Podcasting- Week 7

(Covers questions 2 and 3 of the Reflection)

Well, I have had some experience with podcasting in the past, and I find that it can be interesting and even useful at times, but there is so much to look through and listen to.  There tends to be an awful lot of garbage out there because anyone can post a podcast, and some are nearly meaningless.  By the time you listen to some of them, you've wasted valuable time, but it is something interesting when you find the diamond in the rough.  As far as educational settings go, it's tough to find useful podcasts, but some of the reviews help.  I have searched many different podcasts this week for the assignment, and not many of the educational ones are very good.  I found one I wanted to link that was a classroom project, but it was 33 minutes long, so it would have taken forever.  Therefore, I want to hit on another couple that I have seen.  The first one (not linked) was found through Itunes by "browsing" podcasts in the education category.  I found one called "Smart Board Podcast" that I subscribed to.  There are 148 different posts, and most are about 45 minutes in length.  The two I listened to were very informative in setting up different lessons on a smartboard.  Some of them go into specific subject areas, and give the listener further capabilities that the average user doesn't know about.  These are posted by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger.  It's a lot of listening, but overall pretty good.  

(I tried to link this one, but it didn't work)  The one I want to link is something kind of fun.  It is an elementary math series that was produced in the UK at Millthrop Schools.  It is called MMY News (Millthrop Math York) and has some fun and useful skits set up with various scenarios to teach some basic math principles like adding fractions, long division, and multiplication skills.  It was something I found on Itunes, but for some reason can not get it to link up. 

Lastly, without getting too deep, I can see podcasting as a useful tool if used carefully in education or in business.  In education, it would be great to have students create a podcast that would teach a concept they are learning.  I think asking students to teach something helps them learn it even better anyway.   I can see where searching for quality podcasts could be a huge issue since anyone can post one, and most are not useful.  However, given a little time to play around with it, I can see how in business and in education, finding that diamond in the rough could be a valuable tool that may save time in the long run.  It's providing the learners with a new perspective, and it's a cool new tool that they can learn from.   I have seen this being used for foreign language at the college level already, but I can definitely see where this could be implemented as an additional learning tool in public schools in the future.  Especially in subjects like foreign language, where audio learning is of key importance.  

With all that said, I can't say I think searching for podcasts would be the most effective use of planning time, but it's definitely a tool that could be useful when you find the one that fits the topic.  Finding the right one might be tough however!