| A podcast is an audio or video clip on-line. Podcasts can be downloaded and listended to on an mp3 player. Many studies have been done that show that students who listen to instructional content on mp3 players achieve higher marks than those who receive the same content traditionally. The educational implications are extreme. |
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| Imagine your absent student being able to listen to
yesterday's content on an mp3 player from home or during recess.
Imagine students being able to take practice spelling tests without the
teacher dictating the words. This is just the beginning. Just listening to a podcast has great educational value.
Students can listen to them over and over again. They can log on
at home and listen again. And, they actually want to listen to them over
and over again. I know as teachers we have all experienced a moment with
our classes where we have planned a really cool lesson to help
our students gain understanding and they just don't get it. Then
someone else comes along and says exactly what you have been trying to
demonstrate to them and the light goes on. There is no explanation
for why this happens. It is possibly the reason why teachers bring
in guest speakers. Those of us who are parents have had similar
situations with our own children. We tell them something, but they
don't believe us until someone else says it! It is frustrating,
but we now have an answer. You have guest speakers at your
fingertips whenever and wherever you want them. You can have
different students listen to different podcasts depending on their needs
and no one needs to know what the other students are listening to.
Merely accessing this amazing techno-tool has huge educational
possibilities. On the flip side, we can expand the educational impact of this tool by having our students create their own podcasts. Again, another opportunity to provide validity to your students' work. Having them record their own podcasts not only gives them an authentic audience, it provides them greater purpose for their work. I recently had the privilege of working with a teacher who wanted to try podcasting. This was our first attempt at an audio podcast. The students shared their response to a question that would assess their understanding of the vsc standard. Because they knew they would be responding for an authentic audience, these children worked very hard on their responses. They practiced reading their responses. Now there is an authentic purpose for building fluency! You should have seen their smiles when I played back their responses. I wish I could be there when they take their parents on-line to hear their responses. Not only do they get to listen to their own responses, they get to listen to and learn from the responses of others. More educational bang for the buck! A podcast can be either audio or video. It is easy to see the value of your students having access to a video podcast. But, the real impact is having them make their own. Again, I have a difficult time thinking of a more motivational authentic project. I have compiled some resources for you to get some ideas on what to podcast and how to get it done. I look forward to hearing you and your students on-line. |
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