Podcasting

When you don't know how to do something it always seems so intimidating.  Podcasting is one of those things.  I had seen/heard them on school websites but never really found out how they were done.

I have recently been upgraded to a Mac as they are meant to be unbreakable -or so my husband maintains   (for some reason, computers don't tend to last long around me - neither do batteries) - so have had the pleasure of working on a new computer.  My youngest daughter Caity - showed me how to use Garageband and 'Voila!'  I had my first podcast - although somewhat short and sweet was made by me.  The only problem is now that I am unable to successfully upload it onto my blog.

It was interesting learning about podcasting and I enjoyed reading the articles by Nicolls (2008) and Burt (2008).  In her article Podcasting and Oral Language, Nicolls, (2008) and how podcasting took oral language to a whole new level.  How it encouraged students to not only speak loudly and clearly, but also to consider appropriate language and how to be sensitive to cultures, as well as make their message appealing to people in other countries. It was then that I realised the whole 'Global Village' notion and the potential of using computers in schools.  Being an immigrant myself I thought of the number of other students who would be able to post their work on a computer and relatives in another part of the world would be able to view it and possibly give feedback or comments.

Dorothy Burt's article The Lure of Podcasting, discussed the podcasting project she was involved in Korero Pt England.  The project is bsed around students reading New Zealand fiction and presenting their book reviews to a global audience.  The posts are very entertaining and you can see how much the students enjoy doing it.  Burt (2008) further discusses the need to investigate ways in which to raise student reading outcomes.  The study conducted found that while there are aspects of podcasting that may intrinsically raise student achievement, particularly the speaking and listening components, it is the way that podcasting is used that makes the difference.

The website is great  http://kpetv.blogspot.com/ if you want to check it out.