Blog Post #5

A good number of this week's assignments for EDM 310 are focusing on our next big project: Podcasting! The three sources I chose to read for this Blog Post were The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom, Eagle's Nest Radio & Class Blog, and Judy Scharf Podcast Collection.
The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
In this video and blog post, Joe Dale tells of the many ways podcasts actually improve students' learning. He states that the generation that podcasts are really geared toward are millenials. A millenial is anyone that is born after 1980 who has never really experienced a world without technology. Podcasting provides content that can be listened to anytime, anywhere. It allows for differentiation in the classroom and for greater creativity amongst students. Using podcasts as a teacher is beneficial to the students because if a student is absent, he/she can still access that day's lessons right from home. Also it allows parents to become more involved in their student's learning by providing them the choice of downloading podcasts from their classroom and teachers. The students that were interviewed for this video really seemed more excited and enthusiastic about podcasts and found it to be a more interesting way of learning material. One tip that I will consider using in my own podcasts is using characters. By implementing characters and making it kind of like a television show, students are more intrigued by the podcasts and the content then becomes more memorable.
Eagle's Nest Radio & Class Blog
On this website there was a series of podcasts that a particular classroom of students had produced. The first podcast I listened to was "All Roads Lead to Rome." In this podcast the students had a good use of music and it really got the listeners attention. They gave the listener information about Roman architecture and key characters in ancient rome. The next podcast was all about traveling back in time. The students traveled back in time and held interviews with great explorers of history. The third podcast I listened to was about sharks and shark facts. One thing that I found particularly interesting about this podcast was the students' Make A Change segment. In this segment the students expressed their wishes to save sharks and show that kid's voices matter. It really gave the kids a chance to get involved in big issues at a young age and I thought that was really inspiring. The final podcast was a shark interview with an expert on sharks, Mr. Ward. The students had a pre-prepared list of questions they wanted to ask Mr. Ward about his diving experiences so there was never a moment of "awkward silence." One key idea that I will take from these podcasts and use in my own for EDM 310 is to have a prepared list of questions, if my group decides to do an interview type podcast. Also, something I really liked about these podcasts was that at the end they had a segment called "Rockin' Riddles."  In this segment a student came on and asked the listener riddles about the content they had just heard. I thought this was a really great way to make sure everyone was listening and to measure how much information the listeners were retaining.
Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
A podcast is a cross between "broadcast" and "iPod." It is a radio-style talk show that can be heard by millions of people over the internet. In her posts there was a lot of useful information on podcasting and benefits of doing so. Some of the benefits in education that she discussed were: available 24/7, parents can download classroom lectures, easy to make up missed classes, appeals to auditory learners, and allows an opportunity for students to enhance their communication skills by getting them to create podcasts as well. She also provided many links to documents on how to guarantee successful podcasting students and how to research, create and upload. I will use a lot of information from this site on my own podcasts for EDM 310. For one, I will use her suggestions for research when looking for information to include in my podcast. I will also use her step by step handout for audacity and how to upload if I find that I still need further instruction outside of our Class Instruction Manual.