Podcasting. I was still teaching English overseas when I first heard that word in 2008 and, I must admit now, I had no idea of what a podcast was or how useful they could be. Through a stroke of luck, however, I was able to gain knowledge about podcasting that same year from a fellow teacher that was employed at the school as I was. It was through her that I was able to make sense of the fundamental usefulness of the podcast as well as discovered my first podcast, about using smart technology to teach ESL to South Korean students. I was immediately taken with this new technology. Since that time my knowledge of the history of podcasting has grown along since with my knowledge of how to create them. Over the years since then, I have discovered podcasts that pertain to all of the my hobbies and also create a few new key hobbies too. However, before my class on this very topic I had created just one podcast that was meant to fulfill a requirement for a Masters-level class I took during the Spring semester of classes at Nazareth College. As a result of the work I did on my podcast, which had as its main focus a short narrative of the life of the first king of the Tudor dynasty, King Henry VII, I feel that the podcast is the most important and useful technology for delivering knowledge to students since the creation of the blog.
I like that you mentioned how podcasts have introduced you to new hobbies and interests, I have found that podcasts have done the same for me. By listening to various different podcasts my world has been open to the discovery of information that i never would have thought I would be interested in. Not only can podcasts be a tool used within education, but they also have the potential to be a means of education, a non-traditional and non-formal method of education. When students are introduced to the world of podcasts they can begin to see how they can seek education on their own.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the podcast had more potential than what teachers are currently using them for, especially if the teachers decides to take on tutoring efforts outside of the classroom he or she works in. I believe that teachers can begin to understand the podcast and its potential by identifying how they themselves can shape it with the podcast series they create on their own. For example, a teacher can create a podcast geared towards teaching second language learners the English language who live in a foreign country by posting the file on the internet so these students can download them. If they understand the potential for the podcast then these teachers will also be able to see reasons why the podcast will be a great success both inside and outside their classroom with students.
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