Some people would argue that what we are calling podcasting isn't, really, podcasting. I'm told that true podcasting primarily involves RSS feeds of serialized content--NPR's "This American Life", for example. It is rarely, if ever, interactive. Only the geekiest technophiles care. Fact is, podcasting is fun, cool, just tekkie enough to be interesting, but easy to learn. It can be done with students in the earliest grades, and done by students as soon as they are old enough to start remembering steps without a lot of coaching.
Podcasting is just the newest way to record student work. We've been doing this since the '70s with cassette and video tapes. The added dimension is putting podcasts on the Web and letting the relatives in Kalamazoo hear the show. Or, being able to download the podcast onto an MP3 player and play it over and over. Which is why it's so good for teaching. On this blog I've linked to our district's junior high school podcasts, Tantasqua News Network, with some good examples. An innovative teacher is showing how podcasting--and the video version, vodcasting--can be used as a teaching/learning tool. Students can download the material as end users, or or make podcasts to demonstrate learning. Either way, its appealing and authentic. This is schoolwork kids want to do.
Later this month I'll be working with my first group of student podcasts. The fifth graders are doing their background research now, on topics they chose, and will be writing their scripts soon. I have just enough time to finishing learning and practicing the skill set so I can teach it to them :)
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1 comment:
Thanks for sharing that podcasting information. I would like to see some classroom podcasts in action. Good luck.
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