Week 3 Reflections

Well here we are at week 3 - podcasts.

1. Create a personal definition of ‘podcast’ with particular attention to what it is, its purpose, and how it is created or is different from other audio/video formats.

A Podcast or "personal on-demand webcast" is an audio and possibly audio/video file that is uploaded to a server from whence it can be retrieved on demand by anyone interested. In the same sense that blogs can be subscribed to, regular podcasts can also be subscribed to so that notification of new 'casts are sent automatically to subscribers, who can then listen to them at their convenience.

2. Listen to podcasts:
I looked through Learn Out Loud and saw some interesting things under history and social sciences. My problem is that I absolutely loath being read to, I am very text oriented and very visual and just words without action puts me to sleep. I like reading by myself because I can start and stop and go back and figure things out - listening doesn't do it. My husband is the audio book person - he listens when he drives, but it just puts me to sleep. So, I listened to a view podcasts and drank coffee, but couldn't find it in my heart to get excited about this.

3. Create your own podcast.
I'm working on it - I've written a script and am waiting until later when everyone goes to bed so I can do this uninterrupted (and without laughter). I'm doing an "introduce myself" thing for my stat kids. What would be neat would be to be able to put the audio with a powerpoint presentation. I looked into that, and found instructions, but they seem to take signing up for more software that I won't to goof with right now.

4. Please share any really great outside podcasts that you find with your colleagues in class.

I didn't find anything that really hit me as wonderful. Sorry, this one just isn't going to be my thing. Give me a book and I'm happy. I did like the selection of things at Learn out Loud - someone has recorded lectures by Robert Ingersoll, for goodness sakes. How esoteric can you get?

Then consider these questions: “What qualities/features do you find common among the best podcasts?

Topic for me is the first thing I look at - is this podcast something about something I'm interested in. Nice that one can get all those NPR shows, but just not what I'm interested in. The various student podcasts are interesting just from the standpoint of the idea that they can be done.

Does my podcast share any of these features?

My podcast is probably not all that good - other than that it is about me, so of course I'm interested. As for anyone else......

How might podcasts be useful in your classroom or your practice in education?

I'll have to think about this one some more. Math is such a visual thing - at least for me. I can't talk without a marker in my hand - that's why I love the SmartBoard - powerpoint, and a markers, what's not to like. Audio alone is just not that useful. My powerpoints for statistics go on line anyway on my teacherweb page - and I'll do that again next year. I'm not sure how a podcasts would help. Then again I may be putting my own visual style ahead of what my audio based learners would like. But, really, how can you talk math without graphs or equations? On the other hand, I can see a good comedy routine with reading equations - anyone out there remember Victor Borge and reading punctuation marks? There is a joke in their someplace.

On the other hand, some of the best times I remember in lit classes were when we did plays or "radio" productions in class. I can see where doing that sort of thing as a podcasts would just be fun - a good way to get kids to write and present their own work - and show it off to parents and friends (in a more controlled manner than they will do themselves on YouTube).

Can podcasts be uploaded to TeacherWeb in addition to your blog space? Um, I think so - I looked at the teacherweb blog page and it looked like you could insert a link. So I'm going to try that as soon as I've got a podcast

More later. I do promise the podcast by Friday.

Janet