Thing 14: Podcasting

So, I watched all the tutorial videos and went to itunes, Podcast Alley, and EPN to see some examples. I can see that having students make podcasts would be a very high interest activity for them and one in which they would be motivated to research, pratice, and produce their best work. I can also see that they and their parents and friends would love to watch the podcasts. However, I didn't find the elementary class podcasts that I watched to be especially informative or valuable to anyone other than the students who produced them or to students who wanted to create their own. So that means elementary podcasts are helpful to other elementary students if those student also want to make podcasts? As with any part of the web, the ease with which a webpage, podcast, or other post can be made does not mean that it is of particular worth other than an exercise in using technology. Technology for technology's sake?

The professional development casts that I found dealt mostly with producing technology, not with enhancing content or disseminating content.

I did find a podcast with digital photography tips http://feeds.tipsfromthetopfloor.
com/tftf that might prove helpful--though the lengthy introduction was a bit much. The grammar girl casts could be useful too--students often find it easier to listen to someone other than me when it comes to grammar http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx. I downloaded several interviews with authors from itunes--ones that my fifth grade students might enjoy. Probably the podcast that would generate the most excitment in my class though, is the Harry Potter prognostication podcasts from http://www.hpprogs.com/ .

Several of the sites that were listed as having podcasts did not make the viewing of the cast at all simple. I clicked on icons, links, hot buttons, you name it and sometimes I got lucky and other times no sound or video appeared.

After this ramble, I would summarize by saying that I think there is potential for the production of high quality educational podcasts that could be used in the elementary classroom, and maybe even produced by the elementary classroom, but the emphasis needs to be placed on content rather than technology--the technology should be seen as the vehicle for delivering the information, not an end in itself.