Clearly I'm a model of the way to be. Yesterday in our DL meeting one of my chairs said they were considering using a Blog for a teacher resource. While we discussed the technological usefulness and limitations of a blog for that project, I couldn't help but take credit for putting blogging on the map. I invented this, right?
Just a joke, people, to warm up the audience! Now let's get on to our feature presentation!
I'm into podcasts of recent. All the techie colleges and DL programs use them. When my chair was talking about posting a teacher training session online due to low in-person attendance, I thought, why not a podcast? Have a great speaker coming to your college and you want to feature that talk/presenter on your campus website, in advertisements to attract students, etc.? Why not a podcast? Going to a conference and you want to have a meaningful substitution for in-class time and don't want to "babysit" the students with a video? Why not a podcast? Have set up a great round table discussion and want other faculty who couldn't attend be able to participate? Why not a podcast? Need to train faculty and/or students on new technologies? Why not a podcast? Have a lecture you give every semester and you're tired of hearing your own voice? Why not a podcast?
SO WHAT IS A PODCAST?
"The word podcast is a play on the word broadcast combined with the word iPod." (http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/what-is-a-podcast.htm)
Podcasts could be thought of as the aural version of YouTube videos. Both are user created. Both get what you are saying broadcast on the World Wide Web. But with YouTube videos, you are often limited with time and the files tend to be larger. With podcasts, the "time's the limit" (well, not quite) so the medium allows for longer indepth discussions, debates, lectures, etc. that are sometimes called for in an academic environment.
Like a blog or listserv you belong to, you can also subscribe to podcasts. The software program that allows you to subscribe to a podcast is called a podcatcher. So the idea is that rather than "searching" for a podcast, if you subscribe to a podcast new entries get automatically placed on your player when they are posted. (I don't even have an MP3 player so excuse me if any of this is slightly "off" in my non-techno language!)
The podcast, I imagine, could be a way for students and faculty to have "discussions" about material. It's not face to face, but it does allow a form of "human contact" that is different from the written exchange of ideas. I like the idea of students responding to other student's comments verbally. Often times we struggle through ideas when we are talking out loud in class. This offers the possibility for that exchange but in an asynchronous environment.
So apparently I didn't invent this wheel, just like I didn't invent the blogging wheel. :-)
This is a GREAT blog about using technology in the classrooms. Tons of useful posts with concrete strategies. Here's the entry on "Using Podcasts in the Classroom":
http://edtechie.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/by-sandy-scragg/
And Sandy Scragg also wrote this "How to Podcast: Tips for Starting Out":
http://teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/incorptech/podcast_scragg.htm
It's pretty self explanatory but it suggests the following free resource:
http://www.gcast.com/. This would be great for the Empowerment through the Arts end of semester Night of Art at MCNY blowout! I was thinking of having a DJ at the event but students could create their own "broadcasts."
And last but not least, the following "Creating Classroom Podcasts" shows how useful podcasts can be in the classroom: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/NTNY/nychelp/technology/podcast.htm.
Podcasts seem like a technological, pedagogical dream come true!
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