I don’t know about you, but I enjoy listening to podcasts. Whether a podcast is about the day’s events or your favorite hobby, many people make listening to podcasts a routine like drinking a cup of coffee or eating a bagel on the way to work. Podcasting for educators, however, involves a whole different set of issues. For one, podcasts are definitely great ways to post weekly reminders to students about completing assignments and allowing students to find out about missing assignments, when they are absent from class. Podcasts are a super tool that can allow educators to explain how to write essays and review concepts in foreign languages. As a Social Studies educator, I see podcasts as making education come alive for students. Podcasting allows people to express their opinions on many topics. Podcasts are a forum for the masses. The trick is to find podcasts that target the needs of your audience, in this case students, or to create podcasts with computer software (like Audacity) that address the needs of your students. Here is a small sampling of podcasts that you, as the educator, may want to explore when addressing topics in Social Studies.
1. The 60-second Civics podcast is a free podcast that can found on iTunes. This podcast explains concepts about politics and American society to high school age students. The people who create the podcasts are the same people who have written the We the People: the citizen and Constitution curriculum. Therefore, the material is geared for the high school student, but perhaps could be used at the middle school with some explanation of concepts by the educator.
2. Another free podcast on iTunes is the One Person can make a difference series. This series discusses people in history like Amelia Earhart and Coco Chanel and can give students a snippet of the history behind a person and can lead to further discussions in your classroom.
3. For those who would like to explore New Jersey History at an introductory level, this podcast also found in iTunes is also a great opportunity to show students what they can do to teach their peers with technology.
4. One other site that I would like to mention is The Education Podcast Network, which is found at http://epnweb.org. This website is filled with tons of podcasts for educators for Social Studies, English, Science, Mathematics and even Music and Theatre Arts Education. The website does stress that they do not certify the content for the podcasts. You as the educator must preview the material before your students listen to it. I personally found the History Podcast and the podcast called First Amendment Minute to be very good. The First Amendment Minute would be a good “prime the pump” tool to engage in First Amendment discussion with students in Government classes. The History Podcast deals with a variety of topics, which would fit many different history classes in Middle and High School.
I need to reemphasize the point for educators that you must preview podcasts, as scrupulously as you do any other material you use in your classrooms. As I said before, this is not an all-inclusive list. I personally believe that podcasting may become the “new” standard for how we educate students effectively, when using technology. It would be very easy for students to create podcasts for their student portfolios as examples of effective oral communication in Speech classes, for example. Who knows, with audio and video podcasts, podcasting may become the accepted standard for students showing they have addressed standards in the classrooms of tomorrow. Just something to consider.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
To use Blogs to teach or not to teach, that is the question?
The title of this article is a major butchering of the quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “to be or not to be, that is the question”. But I think that it is very appropriate in this case. Have you ever stopped to consider the role that blogs can play in the field of education? In my case, I am involved with students who complete their education through a form of distance learning. So, I believe that blogging could be a great way to foster learning in students and can help the educator to see how effectively that students are embracing and engaging with the information they are mastering in their classes. It’s easy to tell a student to complete these worksheets or to create this PowerPoint to ensure that we give students access to technology. It’s much harder to explain why we use technology to enhance how students learn in the classroom, whether learning in the virtual or in a more traditional classroom setting. The use of blogs can help students learn to communicate their ideas through writing, as well as through videos and podcasts. Students must learn how to teach themselves skills for survival in everyday life. Learning to communicate through blogs and similar formats can help students to find motivation in the way they learn new information and put it together with information from the past.
For educators, I think that blogging is a good way to help us maintain our edge in education. What do I mean? What I mean is that when we educators are more involved in learning new skills to be better teachers, than our students can be empowered by educators who are excited about their subject fields. Have you ever been in a classroom where the person was very knowledgeable about their field, but may have not been the best communicator about why their field of study was so exciting? I know that has happened to me in the past. However, I am someone who is self-motivated to learn new things. Some students are adventurous and try new things. Many students, though, need some motivation and encouragement to facilitate learning. That is what all good educators do. They motivate students to be their personal best and allow them to see that it is okay to fail at first. The point is that someone does not live in failure. They get up and try again. So, when students see their teachers try and fail at things, but get up and try again, that can be very motivating for teachers and for their students as well. I want to end this blog session with something to consider. Educators are told to use technology to help our students to succeed and be their best. The question that I pose to you is this—Do we structure our classes and assignments to fit our use of technology or do we use our technology to augment our classes and assignments for our students? I would love to hear your responses.
For educators, I think that blogging is a good way to help us maintain our edge in education. What do I mean? What I mean is that when we educators are more involved in learning new skills to be better teachers, than our students can be empowered by educators who are excited about their subject fields. Have you ever been in a classroom where the person was very knowledgeable about their field, but may have not been the best communicator about why their field of study was so exciting? I know that has happened to me in the past. However, I am someone who is self-motivated to learn new things. Some students are adventurous and try new things. Many students, though, need some motivation and encouragement to facilitate learning. That is what all good educators do. They motivate students to be their personal best and allow them to see that it is okay to fail at first. The point is that someone does not live in failure. They get up and try again. So, when students see their teachers try and fail at things, but get up and try again, that can be very motivating for teachers and for their students as well. I want to end this blog session with something to consider. Educators are told to use technology to help our students to succeed and be their best. The question that I pose to you is this—Do we structure our classes and assignments to fit our use of technology or do we use our technology to augment our classes and assignments for our students? I would love to hear your responses.
Who is Safe in the Blogosphere?
I am just beginning the process of writing my first blog. I have been reading some articles about posting blogs. After reading these articles, I have come to some conclusions about the blogosphere. I think that blogging is a great way to express thoughts and feelings about a variety of topics. I believe that blogging is a great opportunity to see how you can synthesize what you have learned about life and speak about it to a new and wider audience. However, blogging can be fraught with dangers. Specifically, I am referring to the type of personal information that you place on the Internet about yourself. It’s true that many people can take your information and use it for nefarious means such as creating false identities.
I don’t think this means that we should be afraid to use the Internet to express our views. I do think that we should be sure that whatever we post on the Internet, we are okay with having on the Internet. Adults and children both must be cautious about their Internet activities. I personally believe that we should stick with the old maxim “Let the buyer beware” or to be more accurate, “Let the web blogger beware”.
The use of blogs has jumped tremendously in the last few years. There are great insights into the minds of people and their views about society and world events. Bloggers must also be careful what they say about others. Making statements that are unfounded and even false can lead to potential lawsuits. In some respects, blogs can be almost be viewed as a type of “Internet Editorial Page”, akin to the editorial pages written by many newspaper columnists for decades. The difference often lies in the intent of the blogs that one creates. Are they created to simply inform people about life and share opinions about various topics or are they created with the intent to hurt others? That is a tricky and difficult question to answer.
My personal belief is that blogs can be used to educate people and society about themselves. Blogs are a great tool for conveying ideas. The key is, how do we use them? That is something that we all have to consider for ourselves.
I don’t think this means that we should be afraid to use the Internet to express our views. I do think that we should be sure that whatever we post on the Internet, we are okay with having on the Internet. Adults and children both must be cautious about their Internet activities. I personally believe that we should stick with the old maxim “Let the buyer beware” or to be more accurate, “Let the web blogger beware”.
The use of blogs has jumped tremendously in the last few years. There are great insights into the minds of people and their views about society and world events. Bloggers must also be careful what they say about others. Making statements that are unfounded and even false can lead to potential lawsuits. In some respects, blogs can be almost be viewed as a type of “Internet Editorial Page”, akin to the editorial pages written by many newspaper columnists for decades. The difference often lies in the intent of the blogs that one creates. Are they created to simply inform people about life and share opinions about various topics or are they created with the intent to hurt others? That is a tricky and difficult question to answer.
My personal belief is that blogs can be used to educate people and society about themselves. Blogs are a great tool for conveying ideas. The key is, how do we use them? That is something that we all have to consider for ourselves.
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