Thing 19

I listened to two different podcasts. The first was a podcast from the Discovery Channel and was called "Elephants Show Cooperation on Test". I personally enjoy the Discovery Channel so this podcast caught my eye. This short podcast was also accompanied by a video segment. Move over chimpanzees, elephants could possibly be the worlds most cognitively advanced animals. They scored off the charts on an IQ test and figured out two short cuts that researchers didn't even think of.

The second podcast that I listened to was Grammar Girl: How to Write Dialogue. This podcast gave example sentences of both good and sloppy sentences, explained how to write dialogue with the proper punctuation, and talked about parallel structure. I found both of these at podcast.com, which is a website that I like to use.

Since I am sure that most students have or use ITunes, assigning podcasts for supplemental material could work for my class.  I think that they are perfect for auditory learners!  However, I do have some issues with podcasts.  With the Grammar Girl podcast, there was no visual to aid with the podcast.  So, the instructor read examples of sentences which were hard to keep up with.  I know the material so I know that my students would struggle with something like this.  Perhaps if they listened independently, but without any type of visual accompaniment, listening to this type of podcast is too difficult. 

What I do like about podcasts is that I think they will keep students' attention.  They are straight forward and to the point.  They are not very long and use simplistic language.  I think that podcasts could easily be implemented into my teaching especially with Shakespeare.  I like students to listen to Old English in the proper form, rather than when they attempt to read it.  I think that it could bring many aspects of literature to life with author's comments, original text, and related topics.  Podcasts would be a great addition to a wiki or class blog to give students oral instructions on completing assignments.

Some of the issues that I think could occur are access issues.  Students can easily use technology as an excuse for not having their homework done.  Also, having students actually listen to the podcast rather than finding out from their peers what it said.  Students often cheat and with shorter audio clips, they could easily relate the information and it would spread like wildfire.