Podcasts

This assignment gave me a much better understanding of what a podcast is and what their uses can be. The podcasts assigned were mainly informative, designed to expel information about a specific topic/subject. However, after listening to these podcasts I noticed that on the itunes store there are many different purposes for podcasts. Some are for entertainment, news, comedy, and there are even podcasts on podcasts! I chose 3 podcasts of the six we listened to to write about that I found the most engaging.

Ed teck talk was the most engaging podcast for me. I listened to episode #31 about self-directed learning. It began with a fun introduction of each speaker and a short explanation of what self-directed learning means. They explained that self-directed learning is usually set up by someone else, but utilized my the individual. Electronic Village Online is one place that students can go to online where you can pick certain posts to check on regularly and learn from. It is not something that you need to see every day or else you get behind. You can pick your interests and choose when you want to look up any updates.

The next podcast I found very interesting was kid cast. This began with the introduction of the host and an update of what he had been doing since the last episode. He then introduced the topic. The topic was how he disappointed to see that the podcast were created by students because they were required to and not because of an interest. The content was not focus in the podcasts, the focus seemed to be the assignment itself. The host explained to the listeners how to make students want to make a podcast and how to organize them to where there is an easy way make multiple episodes and an easily-flowing conversation of these episodes. The point is to have an extended academic conversation!

The smartboard lessons podcast is a very helpful tool for teachers seeking free ways to engage students in what they called mind concept maps with other students and teachers online. In this episode, there were two speakers. At the beginning, they introduced themselves and the topic, which was different blogging platforms. They then spent most of the show talking about different sites for student blogging.

Each podcast was nicely organized and fun to listen to. To be honest, I thought that it would be very hard to keep my attention without a speaker to look at. It was much easier then I expected, and I enjoyed this assignment!