To be honest, before enrolling in this class, I was familiar with the term "podcasting," but that is where the familiarity ended. Our tech department offers what is called "mini-t's" where many different technology topics are addressed. Last year, there was a training on podcasting...I now wish that I had taken that class. I agree with the authors of the materials that I read, in that this is a fun way to learn. In a world where almost everything that we do revolves around technology, I can see how podcasting would and does keep students engaged and learning.
I found the ideas/projects in Kristen Fontichiaro's "Podcastin101" to be beneficial in suggesting the many and varied ways that podcasts can be used in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed viewing some of the podcasts that were available online. I could hear the enthusiasm in students voices as they read, talked, and/or discussed their projects. Using the podcasts to assess students learning is a great way for the teacher to evaluate his/her teaching as well as student learning.
WHAT WOULD I DO????
If a teacher approached me about podcasting, I would tell him/her that podcasting is new to me, but I am very interested in learning more about it. I would do some research, and I would also do a school-wide survey to see if any other teachers are interested. If there was a significant number of interested teachers, I would ask out tech department if it would be possible to set up a group training one afternoon. If there was low interest I would ask for training for the interested party and myself. I feel that once the two of us were able to create some podcasts and show other teachers how their classes could benefit from podcasting, interest would grow. I am interested in increasing student learning and knowledge. I'm also excited to find innovative and different ways to encourage learning and participation and that is why I would be interested in helping this teacher (and myself) learn more about podcasting.
I agree with Fontichiaro in that project should start small. I believe that an excellent starting point would be with booktalks. I intend to begin creating some booktalks for the media center and including them on our school web page. This would be a great tool in interesting students in books. I can also envision students doing book reports using podcasting. As teachers become more familiar with podcasting, they could use them in instruction. I feel that it would be beneficial for teachers to record tutorials for lessons and post them to the school website. Students who have difficulty with homework assignments could go to these podcasts for additional help (and parents,too). It might even be helpful to have students record tutorials.
The possibilities for using podcast in schools, media centers, and classrooms is endless and exciting.
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13 comments:
I think the mere mention of the word “podcast” tends to overwhelm people. We do not realize that podcasting is simply allowing a person or small group of people to record their thoughts, opinions and insights and disperse them to the masses. I agree that this choice of media can be a great benefit to students struggling with homework assignments or simple subject tutorials. Starting small is indeed a good start for those that are not comfortable with technology and there appear to be growing resources on the web for creating and implementing podcasts in the classroom.
I really like your idea about giving a survey to the staff, I hadn't thought about that. I also mentioned using the tech department, but I only suggested that I would use them for my own purposes, and not as a staff development tool. Using podcasting as tutorials for both students and parents really appeals to me. I can't tell you the number of times (while I was a teacher) that parents lamented the fact that they did not know how to help thier children with assginments because the material was unfamiliar. I love your ideas.
You are right that this is a new and exciting tool for the classroom. I like your ideas about training teachers and showing them how this can be a valuable part of the curriculum. I also like that you mentioned how a podcast could help parents at home with their child's homework. The possibilities are endless. You are right in the fact that we should start slow and learn all we can before introducing something like this to our faculty and students. We have to be careful.
Hey Jill,
I was thinking when you said that you plan on starting up book talks that it might be a good idea to offer it to the students. They love to be in front of the camera. Perhaps you could do the higher level books but offer simpler ones to the children. Unfortunately, children often listen to their peers more than to adults. Just a thought. But if the ones who are not readers hear someone their age talking about a book they may pick it up and read (another reason for the simpler books to be done by the children).
I don't know if you read my idea about using podcasting for student who are homebound, but it kind of goes along with your idea of using for students who are having difficulty with the material. I could use this idea in high school science in fact!
I liked your idea about conducting a survey of the staff to find if other teachers were interested. If interest was limited at first, I can foresee that once others see the benefits of podcasting they may be enticed to learn more. There is so much new technology out there and it is essential that as instructors we stay current. In many cases the students can teach us a thing or two! I also found the online podcasts enjoyable to watch and learned a great deal about what we can do.
Jill, I am very new to podcasting too, and feel it is an exciting tool that we can use in the classroom. I agree with finding out who in the building is interested in podcasting. Many minds working together is geater than one. You could have someone right in your own building that is very knowledgeable and the whole podcasting idea could take off!
Book talks are an awesome avenue for the medium of podcasting. Rotating weekly or biweekly book talk podcasts on the media center’s web page would be an innovative way to both involve students in the media center and showcase new or favorite books. Podcasting would not only benefit the media center or the teacher but students will be learning a technology that has become very popular today. Book talks are perfect for them to use to learn this technology because they are typically comfortable talking about books they have read and liked. It may be more awkward for students to podcast on new content or information that they are not comfortable with.
Your idea for a survey is a great start. You could create the survey through Google docs and share it with the staff so that they could easily complete it. You would also get instant feedback without having to handle any paper. I might include a podcast introduction and sample before the survey so that those veteran teachers with little technology experience understand what you are asking about. You have put together a good plan to help this theoretical teacher.
So, several of us seem to be in agreement that podcasting may be a pretty neat and appropriate tool for the media specialist. My question is, what if the "tech department" doesn't know the first thing about how to podcast?
What a great way to introduce the term "podcast" to teachers. I would also go as far as to invite other administrators who are interested. A "fun" learning session for students would also be very beneficial. I can't say that I have heard much about including the tech. department for this area. This seems to fall under one of the many hats that media specialist wear. Personally, I am enjoying the research and the exciting options for classroom learning. There are so many different avenues for the teachers to offer instruction today. It's just a matter of teaching/educating them and of course learning as we go along.
In response to KH, I'm fortunate in that I know that at least one member of our tech staff knows a great deal about podcasting because she conducted a staff develpoment on podcasting last school year. If I were in the circumstance that no one on the tech staff knew about podcasting I would learn all that I could and teach others what I knew/know. I would check iwth those who are interested in podcasting and possibly forma committee to "learn" together. Also, through the survey, I might be able to find someone in the building that had a firm understanding of podcasting.
I never thought of conducting a survey to garner who besides the teacher who made the request would be interested in blogging. That is a novel concept in that as media specialists, we should seek to understand the needs of not only our students, the primary patrons, but also faculty and staff. Further, I am impressed by the "train the trainer" approach as it demonstrates a willingness to lead, yet a determination to evoke independence ammongst our peers. Thank you for sharing.
I love your idea about posting tutorials to the school website as homework help. Students and parents can refer to these when trying to complete a project or just a homework assignment. So often there is a communication problem when students are trying to explain to their parents exactly what their project is suppose to be about.
The other problem is that as the students progress in school, the parents know less and less about what they are studying. (decimals, algebra, calculus...)By having a podcast to refer to parents can see exactly what the assignment is and bone up on the topic as well. Great idea!
I'm with you but I don't think my county technology has ever even offered anything on podcasting. I had heard the term but have not a clue where or why because I did not know what they were before I took this class. After reading your post I began to think about the benefits podcasting could offer for students demonstrating understanding of material. This not only would a great way to assess learning but it would also be a way to build a students interest in using new and creative technology instead of the same old boring pencil and paper assessment routine.
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