Podcasts

06-30-2008

If you're interested in learning more about podcasts, check out Grammar Girl's podcasts. I think this website shows how a podcast could be used in a classroom. Her podcasts are quite short (most under 5 minutes) and provide interesting examples to help students learn a concept in a short amount of time.

As far as justification for using podcasts, here's a quote from material provided during our seminar on podcasts:
"Podcasting is a dynamic and engaging communication medium for both consuming digital audio content as well as producing it yourself. In the 21st century, students need to be engaged not only in intentional and reflective practices of multimedia CONSUMPTION, but also in the process of multimedia PRODUCTION. Podcasting has inherent benefits for student motivation (given the existence of a global, authentic audience) and communication skill development. If you want your students to become better writers, authors, and communicators, then they need to be podcasting." (Source: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/resources/podcast-resources/)

Another site that was kind of interesting, that we looked at during the seminar, was from a local high school that used it for Shakespeare study. Check out the Skowhegan H.S. Julius Caesar podcasts. They did a dramatic reading & analysis of a speech from Julius Caesar - some of them are really interesting! And, I can see how kids might actually be more thoughtful about their choices and analysis versus doing a traditional presentation.

Let me know what you think!