Monday, June 29, 2009

Podcasting and Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner

Are you a complete novice at podcasting and podcatching like I am? Then this session was for you!

What is podcasting? It is a series of syndicated media delivered over the Internet. There are several episodes put together that people can subscribe to. Podcasting came about around 2004, we wanted our media at a time that was convenient for us not just the time it was on. Podcasting is unique because it is subscribable. It comes to you! The RSS feed is what makes it happen.

How are podcasts related to blogs? There are many blogs that support podcasting: Blogger, Class Blogmeister, Edublogs, WordPress. Show notes support podcasts by providing links that were discussed during the show.

Podcatchers are what support the podcasts. The most popular one is iTunes. iTunes U is a great supplemental curriculum piece where you an find things such as:
In the Power Search on iTunes you can put the names of several search terms to find what you need.

Podcasting can be used in our own learning and professional development, but it is a powerful student tool. 20% of the time should be production, 80% of the time should be learning. Uses in student learning: virtual field trips, career talks, study guides, vocabulary word of the day, spelling words, roundtable discussion in class, sports commentary, student almanacs, sound seeing tours and book talks.

Podcasting truly supports higher level thinking. Collaboration and creation empowers them to share their voice with the world and get real world feedback. Great podcasts don't live at the bottom level of Bloom's Taxonomy. It is also a great way to assess student work for understanding of content.

Examples of what kid podcast consumers are listening to: Smithsonian Kids, National Geographic Kids, Dragonfly TV, Webkinz Webcast, Super Why! Lucy Grey shared these podcasts that her kids listen to with a Belkin Multi-headphone splitter. Five headphones can listen to a podcast at the same time. Imagine the educational implications?

Libsyn, Bluehost, Dreamhost, your school server, iweb, GoDaddy, Podbean or Podpress are all great services to host your podcasts.

I know that podcasting is one of those things that I have barely dabbled in and would like to learn more about. The Apple Distinguished Educators that ran this session have developed a great wiki to go to for all of their resources. I can't wait to dive in!
http://podcastingforbeginners.wikispaces.com/

3 comments:

Melissa Ross said...

Sounds great - I can't wait to check their wiki out! :)

dayle timmons said...

I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the educational possibilities with podcasts. Can't wait til you guys get home so we can talk about it!

Mrs. Metzger and Mrs. Morris said...

Thank you. This helps me!
Lori