Chapter 9

Focus Question:

How can teachers integrate podcasts and vodcasts into their teaching?

 Podcasts – online audio recordings that can be accessed by computers or portable media players (iPod).

Vodcasts – they are podcasts that include video and audio.

These tools can easily be used in any topic imaginable making them extremely convenient. Using these tools create new opportunities for students to learn academics outside of the classroom setting. This also allows them to hear or view lectures, discussions, demonstrations, and summaries whenever they want.

 

Tech Tool:

The Tech that jumped-out at me in Chapter 9 was Tech Tool 9.3 – Digital Storytelling and Digital Art Making. A great picture or clip almost always speak louder than words; this tech tool captures those emotions and gives student the opportunity to put them on display through text, audio, video imagery and art. Digital Storytelling is mainly used to tell personal stories about an individual but can also be used for students to explore the history of a specific topic and present what they have learned through a Digital Storyteller instead of writing a paper. Digital Art Making gives students the capability to be creative and make their own pieces of art by using new technologies.  

Summary:

Chapter 8 provided information on how teachers can use multimedia technologies within a classroom setting. I found really cool that teachers can now give students “fun” options when it comes to presenting their work. Using multimedia tools also allow the students today to become more engaged with the material at hand. What I personally found to be interesting are the podcasts/vodcasts. I knew what they were I just did not know how to create one or use, but I do now. The term comes from the words iPod and broadcast – it’s an audio recording distributed online and accessed on computers or portable media players using free software such as iTunes or Bloglines (EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2005, June). You need to download the software called podcatcher in order to successfully create a podcast. A vodcast, on the other hand, is basically the same thing, instead one uses video. I really learned a lot in Chapter 9 about how to incorporate multimedia tools like cameras, podcasts, recording devices, digital projectors, and PowerPoint to create a much more stimulating lesson plan.

Photo credit to Nokia