I recently listened to a podcast presented by Dr. Ann Kwinn on Designing for the Virtual Classroom. The podcast offered insight to teachers who would be using podcasts in their classrooms. The speaker has recently published a book, "The New Virtual Classroom", and this podcast was based largely on the principles of that book. I learned some useful tips that I could use in my own classroom with podcasting. For example, if your students are listening to a podcast at home, the teacher is unable to see the nonverbal cues that the students are showing. This may range from a confused look, a happy face, or looking just plain bored with the lesson. How does the teacher know if the student understands the material that is being presented? This podcast advises that a teacher adds features to the podcast that allots for the students to be assessed while the podcast is going on, like having the students click on a smiley face if they understand or a sad face if they are confused. This podcast also advises teachers using podcasts to use a vast amount of visuals and realistic examples to help captivate their audience.
This podcast also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous learning vs. synchronous learning, which I thought was particularly interesting since we completed one mod on this topic. The author suggests taking your time as an educator in deciding if your students are going to be allowed a vast amount of freedom in working with technology (asynchronous) or if your lessons will be much more structured and focused on deadlines (synchronous).
I enjoyed this podcast because it dealt with aspects of using podcasts in the classroom that I will need to know should I decided to podcast in my own classroom.
