Invitation to a podcast on podcasts

Recently, I read an article by Ian Lamont about podcasting. Written for a business journal, the author questioned whether podcasting had actually lived up to the hype that had been generated a few years before. He looked at the value in monetary terms with podcasting and asked whether the technology was actually paying off. Essentially, he was asking “How many people are listening?”

Of course, loyal readers of this blog are well aware that I hate when education is compared to business, and I also don’t like people saying that we should do something in education because the “real world” wants us too. (Like education is not part of the real world.)

But pod casting is something that has rapidly matured as a technology, of course inside and outside of education. So, perhaps it isn’t untimely to ask now, whether or not pod casting has lived up to the hype in the education community.

So, I can’t answer this alone. I will need your help.

On Tuesday April 22, 2008, at 4:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time, I will be hosting a one hour Skype chat to discuss the topic: Has Podcasting in Education Lived Up to the Hype?

If you wish to join in on the audio Skypecast, please send Tim Holt in El Paso Texas a buddy invitation so I can add you to list of participants.

It would be very neat to hear from people all over the world on whether or not Podcasting is working as promised, what is being done with podcasting, and whether or not the technology needs to improve.

Let me know if you are in!

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Comment by Tim Holt on April 16, 2008 at 9:45am: Great feedback, thanks to everyone for jumping in.
nlowell, thanks for the congrats and for adding me to your listening list.

I will need everyone's Skpye, I will record the conversation, probably break it into two parts and post on my site. However, anyone that participates can also post on their site as well...kind of a viralcast...

Comment by David Warlick on April 26, 2008 at 9:39am: I don't really know what hype is, in any real way that one could judge whether podcasting has lived up to it. I never thought it would be something that everyone would do or use. It continues to be a huge draw at conferences, and I can't think of any application of technology that delivers so much bang for the investment that goes into it. It's an incredibly accessible technology, both in terms of monetary and time investment -- depending on how you do it.

I continue to see the real value of podcast in the K-12 realm coming from having students produce podcasts as an integral part of the learning week, giving voice to their learning.

Interestingly, my Education Podcast Network continues to grow with absolutely no promotion on my part. It's up to 1,897, with about five or six new ones a week, after I delete out the Spam. Most of them are educational in nature, rather than student produced podcasts.

I would be interesting to figure out a way to go back and see how many of them have fizzled.

-- dave --

Comment by janien on April 26, 2008 at 2:26pm: @ Tim Holt
I hope I can listen to the conversation on your blog! It must be very interesting. As I said before, podcasting is new to me. I have been listening to podcasts from others, but still haven't done it myself...