A podcast is an audio or video file archived on the Internet in such a way that it can be automatically accessed by a personal computer, downloaded and transferred to a portable mp3 player (Department of Education, 2010). Students can download podcasts to their iPods and access the information at a time that best suits them, whether it be on the bus/train/car, waiting for sports practice to start or even in T.V. commercial breaks etc. (today’s digital natives are increasingly good at multitasking). Prensky (2005) identifies the need to engage students and I feel that using podcasts is one way of engaging students, for example, if they had a choice of accessing the exact information out of a text book or out of a video podcast on their iPod I’m pretty sure that they would choose the latter. Also the multimodality of podcasts means that they will appeal to a wider range of learning styles.
NASA and CSIRO website have a great archive of scientific podcasts that could be used in classrooms. The ABC website also podcasts Dr Karl from Triple J which I’m sure would be very engaging to older primary and secondary students as they address a wide range of interesting phenomena as well as simple and everyday applications for science (although these would have to be scrutinised by the learning manager for inappropriate language and content). I believe that using these in the classroom would be very motivating for the students as it would take them past the common and decontextualised ‘text book’ style of learning science and reconnect them back with science that is ‘real world’ and fascinating.
Students can also make their own podcasts to share or demonstrate their learning and this activity would be a very authentic form of summative assessment.
Department of Education. (2010). Resourcing the curriculum: Podcasts in the classroom. Retrieved 20th August 2010 from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts
Prensky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: What today’s learners demand. Educause review. September/October
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