Podcasts - are they a sound project-based learning tool?
I've just read Tim Holt's discussion on podcasting and as I'm in the midst of investigating web 2.0 tools for my ARP, I'm very interested in the variety of opinions surrounding the tools. My main focus is teaching my high school classes with a sideline of tech integration. My question is mainly this... Is podcasting a tool for increasing high school students' engagement? With my limited insight so far, I could see it as another form of "summarizing" and a way to utilize project-based learning strategies. Am I misguided in this? Thanks for any feedback on this.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mathew Needleman on
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Yeah, why not? In addition to the project based learning, there's not a lot of opportunity for students to practice speaking and presenting in typical classrooms and podcasting can help fill that gap. It also provides authentic audiences for student work.
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Permalink Reply by James Dykstra on
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I had my 9s do podcasts that were interviews with famous dead Canadians. One person was the interviewer, one was the late, great Canadian. With about 10 years of teaching history behind me, I don't think I've ever seen my students more excited about researching, writing about, and performing the parts of a bunch moldy oldies.
I would definitely repeat the podcast experiment. To achieve the affective goal of getting students excited about their own country's past, well, it was an outstanding success.
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Permalink Reply by nlowell on
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This sounds fascinating James. And what a great resource to make available for other history teachers!
Where's the feed? I'd like to subscribe!
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I have five posted at www.iwascanadian.com. There probably won't be more until the fall since we did a different and non-techie project instead with my 9s this second term. The quality is a bit uneven (there's a learning curve to this) but it was really cool to do this with dollar store mcrophones, some oldish computers, sound effects from www.soundsnap.com, and good old Audacity software.
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"Is podcasting a tool for increasing high school students' engagement?"
Rephrased -- and the terminology IS important here --
"Does distributing information via RSS attachment increase high school students' engagement?"
My thinking is that it depends entirely on the content being distributed, and the ease of use and familiarity of the students with the technologies which enable that distribution.
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Permalink Reply by Birgit Bonham on
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Is this a matter of semantics? I'm thinking that the distribution is not as important for my students as the authenticity of creating a product that may be heard or seen by more than just the teacher. Nancy Bosch's comment regarding the skills applied in such a project seems to confirm this.
I do really appreciate all of the comments so far. It is satisfying to receive such thoughtful input and it certainly confirms that there is a whole other world outside our classrooms.
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It *is* a matter of semantics. It falls under the category of being accurate about what we're saying.
I know the vernacular refers to any audio archive as a podcast, but that's no more accurate than listening to a cassette tape and calling it "radio." The same audio content can be delivered in a variety of ways which have nothing to do with computers. Many programs which start life as podcasts are now available on satellite radio and get rebroadcast on terrestrial radio. The content is the same, but as soon as you stop using RSS to get the content, it stops being a "podcast" ... the same way that when you watch a tv show from a DVD it's no longer "broadcast." It's still TV, but the delivery mechanism is now different. The equipment needed, the logistics of acquisition, and even the utility of the content shifts as we move from one to the other.
As a matter of fact, I don't think *podcasting* makes one iota of difference. Too few people even know what the heck podcasting is. As example, almost half the people who acquire my audiobooks do so via direct download, and not podcast at all. It's significant to me because that means half my audience is working too hard to get my content. Further, they're missing out on other content which they might enjoy but can't find.
What that means -- that most people are not using RSS to deliver content -- is that they are unable to automate the process of update and acquisition. They are unable to merge and blend sources without intervention. They are unable to extract the pieces of the program that are significant to their practice without having to re-create, re-extract and re-process the universe of content each time they want more. THAT is what podcasting allows ... the creation of a personal, tuned, and pertinent stream of content that is tailored for a particular purpose.
If history teachers were podcasting, those feeds could be aggregated together and made available around the world. If science teachers were podcasting, those audio lessons could be combined by field and grade level and extracted for application where they could do some real good. If english teachers were podcasting then poetry readings, dramatic performances, and even grammar lessons could be combined, tuned, and trimmed for specific use in class. And it could all be delivered to the classroom automatically instead of having a teacher/student/aide track it down and drag it in each time.
But because a) we continue to mis-use the term, we foster the misunderstanding about what the actual meaning of the term is and b) we fail to capitalize on the *real* value of the technology because we don't understand what the potential is because we're just dismissing it as "a matter of semantics."
All that aside, I believe that using audio production tools to create an archive of resources in digital audio has the potential to be very useful. From research to writing to performance and production, post production and archive, all these are key skills which I think can be engaging.
But it's not podcasting.
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First of all, I never intended to sound dismissive of anything, but I sure am glad I sent my comments, because you provided just the type of education I obviously need. I am trying to use the tools I am investigating and to narrow down the scope. Your reply just now is proof that venues such as this are powerful tools. I will be very careful to avoid misusing terms and I am going to learn as much as I can about podcasting to avoid fostering the misunderstanding you are talking about. If you can point me in the direction of resources that are suitable for this purpose, I would appreciate it.
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It's ok, Birgit. It's a very common misconception, but "matter of semantics" is educational code-speak for "it's not important what we call it." In this case, it matters a great deal because so many people fail to understand the significance of the term "podcast."
The key technology here is RSS and the use of specialized aggregators known as "podcatchers" to time shift and download.
At the moment the indexes for various levels and subjects of educational podcasts are limited. IndiePodder used to have a good one associated with Juice .. probably one of the best scheduler based podcatchers. I'm not sure what happened to them but there are about 1700 "educational podcasts" listed on Podcast Alley . I can't recommend any of these because I don't know what they all are, but the iPod Educator Ning might have some more insight.
As for figuring out more about how this stuff all works, may I suggest that you get a copy of Juice and start with a few podcasts you might be personally interested in. I always recommend that teachers learn how to learn with the tech before they try to teach with it, and following a few interesting literature or music podcasts is a good way to gain first hand understanding of the potential and power of these tools.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on
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Thanks for reminding me how easy it is to throw words around without knowing a thing about it. (I actually do it all the time) I've been struggling with podcasting and your posts make me see where it could go and where it hasn't gone. I've always know it was much bigger than what I knew--thanks for enlightening me. I'm with Birgit, that's why I love hanging around CR2.0--nobody in my district would have told me what you did. Later, N
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My pleasure.
The potential is huge.
So far, we don't even itch, let along scratched the surface.
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Our first podcasts (grades 5 and 6) are going to be eye witness accounts of the Titanic disaster. (site under construction)
If the activity is authentic then the podcasts will be a good call. I don't know if I would take the time to listen to students read reports or yammer on aimlessly but would love to do book reviews and more history projects. These types of projects would demand a higher level of writing as well as the public speaking and oral presentation skills mentioned above.
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