Podcasts

At university, I have recently felt fairly confused and frightened to make a blog posting about podcasts. To be honest, I had no idea of what podcasting was or what it did, although I am a frequent user of itunes and as I have discovered, podcasting is used in itunes. I have just learnt this through some research I completed on podcasts and through discussion conducted with my fellow Managing E-Learning students.

After reading about podcasts, I have discovered that this tool is an audio technology tool. My immediate thought about this tool was that it would be a fantastic tool to use in the classroom for the varied learning styles, in particular audio learners.

I discovered that it operates a lot like RSS, you are able to subscribe to podcasts through itunes, which is a familiar tool to society in this 21st century. New ‘episodes’ can be automatically uploaded to your ipod or any other audio device for that matter, once subscribed to through itunes or any other podcasting facility. Podcasts are an accessible tool which is available to listeners whenever needed or wanted.

Anyone is able to create a podcast if necessary, which makes this tool easy to use in a classroom because any student or teacher is able to create a podcast whether it be used in a teaching context or a student activity context.

Podcasts can be used affectively for the following purposes:
• Informational content
• Promotional clips
• Interviews
• Industry or organizational news
• Investor news
• Sportscasts
• News coverage
• Commentaries
• Instructional informational materials
• Story telling for children or the visually-impaired

Some skills that are able to be developed through podcasts are:
• Auditory skills
• Technology skills
• Collaboration skills
• Writing skills
• Media literacy
• Presentation skills
• Listening skills
• Information literacy
• Speaking skills
• Communication skills
• Oral fluency
• Storytelling skills

Although I now understand what Podcasts are and their purpose, I highly doubt I would implement this tool in the classroom to scaffold my students learning. I do not feel as though I have enough knowledge regarding Podcasts to implement the tool affectively, although I would definitely consider continuing to learn and use Podcasts. I also believe that this tool may not be engaging enough for early childhood students, as these young students would relate to visual tools a lot better.