Anyone can create podcasts. All you need to do is record a record a voice. While spending a couple hours browsing iTunes I noted there are a wide variety of podcasts in varying lengths. And even though digital recording is easy, it isn’t necessary to spend a great deal of time and technology to create useful podcasts. As Richardson said, “one of the charms of podcasting is its unfinished quality. So don’t get worn down by production if it doesn’t suit you.” (p.120). This advice is music to an overworked teachers’ ears!
Since they are downloadable to any portable device, podcasts allow great mobility – like audiobooks on steroids. No more changing tapes in the Walkman every hour; modern storage technology lets you carry hours of your subscriptions with you and the collection will update every time you sync your device.
In addition to Grammar Girl and several NPR programs, I listened to several “Skip the Tuition” podcasts. There were several just for librarians on a wide variety of topics. I enjoy listening to NPR, and podcasts are a lot like old radio shows my mother used to listen to, only without the giant wooden cabinet. Since most NPR programs are still broadcasting when I pull into my driveway, I subscribed to This American Life and Radiolab so I won’t miss any of my favorites. Podcasts allow the creation of Internet radio, and gives everyone another medium in which to publish their blogs.
However, for me, using podcasts presents an interesting challenge. I don’t have the patience to listen to audio. I need video, or to be able to read along while the narrator reads. I don’t normally wear earbuds, and I’m not fond of audio books except in long auto trips. Coleycasts’ enhanced podcasts containing audio and slides are more useful to me, and I can imagine creating short instructional podcasts about technology tips for my teachers and students to make tech support issues more manageable.
The main way I envision using podcasts at school is to record announcements and assignments so that subscribing students and their parents could get reminders about upcoming deadlines. Weekly news broadcasts could be podcast as well as read over the intercom, providing schools with another communications tool. Since Spanish teachers at my school are already using Voicethread and Voki for student assignments, incorporating podcasting into foreign language instruction is a natural progression.
Podcasting lets anyone become a broadcaster using only a few simple tools most of us have at home or school. We can create our own Internet radio shows while wearing pajamas if we want, on any topic we have an interest in. Talking comes naturally to elementary students, so podcasting is the perfect medium for student creating. What a great way for students to speak their minds and share their concerns and ideas with the entire world!
Listen to my Podcast that summarizes my position.
Reference:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.