February 7, 2010

Kids Podcasting

What Podcasting is All About


I listened to Eagle Nest Radio Click Here to Listen and "The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom" Click Here to listen and watch this vodcast.
Each showed me a little bit about what a podcast exactly is and how they should be done. So far I've gathered that podcasts are like a radio-style talk show where music can be added and there is typically a host. It seems almost like acting. It can be purely informative or done as an interview or you can incorporate a little of both methods. If more than one person is talking in the podcast, there needs to be an organized conversation. A script is useful for keeping the podcast organized, it makes it easier for listeners of the podcast to follow the conversation. If music is going to be incorporated in the podcast, then it definitely does not need to be overbearingly loud to where the listeners can't make out what the speaker is saying, and it needs to be appropriate and relevant to the topic being discussed. I also found it helpful when the speaker would say what they were about to talk about and what they had just finished discussing. It just helped keep me on track.

I think the use of podcasts in a classroom are such a helpful tool. I wish all my teachers would use podcasts for lectures and assignments and put them up on the Internet for students to listen to. Podcasts are instruction that can be listened to anywhere, and i just think the benefits of a teacher making a podcast of a review of whats going to be on an upcoming test far outweigh the negatives (if there are any). I could listen to the podcast not only at my computer at home, but on my iPod in the car on the way to take the exam. Brilliant. The elementary students seemed to like it and they get to teach what they've learned to others, and when you have to explain something to someone else you retain the information better, at least I think so. The students on the podcast and vodcast I watched and listened to, seemed to me, that the making of podcasts excited them about learning, and it helps encourage the honing of their creative skills. Its also useful when kids are sick; they don't have to miss any school work, and the parents can see what is going on in their child's classroom, something I think most parents can appreciate.