Emerging Technologies- Podcasting

I have to admit before i started this assignment i really had no idea what a podcast was. I have heard people mention them and i have seen them available on the itunes store. Little did i know i wasn't as clueless as I thought. After doing some research i realized that i created a podcast before, in fact lots of them! I just had no idea that's what i was doing, or that's what they were called. So if anyone is as clueless as i am, i have found some pretty good information to help us out! A podcast is a collection of individual audio episodes typically recorded and edited on a computer and then uploaded to a web server. The name pod casting actually originated from two words. The "pod" of name came from the most popular media device, the ipod. The "cast" part came from the word broadcast. That also helps us define a podcast. One of the main reasons the podcast is becoming so popular is that it is so easily accessible. Anyone can make a podcast! The only materials needed are a computer, a microphone, and software. The software, audacity is most commonly used, can be downloaded free on the internet. Leo Laporte also described podcasting as "TiVo for the radio". Podcasts are very convenient and adapt to our lifestyles. We can download a podcast and listen to it whenever we want, or record whenever we want. Most people think that you have to have an ipod to listen to a podcast. Thats not true you can listen to them right on your computer. Earlier when i defined a podcast it said they were "individual AUDIO episodes". While that is true technology is already advancing. Now there are video podcasts, and enhanced podcast. An enhanced podcast simply has pictures to go along with the audio.
How it works >



One might be wondering, as i did, how does all this podcast technology relate to education? The first and most important relationship of the podcast is with the children. Education is always trying to keep up with developing technology. Sometimes it seems like the kids know more about it than the teachers. Instead of fighting it, embracing the podcast into education has accounted for an unmeasurable amounts of success and improvement. Podcasting can be used for lessons plans for an unexpected absence, announcements or weekly news, advice on homework. They are also a great and more efficient way to implement class projects. The audio podcast can be used to conduct an interview. In the video podcast students can use props and costumes to portray a specific decade in history, for example. Embracing the students' love of technology is motivation to the. Embracing technology makes teaching flow a lot easier. It is not just children who know about these podcast. Surprisingly a lot of adults do too. This pie graph gives us an idea of the different age groups using podcasts.



I experienced podcasting in two of my classes in high school and didn't even know it! These were my experiences and also great ways to use podcasting in the classroom. My first class to use podcasting was my spanish class. We started about 3 years ago going to the computer lab and doing activities with audacity (the podcast software). In our class our prompts were in our textbook. One might say get with a partner and have a conversation in spanish and follow such and such guidelines. We would then have to record ourselves, save it as an Mp3 file, and our teacher would get on a listen to them. She would be able to grade us and make sure we were participating. It was also a great way to just practice speaking spanish. The second way I interacted with podcasting was my senior year in Chamber Choir (concert choir). We were required to log two hours of practice outside of school each week. Some of the songs were quite difficult. Our teacher was able to create podcast and post them online of the songs, along with individual parts so that we could practice.
This is an example of a video podcast.


For more research you can go to youtube where they have some great videos by respected and trusted people. I used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFKNcdCdLM by Jason Rhode and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExkMeQfuLGc&feature=related by Colette Cassinell