Blog Post 4

I began preparing for this post without the faintest idea about what a podcast really was.  I visited the sites Dr. Strange provided for the class, and found out that podcasts are not as difficult to do as I had imagined.  By viewing Judy Scharf's tutorial on podcasts, I learned that a podcast is basically a broadcast of information about anything you can think up.  She provides many downloads to help the novice podcaster to get started.  I would suggest any first time podcasters take a look.

In preparation for this post I also learned the many benefits of podcasting in the classroom when I watched Joe Dale's video Podcasting In The Classroom.  I learned that that while a podcast is an audio broadcast, a vodcast is a podcast that incorporates video in the overall experience.  Both of which, can be downloaded onto an iPod or other similar device for various uses.  Joe also provides links to many helpful videos and resources for anyone who would like to podcast.  

Now that I have a pretty clear idea about what podcasting is all about, I think I will have to agree with all of these sites that are pro podcasting in the classroom.  One of the sites I viewed talked about integrating reading assignments with podcasts so that the students can hear the dialog of the different characters in the story.  This stood out to me the most, because all to often students will get the characters mixed up and won't know who is saying what.  With a podcast integrated reading session, the teacher can alleviate this problem.  Another great benefactor is the teacher.  Once he or she creates a podcast, it will be available to use over and over again to the benefit of future classes.  This could save huge amounts of time and effort having to rework lesson plans.

I think another great use of podcasting could be in extracurricular activities such as sports.  High school football coaches already use highly advanced video communication software like Hudl, but this software is super expensive.  Podcasting is virtually free.