Podcasting in Instruction: Moving Beyond the Obvious, Ruth Reynard
IN this article, Ruth Reynard takes blogging for education one step further. She claims that while blogging is powerful because of the way it can reach so many, it is a station based activity. This means it is not very easy to be mobile while blogging. However, she claims podcasting allows for the same amount of information to be passed on while being able to do it from anywhere. It allows the author to get out their thoughts in voice form, rather than needing a computer with a keyboard, and then allows the recipient to garner the knowledge without the use of a computer with a screen, simply using an iPod or similar device. It helps with collaboration because that many more people will have access to the material and be able to respond rather than only those with a keyboard and screen at their fingertips. She claims that once you get the hand of podcasting, the user would need to go beyond the norm of simply recreating the in class experience and allow the students to move forward into new areas that allow them to do more than just listen to the static lecture.
Teaching with Technology White Paper: Podcasting
This article, by Carnegie Mellon, allowed the reader to learn the ins and outs of podcasting step by step, broken down like an outline on how to create a podcast, when to create it, why to create it, and what to do once it is created. It uses studies published previously to lend credibility to the reasons why an instructor needs to podcast certain areas and where to move forward from those podcasts.
Love the idea behind Ruth Reynards article on podcasting in the classroom, but I felt a little disappointed at the end because I didn’t receive much guidance on where to go from simply broadcasting a lecture, other than I needed to move forward in new and innovative ways—nothing that tells me what others are doing that is new and innovative, just to do it. It left me feeling empty about where to go from here since I haven’t podcasted before and wasn’t really sure what I could do with it on a normal basis, much less new things.
The White Paper on Podcasting gave me everything that the Reynards article left out in the beginning—the ins and outs of getting the first podcast up and going. It laid out the 3 main steps for me, what makes a podcast different from just a regular audio file, and when a regular file is more worthwhile than a podcast (and vice versa). The graphics are fantastic when trying to show me the steps of podcasting, allowing me to simply follow the flow chart.
Quote of the Week: “Most students perceive lecture podcasts as a tool for review, rather than as a replacement for attending lectures.”
When I went to college in Korea, I sometimes asked an instructor if I could record the class if I felt a topic of a class was very difficult for me when I was reading the syllabus of the course beforehand. It was very useful, especially, when I had an exam, the recorded lecture helped me a lot to better understand some abstract concepts that I could not clearly define in class or to identify some important issues related to a topic by listening to the lecture again. I think this was old-fashioned version of coursecasts. Podcasts are much more convenient than recording a class individually. I think many college students can be benefited from podcasts by accessing to course content whenever they want and need it.
ReplyDeleteKristen,
ReplyDeleteI just have to comment here...I, like you, gained a lot from the graphic depictions in the White Paper on Podcasting article. I hadn't realized that developing a podcast includes more than just recording an audio file. The picture diagrams in this article helped me see all the steps very clearly. Not sure I'm ready to launch into creating a podcast, but it was very helpful for me.
One more thing...I hung onto that quote when I was reading the article too. It seems that some instructors feel threatened and fear that some students will use the podcast as a means of skipping class. But, I think responsible students will use it for what it's useful for, most likely review. This is especially true when the face to face lecture is helpful and effective in its own right.