Blog Post #4

The Benefits of Podcasting in a Classroom

By: Joe Dale


In the video “benefits of podcasting in a classroom”, Joe Dale talks about why podcasting is helpful and useful in the classroom. He starts off with talking about kids that were born after 1980. He calls them “Millenial”. He states how these kids have never experienced a world that didn’t have personal computers and other technology. He believes that since innovative technology is a part of kids’ everyday life and podcasting is form of learning that they are familiar with. Podcasting allows for differentiation in the classroom and project based learning. It is also an effective way to interacting with students outside the classroom. He says for teachers to simply record a lesson and for students to simply play it back. A good example of why podcasting is useful in a classroom is when someone is out sick. If a student is out sick and you as a teacher don’t want them to get behind, then you can record your lecture and put it on iTunes for the student to download and listen to as a podcast. Dale then demonstrates how to upload a podcast.


I have never used podcasting and have to admit of not knowing much about it before I started EDM310. I like the list of benefits to a podcast and would want to incorporate them into my podcast. The reason being I would like to be able to talk about the advantages for the classroom when using podcast.


Practical Principal
By: Melinda Miller and Scott Elias


Practical Principles is a blog created by Scott Elias and Melinda Miller. Melinda Miller is an elementary school principal near Springfield, Missouri. She has been podcasting since May of 2007 and has conducted staff development training on podcasting for teachers in her district. Scott Elias is a middle school principal in Northern Colorado. He met Melinda through their mutual infatuation with Getting Things Done and appeared as a guest on her podcast in July of 2007. Scott and Melinda have been recording the Practical Principals podcast since the fall of 2007. They share a series of podcast that they created. The podcast are powered by FeedBurner and each podcast has a different topic and most are questions that teachers send in. They discuss the different tools and technology that is helpful in the classroom.

I think it is really cool that these two principles from different states came together to create podcast that have really interesting discussions in them. I would like to talk about the important tools and techniques I used creating the podcast in my podcast. They did a good job explaining them in their podcast and how they could be helpful. I would want to do the same for my listeners.


Eagles' Nest Radio and Class Blog


The “Eagles’ Nest Radio and Class Blog” is a blog where third graders post podcasts about what they are currently studying. The kids take turns creating a podcast about the subject they are currently learning. In the podcast titled “ Eagles’ Nest Radio episode #3: Roamin’ with the Romans” they kids discuss the Roman architecture, Julius Caesar, fierce gladiators, and Cleopatra. The podcast started with music and then went to the first student who said the introduction. The student spoke loudly and did a good job pronouncing everything correctly. After a student was done with his/her part they would pass to the next student. They did a great job staying on topic and giving as much information as needed.

The third graders who made these podcasts did an awesome job. The thing that I learned from their podcasts is how they a creative with them. They did so good talking about their subject that it felt like a story. I would want to be creative with me podcast and make it interesting, so my listeners were fascinated with it.