How to Use Podcasting in the Classroom

by venhi on February 15, 2009

Grandad had been sick for a while with extreme fatigue and aching joints.  Never one to complain he was diagnosed way too late.  The cancer had spread rapidly and he passed in just three weeks.  The medication had numbed much of the pain yet kept him pretty lucid. 

I remember holding his hand in the hospital and thinking how frail he felt, nothing like the rugged man I remembered who was raised in Hell’s Kitchen and went on to become a longshoreman on Manhattan’s west side.  If only we had known more earlier on I thought.  

To eradicate the second leading cause of death in America, the National Cancer Institute spends billions each year to fund the finest research institutions in the world.  As educators, are you making sure the most recent scientific findings are being made known to the public?

A great way is through podcasting.  Many websites dispense valuable (and free) audio information that can easily be downloaded into an iPod that can be played over and over again just like your favorite song. Even better is vodcasting where digital video is included in the podcast. Your students can be instructed to obtain a podcast on the web as homework.  Then, it’s theirs to keep to listen to anytime.  Not all the kids have iPods? No problem.  Just download a copy of iTunes onto your laptop and you can load the podcast there to play in class whenever you like.
 
Via podcasting there are lots of extremely valuable teaching resources.  All you need to do is:
1) Go to your area of interest on the podcast page of a particular site
2) Click iTunes
3) Click Subscribe

The Podcast portion of your iTunes library will now have access to hours of content from the some of the highest rated programs on television (minus commercials) to be played and re-played whenever you like.  One of my favorite vodcasts is PBS’s Judah Folkman story: the thrilling saga of a Harvard researcher who figured out a way to literally strangle tumors and single-handedly save millions of lives.

Now that you’re an expert, you can begin tomorrow’s lesson with: “Good morning class.  Please take out your iPods.”

 

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