I’m typically not a “talk radio” fan, and even after listening to several podcasts, I admittedly prefer the ones with accompanying pictures or videos as opposed to audio only. My mind tends to wander when my ears are the only sense needed, and for that reason I’m hesitant to state that podcasting will revolutionize or transform the way I teach. Still, from my experience discovering and exploring different podcasts, I can certainly see a three-fold benefit of using podcasts: as a form of professional learning for me, as an alternative source of information for student learning, and as an option for students to demonstrate mastery of specific standards.
I used iTunes as my podcatcher, since I already employ this tool as a music library on my laptop. I first subscribed to the TedTalks Education podcasts and found in them a wealth of inspirational and motivational discussions that lend a new perspective or insert a bit of humor into the educational arena. I can see the TedTalks being used as openers for professional development sessions, since the topics discussed are often thought-provoking and relevant; as a matter of fact, my principal used the TedTalk from Rita Pierson, “Every Kid Needs a Champion,” at our first faculty meeting of the year. Still, I had a difficult time finding podcasts that I would truly consider education-related “professional development,” since most of the podcasts labeled education aimed to teach something—a foreign language, accounting, etc.—but were not about the field of education.
Yet, as we strive to give students different ways of accessing information, podcasts seem to be another viable alternative for providing students with needed knowledge. Not only could a teacher assign students a podcast on a specific topic, such as any of the pertinent and relevant podcasts by Grammar Girl, the teacher may also create her own podcasts for the purposes of delivering information; if these podcasts were then accessed by students at home, the teacher would have an excellent model for the flipped classroom. It might also be effective to assign students Merriam Webster’s podcast “Word of the Day,” or even the Poetry Foundation’s “Poetry off the Shelf,” which offers students access to a contemporary poem about once a week. Teaching students to be regular subscribers to informational platforms will certainly benefit students even after leaving the classroom. Still, I am such a visual learner that I think it important to reiterate that students should be given the opportunity to access transcripts of the podcasts, rather than only the audio, since many will prefer to read information instead of listening. Furthermore, teacher-generated podcasts introduce the idea of copyright, and teachers must ensure that they adhere to fair use guidelines when delivering copyrighted information (such as information taken directly from a textbook or novel) via a podcast.
Yet, perhaps most exciting about the potential of podcasts involves allowing students to create their own podcasts. Richardson (2012) describes several different potential uses for student-created podcasts, including entertaining podcasts that are less-structured, such as “Joke of the Day,” as well as those which extend student learning on specific issues or standards, such as “Students Teaching Students,” a student-run podcast from the International School of Thailand through which students share reading and writing strategies for other students to access. As a high school and AP English teacher, I seldom perform lecture, preferring student-generated discussion instead, so the idea of the flipped classroom does not strongly appeal to me, yet I can envision numerous ways in which my students could use podcasting or podcasting tools to demonstrate their understanding of specific concepts, skills, or novels. For example, after studying propaganda and media advertising, students might create their own radio commercials using specific propaganda techniques. Similarly, students might write and then record an imagined dialogue between two characters in a story or a fictional interview with the novel’s author. A teacher could record recitations of original poems for parents to hear at a later time or important guest speakers for those students who are absent. Students and teachers might give other students feedback on essays or other assigned writing through recorded media, though these recordings would probably not be made public, due to privacy issues. The potential for foreign language, music, history, and science teachers to use student-generated podcasts is great as well, and again provides students with a different medium for accessing information as well as demonstrating understanding.
I did give podcasting a try this week using PodOMatic. Here is my podcast describing the final assessment in my upcoming AP Literature unit on Fences and A Lesson Before Dying. My hope in the future is that I can record myself delivering this type of instruction to my class as well as the questions students ask in relation to the assessment. Those students who are absent can benefit from not only my description of the assignment, instead of simply relying on the written instructions, but also the questions that their classmates ask.
I used iTunes as my podcatcher, since I already employ this tool as a music library on my laptop. I first subscribed to the TedTalks Education podcasts and found in them a wealth of inspirational and motivational discussions that lend a new perspective or insert a bit of humor into the educational arena. I can see the TedTalks being used as openers for professional development sessions, since the topics discussed are often thought-provoking and relevant; as a matter of fact, my principal used the TedTalk from Rita Pierson, “Every Kid Needs a Champion,” at our first faculty meeting of the year. Still, I had a difficult time finding podcasts that I would truly consider education-related “professional development,” since most of the podcasts labeled education aimed to teach something—a foreign language, accounting, etc.—but were not about the field of education.
Yet, as we strive to give students different ways of accessing information, podcasts seem to be another viable alternative for providing students with needed knowledge. Not only could a teacher assign students a podcast on a specific topic, such as any of the pertinent and relevant podcasts by Grammar Girl, the teacher may also create her own podcasts for the purposes of delivering information; if these podcasts were then accessed by students at home, the teacher would have an excellent model for the flipped classroom. It might also be effective to assign students Merriam Webster’s podcast “Word of the Day,” or even the Poetry Foundation’s “Poetry off the Shelf,” which offers students access to a contemporary poem about once a week. Teaching students to be regular subscribers to informational platforms will certainly benefit students even after leaving the classroom. Still, I am such a visual learner that I think it important to reiterate that students should be given the opportunity to access transcripts of the podcasts, rather than only the audio, since many will prefer to read information instead of listening. Furthermore, teacher-generated podcasts introduce the idea of copyright, and teachers must ensure that they adhere to fair use guidelines when delivering copyrighted information (such as information taken directly from a textbook or novel) via a podcast.
Yet, perhaps most exciting about the potential of podcasts involves allowing students to create their own podcasts. Richardson (2012) describes several different potential uses for student-created podcasts, including entertaining podcasts that are less-structured, such as “Joke of the Day,” as well as those which extend student learning on specific issues or standards, such as “Students Teaching Students,” a student-run podcast from the International School of Thailand through which students share reading and writing strategies for other students to access. As a high school and AP English teacher, I seldom perform lecture, preferring student-generated discussion instead, so the idea of the flipped classroom does not strongly appeal to me, yet I can envision numerous ways in which my students could use podcasting or podcasting tools to demonstrate their understanding of specific concepts, skills, or novels. For example, after studying propaganda and media advertising, students might create their own radio commercials using specific propaganda techniques. Similarly, students might write and then record an imagined dialogue between two characters in a story or a fictional interview with the novel’s author. A teacher could record recitations of original poems for parents to hear at a later time or important guest speakers for those students who are absent. Students and teachers might give other students feedback on essays or other assigned writing through recorded media, though these recordings would probably not be made public, due to privacy issues. The potential for foreign language, music, history, and science teachers to use student-generated podcasts is great as well, and again provides students with a different medium for accessing information as well as demonstrating understanding.
I did give podcasting a try this week using PodOMatic. Here is my podcast describing the final assessment in my upcoming AP Literature unit on Fences and A Lesson Before Dying. My hope in the future is that I can record myself delivering this type of instruction to my class as well as the questions students ask in relation to the assessment. Those students who are absent can benefit from not only my description of the assignment, instead of simply relying on the written instructions, but also the questions that their classmates ask.