As I toy with creating my own podcast for the first time
this week, I am inspired to see that this type of media offers many benefits to
adult learners. There are a wide variety of free or affordable options that can
help one develop an audio/video podcast with limited if any difficulty. I
downloaded Camtasia at the suggestion of classmates and am looking forward to
trying this editing software. It came as a 30 day free trial with full use of
the product. Not bad!
Students today are comfortable working in a digital world.
They have done it most of their lives! This type of media is a part of their
day to day life. Podcasting provides an opportunity for students to use media
they already know and are comfortable with to think critically and create new
knowledge. They may download the podcast
to their smartphones, mp 3 players, Ipods and more devices. This creates a convenient
opportunity for one to learn when and where ever they choose.
One can create a podcast on almost any topic imaginable. This
provides students an alternative to passive book learning. Through podcasting,
students gain opportunities to use other strategies to learn. Statistics show us
that the most popular form of podcasts are those created for educational
purposes. Lecture podcasts, though popular, are just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately
these seem to be the most widely used form of podcasting in education. The drawback
to Lecture podcasts is that they remain passive and do not provide learners
with an opportunity to create. Educators need to be careful not to provide too
much material using this format. Keeping ppts brief forces students to not just
read everything they need to know.
Educators may find podcasting assignments useful in
obtaining valuable information as to how well students are mastering the
content. By allowing students to create their own podcast, instructors can
evaluate learning from their peers.
Unfortunately, since podcasting is still fairly new and
growing rapidly, patent laws are still being created to cover publishing rights
of individual creators. Therefore instructors must be aware of what is permissible
and what is not in the classroom. Though
podcasting can provide so many new and innovating ways to teach and learn, one
must remember to search for reputable resources.
King, K. & Cox T. (2011). The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Felix, I., Stolarz, D. (2006). Hands-on guide to video blogging and podcasting. NY: Elsevier.
King, K. & Cox T. (2011). The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Felix, I., Stolarz, D. (2006). Hands-on guide to video blogging and podcasting. NY: Elsevier.
Hi Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some interesting and thought provoking ideas in your post about podcasts.
First, I was intrigued by your comments about how available podcasts are for students to use anytime and place via mp3 players, ipods and the like. While I realized this to be the case, I had not really thought about it in the context of adult learning. These mobile devices really do shift the classroom out into the world, even beyond what laptops or desktop computers can do. I think instructors should embrace this opportunity and encourage their students to access his/her blogs via mobile devices whenever they have a "learning window".
Second, you mention above that many instructors are using podcasts only for lectures. You discuss that these types of podcast are passive and do not allow the student to be creative. I am wondering if you can share some ideas on what types of podcasts instructors could use to create a more active experience for their students? King and Cox propose linking activities with audio or video, where the student pauses playback to complete a task and then resumes the lecture (p. 82). What other ideas have you seen?
Holly
King, K. P., & Cox, T. D. (2011). Video Development and Instructional Use. In K.P. King & T. D. Cox (Eds.) The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology (pp.76-88). United States of America: Information Age Publishing Inc.
Thank you, Holly. I would prefer to see an assignment where the podcast is created by students. Since many are comfortable with this type of media, they might find more enjoyment from it, and at the same time develop higher learning skills beyond that of memorizing facts. Students could demonstrate and understanding and begin to develop from the existing knowledge.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolyn-
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog! After reading Holly's comment and your response to it, I was wondering if you see any value in instructors using podcasts in/during lectures and posting them for students to access later? I think that I would have gotten a lot more out of those big impersonal lecture courses with hundreds of students in the if the professor was able to record a summary of the lecture or at least the difficult material so that I could listen to it in a different setting.
As stated by King (p.37), instructors who record certain important sections of a lecture so that students can play it back later are utilizing a powerful strategy. Do you feel that this is worthwhile? Or can instructors use podcasts in a more meaningful way?
Rebecca
King, K. P. (2011). Podcasting. In The professor's guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.