Podcasting

Podcasts, what a fantastic technology to be able to use in the classroom. I have had iTunes for couple of years now and have never paid any attention to Poscasts but they would be a fantastic thing to use in the classroom for all year levels. A podcast is a digital media file, either audio or video, that is released episodically and downloaded via the web through software applications such as iTunes, Zune, Juice or Winamp (Wikipedia, 2009). There are so many different Podcasts you can access and in particular for teachers for Education section is fantastic. I found a series of Podcasts call 'Hooked on Phonics' and it had a variety of animated songs that went trough all the different phonics sounds. During my prac time this year I have been taking Phonics lessons every Monday. I until now not been able to find an interesting way in to introduce the new letters sounds to the class in an interesting engaging manner. I believe though, especially for younger students, these particular Pocasts would be a great hook! Podcasts allow teachers to use a variety of ways to engage student in classroom activities. When students are highly engaged in tasks they have a much greater chance of learning more and developing more positive attitudes and perceptions towards classrooms tasks (Marzano & Pickering, 2006).

Podcasts are fantastic resource for teachers and I will defiantly be using it in my classrooms. They are excellent tool to use to not only engage learners but teach them key learning outcomes in an interesting fun way.

References:

Marzano, R., & Pickering, D., et al. (2006). Dimensions of learning teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Wikipedia. (2009). Podcasts. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast