Exploiting the Educational Potential of Podcasting

Clearly, podcasting can be a huge benefit for schools. I can think of a few applications right off:

• Classes (obviously)
• School announcements
• Teacher reports to the parents
• Guest speaker presentations
• Internal School news magazine
• Faculty development

But in what ways can the podcasting phenomena be exploited within education? In reality, there are so many possibilities and, ultimately, the creativity and imagination of teachers and learners will drive the educational podcasting agenda in future. However, there are three areas where the potential of podcasting could be realised within schools:

• Devising a cross-curricular activity;
• Providing alternative teaching approaches;
• Promoting and using personalised learning.
  

The potential of using audio material to support learning has been around for some time. Podcasting can not only build on the range of existing material that exists in other formats, but can also be tailored for specific in-house topics and learning activities in many curriculum areas.

Broadly, the advent of podcasting provides teachers with the potential to employ alternative approaches to teaching and learning by:

• building and extending existing audio methodologies (tapes, CD, on-line);
• providing bespoke content linked directly to class topics and curricular activities;
• creating additional materials to extend the "gifted and talented" and supporting those with specific learning needs;
• supplying instructional content to reinforce particular curriculum tasks or activities;
• presenting additional materials to support independent learning for revision and homework.

For some time, teachers in primary schools have used audio tapes to provide children with material to listen too. Often, these are associated with the development of language skills, particularly at Key Stage 1. For older children in primary and young people in secondary schools, such materials are also used to supplement the teaching of foreign languages. The advent of podcasting is already being considered by some on-line publishers as another medium because it naturally builds and extends the existing approach for audio books into the realm of "on demand", at anytime and anywhere.

Creating materials that are tailored specifically for the more able learners or those needing additional support has always been a challenge to teachers. Podcasting may also provide another option to consider when presenting certain material to different groups. There is scope for involving support staff in the development of such materials, particularly where the activities may, of necessity, be repetitive in nature. One such example is instructional activity - such as conducting an experiment in science. Another is revision, an area that frequently challenges young people, their teachers and parents alike! The on-line Bitesize series produced by the BBC takes curriculum content, breaking it down into more "manageable chunks".

Could a series of podcasts provide material that links directly (or otherwise) to learning in school? For the learner there are some advantages - they are listening to the "wisdom" of somebody they already know and likely to motivate and inspire the extra effort! Its the scaffolding and the expert other that is highlighted here!

The potential uses are limited only by the imagination, time and resources that are available and the relevance of the activity.

Podcasting is not, of itself, a magic solution, but could complement other teaching methods and enrich the quality of learning, particularly personalised learning.

Increasingly, interest in podcasting for educational purposes is increasing, particularly in the USA. However, as with any emerging media, careful selection of material is an important criterion, especially as some of the podcasts published on the Internet contain adult content.

Podcasting has the potential to offer the following for personalised learning in schools:

• creating audio material for learning "on demand", at anytime and anywhere;
  
• using differential materials that can be matched to the abilities, needs and motivation of identified children and young people;
  
• engaging in curriculum activities grounded in an emerging technology and integral to the worldwide communication revolution;
  
• providing curriculum-related teaching and learning in a wide range of contexts and in different locations both within and away from school.

As with all technologies, podcasting has the potential for releasing the imagination of children, young people, their teachers and parents/carers.

Russell Educational Consultancy & Productions

Although podcasting can be seen as a great and new wonderful tool to use within our classrooms...is it really? To be successful, it seems to me that we have to rely on so much being 'just so'. Although I know of plenty of children [within the schools that I have been to on practicum] have access to iPods, mp3 players and the like; there are plenty of children that do not have this access. They have parents that mayhap cannot afford them, don't see them as relevant, or even know nothing about them. I still have come across children that have no access to a computer or internet access after school ends. Whats the school meant to do in this case? Dole out iPods to all its students on the first day of school? i can't see this happening. Although children may get a kick out of creating a podcast, and I do believe they have their place and have a high educational value, I sometimes think we are getting to optimistic about incorporating all the fancy gadgets and tools within the education of our students.
I also wonder how many older students would not only download lecture notes to revise, but actually listen to them? So would it help? I think most students would be in the same situation as they are now...download the notes early, sure, but never get round to reading them until the assignments due or an exam is looming.
Yes, podcasting opens the door in education to really think outside that elusive square, but the reality in fact is...are we as teachers really interested? We already have within schools, the few teachers who are known as the 'ict teachers'...the ones who know how to do 'stuff'. while the remaining teachers don't bother to upskill until it is absolutely necessary. Won't the same happen if we introduce podcasting? The same few teachers will get behind the new technological wave while the others 'leave it up to them' to take care of. Students and teachers alike then miss out on the opportunity to be productive and creative.
These are only some of the barriers that schools and the education system will have to face as the age of technological tools comes to the fore. I personally can't wait to use some of these ideas, I can see the benefits as well as the downside. The downside will have to be dealt with eventually, but from what I have seen so far...the more eventual, the better for some!

In Their Hands: Students as Podcast Creators

Teacher Daniel Foster jokes that, these days, he doesn't hold much hope for student writing. Student podcasts, however, are another story. Two years ago, he introduced podcasting to his English/Drama class, a course centered on the exploration of old-time radio production (see http://www.thetheaterofthemind.com/). The class culminates when students produce their own piece of podcast radio theater. "I think their [podcast] work is actually better than their writing is," Foster says. "They do all the acting. They choose the music. They do the sound effects. Their work is very professional-sounding. There are a couple of pieces on the Web site for the class that are really quite good. They can certainly stand up to much of the podcasting that's out there." After the class concludes, Foster delivers the class podcasts to the public on a monthly basis. To date, the site has had more than 150,000 visitors.

For some students, they would benefit from learning in this way. For those who are better speakers than writers, for those with short attention spans when having to sit through creative writing sessions...maybe this would allow them the opportunity to create the same output, but within a media that is more fluid and has less pressure? The students that have difficulty putting ideas down on paper, that worry about written spelling and grammar...I think this would almost be a godsend for them. Creating their story/writing audibly instead of visibly would ease the pressure and help to raise their sense of self efficacy surely?

John Vickery took Foster's course during the first semester it was offered. If he took it again, he says, his only suggestion would be to weed out the rest of the class papers in favor of more podcasts. "It was much more creative. I would never compare [podcasting] to any paper," says Vickery. "It's much better than writing a paper. It's more interesting, much more fun, and much more creative. You get a lot of time to work on it, and it's more collaborative because you're working with other people. You're creating the performance as you go and then continuously working on it." Creating a podcast didn't mean less work, he says. There was editing, song selection, rehearsals, and scriptwriting. But it did mean interacting with the material on a much more intimate level. Tiffany Chen also took Foster's class. "I don't hate writing papers," she says, "but I really enjoyed putting time and effort into creating a work that could be given to the public. It puts it on a different level of importance and allows for more creativity since it is in word and sound."

If students went into this knowing they were creating something for an audience (other than writing in a book for only their teacher to read) wouldn't they see the importance of thinking through what they were doing with a clearer view in mind of what they were wanting the world to see?

When it came to learning, the students say that the creation of the podcast provided a real and viable link to the course material. "We were able to study different methods used in old-time radio—we wrote papers discussing different uses of music, sound effects, and representation of characters—but it was especially useful to put these ideas into practice to truly understand the effort and thought that goes behind it," Chen says.

I like this...providing a real life context for students to relate to...giving them something to connect to and using the technology that is more relevant to them in today's society.

Throughout the course, students also listened to examples of old-time radio using iPods in class. "Without creating one yourself, I don't think you understand fully what it was to do a radio show," Vickery says. "Podcasts were really just another chance for us to do radio theater. You definitely learn a lot more physically doing something and actually seeing what people might have gone through to create radio theater."

I agree fully with this...the only way to learn fully and understand the complexities involved is to experience something for yourself. I personally didn't know how to use a mac computer at all until I took this ICT course...I've always been a pc girl. No one could explain how to use one...I had to learn through my own experiences of doing.

Part of that "learning through doing" came from learning the technical skills necessary to capture, record, and transfer their broadcasts. The class used Audacity, a freeware application with "some bugs," they say, and iPods provided by the university. Many students bought microphones or additional recorders to get better sound. "Even with an iPod, you could get pretty good sound quality," Vickery says. His group did a rebroadcast of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and he had problems figuring out how to muffle the audio to create a "phone voice." "I had no idea how to do that, so I just messed around with the ways you could manipulate sound until I figured it out. It was really cool," he says. So cool, in fact, that the rest of the class wanted in on the secret. He refused to tell them.

That feeling of achievement has been demonstrated here. how great is it to discover a solution for your problem on your own?!

Mark Frydenberg, a professor of computer information systems at Bentley College in Massachusetts, says that watching his students experiment with the technology is one of the highlights of his "Introduction to Technology" course. Throughout the semester, he asks students to craft video podcasts, six to ten minutes long, that recap key lessons from the week. The first group, he says, started by simply reading a script to the class. As the weeks went on, the students discovered new features—screenshots, music editing, PowerPoint slides—and each subsequent podcast incorporated past elements and new ideas. By the end, the students were even tacking on "blooper" reels to get a few laughs.

"It was sort of a trial-and-error thing," says Sean Finnegan, who created his podcast for the class using screenshots. "It wasn't too difficult. We just recorded the video and edited it on the computer. We played around with it, and it all came out in the end. We could have talked about the information in a lecture, but that's different from making a podcast because you really have to know the material to be able to explain it to the class."

The students are asked to download their classmates' work and then comment on the podcasts in a class blog. Jared Westfall, who is currently enrolled in Frydenberg's class, downloads his peers' videos when he's bored and sitting around the dorm. "They are usually funny and reinforce what I have learned in class in a fun way," he says. "It's a better experience making it than having to sit in a lecture."

Besides the entertainment value, Westfall and Finnegan say that the podcasts were especially useful for reviewing material. They used the podcasts as refreshers throughout the semester and during exam time. In addition, creating a segment meant that they had to brush up on their own knowledge of the subject.

A terrific opportunity here to enhance student's study skills here. By recording their own podcasts of what they have learnt so far, students can use these audio notes to prepare for tests and exams. Wouldn't it be ideal, to spend time creating your own podcasts of what you have learnt, and know that you are able to help others revise and learn as they listen to your podcast?

Confessions of a Podcast Junkie

Benefits of Podcasting for Teachers & Students

Take a stroll across any school grounds these days and you’ll see iPods, MP3 players and other types of portable media devices everywhere you look. These trendy gadgets have become a way of life for today’s students and a growing number of teachers' are starting to capitalise on it through podcasting.

Pioneering a powerful new form of online communications, podcasting for teachers has become an effective way of interacting with students outside of the traditional classroom. It enables the delivery of radio-quality content that can be listened to anytime, anywhere – even when students are not connected to a computer. But before incorporating it into the curriculum, its important to examine some of the benefits of podcasting for educators and how others are already using the technology to improve and expand the education of their students.

Podcasting isn’t just about turning classroom lectures into online audio content. Many teachers are turning PowerPoint presentations into podcasts, while others are using it to provide detailed audio explanations of frequently asked questions or as a tool for students to practice their vocabulary at home. Students can also create their own podcasts to interact with instructors or other students. In short, podcasting for those who educate adds a new dimension to teaching by making it a "cool" interactive communication between teachers and students

Parents also benefit from podcasting as it allows them to take a more active role in the children’s education. By simply programming their computers to automatically capture school broadcasts, they can keep track of how their children are doing in class and get the latest school announcements.

The primary benefit of podcasting for teachers' is quite simple. It enables teachers to reach students through a medium that is both "cool" and a part of their daily lives. For a technology that only requires a computer, microphone and internet connection, podcasting has the capacity of advancing a student’s education beyond the classroom. Educators need to perceive devices like iPods and other portable media devices not as distractions to learning; rather, capitalize on it and turn them into effective tools for learning.

Learn the basics of podcasting from Colette Cassinelli, a technology evangelist, who will teach you everything you need to know about using podcasting in your classroom.

Introduction

A podcast is a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term, like "radio", can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

It is my intention throughout this blog to demonstrate not only the value of incorporating podcasting within the classroom, but also offering a critique of this aspect of advanced technology.

I have found that podcasting can be very valuable inasmuch as it helps the teacher and students reach their educational goals, by facilitating thoughtful, engaging learning activities that are designed to work in support of those goals.

http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/archives/369-Does-Podcasting-Have-Any-Inherent-Value.html

However, it is also clear that there is the fact that students' experiences listening to lectures and lessons via podcasts confirms what many teachers and lecturers already know: that the pedagogical value of podcasts depends almost entirely on student motivation and the learning "context" of the application.

So although technology has advanced to a state where podcasting and itunes can be utilised within the classroom, it still comes down to the teachers role in ensuring that learning is occurring. One cannot rely on the advancement of technology to do the teaching for them. The context has to be motivating within itself.

In this video, Jason Rhode provides a brief introduction to the technology of podcasting and mentions a few of the instructional benefits and considerations for using this new medium for information delivery.