Podcasting

This past week I have been experimenting with Podcasting. I can see how this tool would be very beneficial to see if students have gained an understanding of a topic. I know many people download Podcast lectures to listen to. I do not think this would be too exciting considering that there would be nothing to look at. I am such a visual person. On the other hand, this could be a great tool for students to listen to if they need information on a topic, and are unable to talk to a person directly. I could see this being a good alternative to reading a lot of material on a topic. Students could listen instead. I didn't find it too difficult to tape it or edit it. I could see how material to be edited for either understanding, or to create a misunderstanding, could easily be accomplished. I do not currently use this tool, but I could see how it would be beneficial for educational purposes.

Digital Video

In our ITS program, we have been learning to use a Flip Camera to make a video. The planning stage is very important. Once you actually start filming, the process moves along quickly. We just learned the process of video editing. This puts all of the final touches on the video and allows you to delete scenes and edit the final content. I have actually used this in my elementary classroom already. I had the students make a video after we finished a government unit. I did not know how to edit the video, so I just put the video segments following eachother. The students were very proud of the final production, and will be a great tool to be used for SOL review. I was going to continue the video with each unit that we studied, but my group of students this year lack creativity. I found that I was doing all of the planning and treatments. Right now I am thinking of another way to use the camera to complete a lesson plan.

This this the first experience working with Blogs and I am finding the whole thing very interesting. Confusing actually. I know after playing around with this enough, I will figure out what I am doing. As I am reading about Blogs in the book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Richardson, 2009) I am finding how wonderful of a tool blogs are for the classroom. That is of course when I understand how all the postings, replies, etc. work. What a great way for students to communicate with teachers, parents, and other students. I am interested in ways that elementary teacher's have used blogs, and if they are finding it successful.