While I found all of tech tools in use presentations helpful
and insightful to some degree, the one I was most skeptical about in the
beginning was the use of podcasts in the classroom. However, after watching the
group present and reflecting upon how I could use this technology in my class
in some way, I definitely can see how it would be beneficial.
I suppose
my idea came the other day in ED 402 when we were discussing how to help
struggling readers (although someone probably already mentioned this already).
Wouldn’t it be easy to record yourself reading and offer it up as a resource to
those students? I’m sure you could find some audio versions of books on tape
that you could post and have available to the students, but for those (especially
shorter stories) a podcast might be an option for helping struggling readers.
There are a
few things that I would want to practice with and evaluate before utilizing
this tool in my classroom. There are the obvious concerns, such as the availability
for students. There are also concerns for me as an individual, such as time and
literacy. When it comes to understanding how to actually create an exciting and
informative podcast I feel I’m probably lacking. I have to ask myself, how much
time would be devoted to this project and in return how much would my students
utilize this resource?
Overall, I
feel like this could be a very useful tool when used the right way. I see it
used best for struggling readers as an accompaniment or supplement to reading. While
I can also see it as a fun tool for projects I don’t envision myself using it
frequently for activities other than supplements to reading. What did other disciplines
find? Are there benefits to this device that would outweigh the time and effort
it takes to create it?
I think that your idea about how you can use podcasting to help struggling readers is great! I have been struggling thinking about how to use it in the Biology classroom, and that could be a helpful suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking it could be helpful for students that are absent, or students that would benefit from hearing the lecture again, to record lectures that I give and post them on the class website.
If you get anymore great ideas let me know. I am interested to hear how people are thinking of including this in the classroom.
Your idea about using podcasts to help struggling readers is really interesting. I'm a little confused about how exactly this would be accomplished, though, and that probably stems from the fact that I'm a math major and have little to no experience in teaching students how to read! You mentioned recording yourself and providing these recordings as a supplemental resource to students who are struggling with reading. Would they listen to these podcasts before, during, or after (or all of the above) they attempted to read a passage themselves? Is the purpose of these recordings primarily to provide a basis for what they should be getting out of a passage?
ReplyDeleteAs for ideas for using podcasts in other content areas, I really like the idea of having a group project where the students have to explain a concept. Even better, these podcasts could actually be used to teach these concepts to the whole class. In a math class, this might mean that one group explains how to solve quadratic equations by using the square root method, while another group explains how to solve them by factoring, and yet another group explains how to solve them by completing the square. I love that this brings literacy into the math classroom because the students would be forced to verbally explain mathematical concepts without the use of visuals.
Once again, Catherine, your post sparks a great conversation (I love Erin's idea of using the making of podcasts as a way of engaging students in authentic assessment that has a creative flair). You might be surprised by how often books on tape, as a tool to allow students to hear a book read correctly and with animation, are used in middle and high school.
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