Podcasts as Teaching Tools

1. Reflect on how you could use "Podcasts" to distribute your lessons.

My first thought, since it was brought up during our group discussion, is that if the school were closed down for an extended period of time teachers could upload lessons as a Podcast. This thought is in light of the H1N1 outbreak over the past year or so. There were certainly times where our schools were discussing what to do if they were shut down.

I could also use Podcasts to supplement or enhance my own teaching. They are not unlike videos that I use from the web, such as Bill Nye the Science Guy. The drawback of that would be that most Podcasts I have seen/heard are pretty dull, especially for students at an elementary level.



2. What do you expect are the students' affective outcomes when the students use this form of technology to learn?

As mentioned above, it would be difficult to make (or find) Podcasts that were not too boring for my elementary students. I think that, as with any newly introduced technology, they would be interested at first, but then lose interest pretty quickly. I know that elementary students really thrive on interaction, and since we all learn differently, these Podcasts would be more accepted by the audio/visual learners. BUT, that leaves out the kinsthetic learners, which many young children are. Interaction and movement are so important for young people!

Student Responses to Technology

• What do you expect are the students' cognitive outcomes when the students use technology?

Being that people learn in a variety of ways, I feel that students gain from a variety of methods. Using technology in the classroom could very well enhance cognition. Used properly, computers and other technology could allow for information to be presented in ways that are not available without such amenities. Technology can allow for a more organized, structured presentation of materials as well as make accessible ways of analysis and synthesis that could be more creative and original.

The downfall is that technology isn't going to be this kind of platform or tool for every student, and possibly only a select few. The ease or creativity of taking in knowledge, creating, and presenting quality learning experiences could greatly vary depending on the dynamics of the group(s) being taught.

• What do you expect are the students' affective outcomes when the students use technology?

I would say, from my experience, that students are generally excited and interested in learning from technology, namely computers. New and exciting things are motivational to learning. I have however seen that once students run into a problem which is difficult or takes time to fix (something as simple as a slow Internet connection) they lose interest in the activity. I would also assert that students who are repeatedly exposed to technology over time would, on majority, become less motivated (than initially) and in turn not be as positively affected by the technology, therefore not really enhancing the affective aspect of learning from a technological source.