The effectiveness of Podcasting

Podcasting's potential lies in its ability to transform professional development (PD) for teachers. This potential applies to a variety of professional development types and goals and the ways in which they are implemented. On the most basic level, podcasting can provide more professional development to teachers by virtue of its capacity to increase the amount of time teachers have spent using it. It has the ability to provide teachers with the opportunity to produce better material for PD through its capacity to capture and integrate powerful, high-quality content. Furthermore, teachers have the ability to store, catalogue and retrieve the technology easily.

When separating our content into 'Legacy' and 'Future' it is easy to choose where Podcasting comes in. Its ability to utilise the latest advances in technology grabs the students' attention, who find it rather interesting when things are displayed through a computer rather than a textbook. While future content may include content to do with robotics, software and hardware, it can also relate to other subjects like politics, geography and chemistry through the use of the correct technology.

While I have never used Podcasting personally, I have seen it used and thought of some instances where I would use it in the classroom. An activity where students are asked to create a Podcast presentation of an assessment is one possibility because it would eliminate the nervousness students would experience with an oral presentation in front of the entire class.

Prensky, M (Oct, 2001), Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, MCB University, http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf