Podcasts

While completing this blog assignment, I listened to six podcasts. The podcasts I listened to can be found on iTunes. The names of the podcasts were SmartBoard Lessons Podcast, Kidcast, ConnectLearning, EdTechTalk, MacBreak Weekly, and This Week in Photography. Listening to these podcasts really helped me to better understand what podcasts were and how to create a script for a podcast. I now better understand how to navigate my way through a podcast, and also how podcasts can be used in schools. Podcasts incorporate many amazing new technology techniques that will be absolutely terrific to use when I become a teacher.

The first podcast I listened to was the Smartboard Lessons Podcast. This podcast was titled "Teachers Connecting 4: Students View of Edtech and Connections" by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. This podcast discussed the use of smartboards in the classroom. The main part of the posdcast that I listened to was a group of seventh grade students from St. Patrick's Catholic School. This podcast really reminded me of a radio show or a talk show. Students were able to tune in to the podcast and tell why they felt that smartboards were important for learning, and they mentioned tips for teachers who use smartboards. According to these students some of the features that they use on the smartboard include pulling textbook pages up on the screen, color coding work, using the available internet connection, and having much more visible work. A couple of the uses of the smartboards in their classroom included conducting lessons on the smartboard and viewing podcasts on the smartboard.

Second I listened to the Kidcast 59 Podcast titled "Beyond Passive Listening-Active Engagement with Podcasting" by Dan Schmit. This podcast had a little bit of a different setup than the first because there was only one speaker. The main focus of Dan Schmit's podcast was how to create a podcast that helped children become active while listening to podcasts. Schmit listed many ways that teachers could help their children become actively engaged in podcasts. The first idea he explained was creating a scaffold. He said that teachers could create an outline leaving out some key terms or details from the podcast, and they could have their students listen to the podcast to fill in the missing pieces. The second idea for teachers was to provide reflective questions for students to answer after listening to the podcast. Reflective questions should help the student form an opinion of whether or not they agree with the speaker. Third, Dan Schmit suggested that teachers ask for students to write paragraph summaries of podcasts or paragraph reflections after listening to different podcasts. Dan went on to list more ideas that could help teachers actively involve their students in podcasts. This podcast helped me to see how I could use podcasts as a future teacher in my own classroom. He explained many ways to create assignments associated with listening to podcasts.

The last four podcasts I listened to were also very helpful in helping me to better understand what podcasts were and how to better understand how podcasts are done. The EdTech Talk podcast I listened to was "EdTech Weekly 117" recorded on March 1, 2009. The main focus of this talk was the use of different websites by people of all different ages. Some of the websites discussed were twitter, facebook, and myspace. By listening to this podcast, I felt that this was a podcast that people could listen to to familiarize themselves with current technology and current internet sites. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast I listened to was "Episode 129: Cry of the Wild Woz." There were five speakers in this podcast, and the speakers main focuses were new Mac and Apple news. Last, I listened to This Week in Photography which is a podcast that focuses on different camera techniques, technology, and news.

In my opinion it was interesting to listen to how each of the podcasts were different from the others. Some podcasts have only one speaker while other podcasts may have many speakers and also incorporate interviews. The podcasts that I enjoyed the most were the SmartBoard Lessons podcast and the KidCast podcast. Each of these podcast had very good information and techniques that I feel will be very useful as a future teacher. By listening to all of these podcasts, I now have a better understanding of exactly what a podcast is and how all podcasts can be different.