During my weekly online browsing of The New York Times, I ran across the following technology article on podcasting in K-12 classrooms:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/technology/techspecial2/25podcast.html?ex=1295845200&en=b1ea7dde9555ae35&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Again, I discovered more great resources, including links to actual student podcasts (http://lacrosseschools.com/longfellow/sc/ck/index.htm) and teacher podcasts (http://nausetschools.org/podcasts.htm). I also found out about the Education Podcast Network (http://epnweb.org/), which lists good podcasts for teachers, and some elementary schools which have podcasts that I might want to check out.
The article addressed what I admit were some of my own apprehensions regarding podcasting; at one time, I had mistakenly assumed that podcasting required iPods or mp3 players. Having listened to many podcasts since on my computer, I now know that I was very wrong. However, the thought of podcasting still scared me.
The article asserts that using podcasting in the classroom is easy, with the most difficult part being learning the software. Since I am generally quick at learning new software, I think that perhaps I can pick up podcasting quickly as well.
I guess my next step is checking out some of the 400 and 900 podcasts that iTunes and Yahoo respectively list along with some of the other resources the article mentions.
Before I do that, I just wanted to put some of my thoughts down about this article. It seems that educational podcasting jives very well with the constructivist approach to learning. As students create podcasts, they are constructing knowledge from experience. Podcasting provides an experience through which students can learn more and express their learning with the world around them. Through this technology, the student truly engages and interacts with the world around them, constructing knowledge as they construct podcasts.
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2 comments:
I, too, was apprehensive about podcasts when I first learned about them in detail last semester. I now know that there are many available for use in the classroom that can enhance my curriculum. List you said though, it is a matter of sorting through them to find the right ones. The article was an interesting read. I agree that podcasting can be scary, but once you get used to using this particular technology, it becomes easier :)
Jessi
I am hoping to try out my first classroom podcast after spring break! I want to expose my class to a variety of different educational podcasts, and then give them the opportunity to create their own.
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