lessons in a podcast. I would like to keep the podcast lessons very short and specific, just walking the student through the process for that particular skill. Students really do not need a long lesson. The student could then apply the lesson or re-run the lesson while they apply the skill.
All of the podcasts could be downloaded from my Blackboard class site while students are in class or before/after school. Most of my students have an MP3 player of some sort, if not the actual iPod. Those who did not could download and play the lesson on any computer, home or school.
Podcasting offers so many benefits for the initial investment of time. I plan to look at the lesson I teach for each programming language and pick the most difficult lessons for which to create my initial files. Eash offers great advice on how to create your own podcast from the practicality of finding the software and hardware to advice on production. I plan to start with the software as I have the needed hardware. Anyone with advice and/or experience with software, please let me know what you think. I would prefer a video file as I think it is very important for the student to actually see the skill being performed. If the podcasting does not work out, I will pursue the same concept with Camtasia.
Posted by lpkeller ( Jun 19 2006, 08:11:35 PM EDT ) Permalink
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