Podcasting

Since the link to the "What is a podcast?" was not up, I used a search engine, which led me to a wikipedia definition. It said that an MTV VJ Adam Curry came up with this new source of media. Before podcasting if you missed a radio program, you missed it. With podcasting, this is not the case. It is also a way to produce your own radio program through Really Simple Syndication (RSS) or access other programs that do not have radio airwaves. What's more is that this technology is free.

I learned from the FAQs that podcasts could be in the forms of audio, visual, and document. This page also gave information on how to put podcasts on ipods, how to find podcasts in other languages, and how to put parental controls on the content.

I used to teach at East Oakland Community High School and some of our students worked with a tech savvy English teacher in creating podcasts. Seeing this, I think they can potentially contribute much to education. They tap into a technology that students are already excited and knowledgeable about. They have to participate in a writing process and an editing process that provides them with a real audience. The Apple Education page showed how easily accessible the Apple company has made it for teachers to involve their students and create podcasts. Of interest to me was the mention of podcasting for foreign language classrooms. This will be a new challenge.