Journal #9: Podcasting

I went on Web2.0 and looked under the tool bar and found podcasting. Podcasting is becoming a very popular educational tool but I wanted to know more about it. Podcasts are a digital media files which is distributed over the internet using syndication feeds, available sites for people to use, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. I read a discussion on how these podcasts are being used in the classroom. Many teachers are replacing them for written reports because the kids get more involved with the research and the podcast. The discussions I read focused on the software used to create these podcasts. Many people are leaning toward mac computers and are using garage band to create the audio. Other districts are finding ways to create podcasts on PC’s but finding it a little more challenging. Through out the discussions people were sharing back and forth their resources posted on delicious. iLife Suite was another popular software being used to create podcasts. There was a person who posted his company who made podcasting devices that involves a simple usb key. You plug in the key and start talking, then remove the key to publish. It is interesting to see how technology is becoming more and more convenient and easier to use. Podcasts seam to be getting more and more popular. It is an excellent way to involve technology into the classroom because kids are excited about using it as a tool to help them learn information.