Senior year of high school my history teacher tried something with our class that I had never experienced before. She would create podcasts outlining our homework chapters that went along with powerpoint slides. We would download them, listen to them, and have an easy way of accessing, organizing, and referring to our notes. I still have these podcasts on my computer and they range from WWI Battles to WWII Phases to Marxism and Socialist Movements. I am not the biggest history fan, but these podcasts made learning more interesting because we didn't have to sit and read a textbook for hours outlining each and every chapter. Furthermore, since it was an AP class, she decided that we were all going to break into groups and make our own podcasts covering a variety of topics which would help the class study for the exam. So, my partner and I created our own podcast discussing WWII, identifying important people, places, terms, etc. She then wanted to take it a step further and include a Wikipedia page that would mirror each podcast so if students preferred they could read instead of listen, however we did not end up doing that. Overall, I felt that this was a new way to teach a class and get them involved in the text without flipping through a textbook every day. We got to create something new and use modern technology to make history more appealing and exciting. (Sorry to anyone who thoroughly enjoys the subject, it's just not my favorite.)
Strange, but funny:
My junior year my teacher from my media class raised a possibility for a podcast that would talk about all the elective classes being offered in the next school year. We were going to get a few teachers to talk about the classes, and have some kids talk about their experiences in the classes. We ended up making a video instead of a podcast because we could show the video in school, whereas the podcast had to be put online and listened to kids at home. If they were watching the video in school you knew they would be seeing it, but if it was online there wasn't a way to guarantee they were listening at home.
ReplyDeleteHere's an example of the video for the Computer Programming class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09p4kW5_4A
Also, I forgot about Ask a Ninja! That's a throwback...
Hahaha, that sounds like a good way to explain classes though. Fordham should explore putting links to podcasts next to course descriptions. Students can then listen if they don't feel like reading, and it also makes the information extremely accessible to those that may be impaired in anyway.
ReplyDeleteExcellent example of how narrow the narrowcasting of podcasts can be, and how useful. And of course, unlike video, podcasts can be listened to on the go.
ReplyDelete