Podcasting anyone?

2006-09-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

So I checked out a podcast. In short I hated it!!!

Listening to the podcast on podcasting was excruciating for me. I am a kinesthetic learner and the fact that podcasts are all auditory was a major problem for me. I found myself daydreaming, zoning out, and thinking “When will this be over?” Throughout the podcast, I often thought about my students and how they respond to auditory assignments. I was reminded that not all students learn in the same way, and that this technique could work for a great many people. Just because I had a hard time with it, doesn’t mean that it is not valuable.

After getting over my own misgivings about podcasting, I realized that this is a great tool to add to the teaching arsenal. However, since not everyone learns the same way, a teacher would have to tweak the technique to engage all learners. The first thing I would do is add a visual part by either having a copy of the article or a stream of the words like closed caption television. Another idea I had is to require an active listening log which would engage the kinesthetic learners. In it they could note important information, make predictions, question, or make connections. This is actually what I did when I listened to the podcast to keep myself on task.

I realize in this day and age of passivity due to the abundance of video games, television, and computers, we as educators must get used to using rich media to engage the learner. If we choose not to keep up with the changes in our society, we are doing a disservice to the students. We need to take advantage of the medium that the students are comfortable with in order to maintain a quality learning environment. The best thing about adding this to an educator’s toolkit is that it does not cost a dime if we do our research.

The use of podcasting in education is already happening. As a middle school teacher, I find myself a little torn on the issue of using it in the classroom. I like the idea that I can have the students listen to a podcast within the classroom. My concern is that when I teach I often take bits and pieces of a given text in order to teach a concept. I am not sure if I would be able to do this with a podcast.

All in all I think it is a great tool, I just don't know if I am comfortable enough with the technology to utilize it just yet.

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Podcasting anyone?

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