Education and a Podcast

This week, our assignment was to create and post a podcast. I will discuss my own experience in doing so, as well as the educational value of using podcasts in the virtual classroom.

Creating my podcast with the Audacity software was really simple. The software was very easy to download, and creating a recording was just as easy. I was able to record my spoken portion of the recording first, then import music that I downloaded free from Frostwire. Audacity gives a user the ability to adjust the volume levels of the two tracks so that, in my case, the music was at a lower volume than my voice. I do have some experience with this type of software. My Mac came preloaded with Garage Band which is similar but more complex than Audacity. Garage Band allows users to record using instruments as well, such as a guitar.

I chose gcast to post my podcast. Once again, registering and posting the podcast was quite simple. The link to my podcast is posted on my wiki page.

The potential educational uses of podcasting are endless. In distance education, podcasts can be used to supplement written course materials. They are also a good method to personalize messages between instructors and students. Furthermore, a student can take a podcast with them. With any standard MP3 player, a student can listen to a podcast while doing any number of activities.

In the traditional classroom, podcasts can be just as useful. Professors who put their lectures into podcast form provide valuable options to their students. Having a lecture in the form of a podcast is a great method for students to review a lecture to ensure thorough comprehension. Also if a student were to miss a class or portion thereof, they can easily hear exactly what the class heard during their absence by listening to the podcast.

During my research of podcasting this week, I found several publications that I thought might be of interest to the class. I will attach those publications to a message on our class discussion board on Blackboard.