The Podcast Task

            In today’s ever evolving classroom, podcasts can play a very important role. There is no doubt that after a few hours of hearing a teacher talk (maybe a few minutes for some) students tend to zone out in the quagmire of monotony. Podcasts can liven up a classroom by bringing an outside opinion (and voice) into the classroom. For example, in my Social Studies classroom, I might use a podcast of someone reading the Emancipation Proclamation as President Lincoln. This would give my students an idea of what it would have sounded like on January 1, 1863, and then provide a basis for in-class discussion afterward. This technology may also be used to teach valuable classroom appendages such as vocabulary or test reviews. These podcasts could be made accessible on a teacher’s course site so students could access them at home and prepare for an upcoming class.

            There are both advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of podcasts in school. Advantages include; making the classroom more transparent so parents can see what’s being taught, having teaching resources available to students at home on the teacher’s website,  providing a different type of learning strategy for students who may have a nontraditional learning method, and to break up the overall repetitiveness of the everyday lecture that often occurs in a history classroom. Although the advantages alone may be enough to sway a teacher to utilize podcasts, the disadvantages must be taken into account. Some students may not have internet access, so making listening to a podcast part of an at home assignment might not be possible. Another disadvantage might occur in the long run. A teacher might rely heavily on using a certain podcast(s) in class and fail to update their lesson plans because “it’s way too easy” just to have the students listen to a podcast. And finally, we must still be conscious of the fact that many parents are still not comfortable using technology and may not be able to figure out how to access a podcast aimed to inform parents about a topic.

            Although there are both advantages and disadvantages to using a podcast, all can agree it is a valuable teaching resource that should be investigated more thoroughly by educators. This technology has the ability to transform the classroom by making teaching more accessible and interesting. I think we can all expect more fascinating developments to emerge out of the world of podcasts in the years to come.  

            Because of the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, below I have posted an audio review of the Podcast “What Caused Titanic to Sink?” part of the Rhapsody Tours podcast series. Please take a look at the Audioboo found below and, if interested, check out the podcast.  

listen to ‘Titanic’ on Audioboo