Educaitonal Podcasts

Written by Jonathan Orr

Here is a shameless self promotion. Biology teachers especially check out my podcast. There are only two episodes so far and really they are only part one and two of the same interview. The podcast will cover everything biology. The first two episodes are an interview with Dr.'s Nancy and Jerry Jaax of Kansas State University. My students over the summer read the book "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. The book is about Ebola and Marburg viruses. The Jaax's played key roles in the Ebola Reston outbreak near Washington D.C., and their experiences are detailed in the book. The interview gave my students an chance to interact with with characters in the book that they read. This was a very powerful learning experience. Interviews are also scheduled with Dr. Joseph McCormick who was in charge of emerging viruses at the CDC at the time of the Ebola Reston outbreak.

For possibly a more useful tool check out MabryOnline.org. This summer at BLC07 I had a chance to listen and speak to Dr. Tim Tyson, the former principal at Mabry Middle School. The website he developed is an awesome example of what blogging and podcasting can do for a school. Dr. Tyson retired this year to become an independent consultant for schools across the country. MabryOnline is now an archived site that will no longer be updated, but kept around as an example of what can be done.

Topic2 - Podcast Assignment

Mrs Rutland’s History Corral Podcasts
http://web.hcpss.org/~MARCELLA_RULAND/FOV1-0007A953/

The podcasts (four in total) located in Mrs Rutland’s history class website are basic guidelines for individual assignments. The four podcasts seem to be supplemental to the class website which contains information pertaining to class assignments, class notes and other class reference material.

The podcasts were of good quality and discussed each assignment/test in length. However, I think I was hoping for podcasts more on class materials instead of tests. I did find another podcast from Mr. Kelly’s 7th Grade Social Studies class. This podcast covered information on an upcoming test as well as a review of the material being tested. However, Mr. Kelly’s site was not as robust as Mrs Rutland’s.

Listening to each of the podcasts, I realized how much work must go into developing a podcast that conveys the intended information and also sounds professionally produced.

topic2 Blog Exploration

This is the type of blog that I would like to use in my 5th grade math class. Students are given topics to explain prior to their creating the blog. Then they explain the process to solving math problems with step by step explanations. This blog is great because the students have used digital images in addition to words.

Rosa Parks IVideo

This Ivideo is a presentation of student creativity and writing abilities. Showing this podcast would be a great way to introduce the Civil Rights Movement and Rosa Parks. It would also be a great way to show students a model of what they would do (if a project of this magnitude was assigned).

Transforming Student Writing with Vlogs

While researching the various types of vlogs available. It was made clear to me that a vlog has the aility to do a number of things. It can convey information, personal viewpoints as well provide instruction. I for one began to think that they also had the ability to porvide an avenue to transform a students written work. I found a Vlog about cats through the iTunes Store. I took a look and found that the videos provided the necessary visual support needed for second langauge learners, as well as, special education students to assist them in her story writing. I began to think that this would be a perfect scaffolding for increasing their ability to write a story using more details. For higher level students, the vlog could be used in a collaborative manner to write stories using personification for the various cats. Of course, I would have to view the posted vlogs and upload them to my iPod in order to access them atschool due to firewalls.

topic2-http://www.stevespangler.com/archives/category/podcasts/

I searched high and low for a podcast that I could use for my 5th grade science class. The problem is that most of the podcasts aren't labeled well so I had to view more of them then I would have liked. It is from Steve Spangler's website. He conducts exciting science experiments on a channel 9 news station. Yesterday he was on the Ellen Show. You can access the video from the episode on his website also. Even though they are labeled podcasts they are actually vodcasts as they show video too. I plan on putting a link to his webpage from my school webpage so that my students can enjoy his exciting science experiment videos. They may even get a few ideas for the science fair.

Mathgrad.com podcast

As I looked around at podcasts, I found many good ones on a variety of topics. I chose to examine further mathgrad.com. A Colorado State University graduate student in math writes “shows” on the math behind real life topics. His goal is to explain the math in a way that everyone can understand, students and adults as well. Some of his topics include probability, the math behind Sudoku, and how math impacts voting.

The podcasts themselves are good. I wish there was video or a handout to accompany each one. I am a visual learner and require something more than just the explanation, especially when the topic is new and somewhat challenging.

However, I would recommend that math teachers and interested math students check out this podcast.

Childrensbookradio

This site is great for developing literacy skills with students in the classroom. According to standards, the students need to be able to understand the purpose and audience of a written piece. This website has many podcast where a specific book is reviewed and often times the author is interviewed. By having the chance to hear the dialogue between the host and the author, the students are given insight to the author's mindset. It also adds a real life connection that otherwise would not be available to them as a potential reader. I hope this site is not blocked at my school, because I would love to incorporate this into my literacy centers. I believe it would add to the conversation beginning to take place with my students in regards to literature.

The Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Vicki Davis, a Georgia teacher very involved in educational technology, its uses and problems, writes The Cool Cat Teacher Blog. Her blog topics vary widely, but consistently seem to be informative and current in the field of technology in education. They contain links to sites relevant to the topic under discussion. Her website, http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/, lists recent blog posts, archives of posts, blogs she reads, her most recent de.licio.us bookmarks, her own students’ activities as well as her own wiki sites.

While the site is a bit visually-challenging, with all of its reference information, it is an incredible resource of emerging technology topics. I was excited to read about her success with wikis with her students.

teach42 – education and technology

http://www.teach42.com/

I had more trouble finding a blog that I liked than a podcast. I wanted a blog that was relatively current, but several blogs that I looked at such as David Warlick’s 2 cents worth were so active that it felt overwhelming just looking through it. It appears that while teach42 is current it is a much more manageable blog.

The first thing that caught my eye on this blog was Captcha. The blog did a good job of explaining how it worked. I did subscribe to this feed.

Photoshop Elements Tips

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/new-elements-podcast.html

This vodcast is a weekly series on Photoshop Elements tips. I am an avid proponent of Photoshop Elements. It is almost as good as its big brother, Photoshop, for about a fifth of the price. I highly recommend this program to students who are interested in learning photo graphics programs.

I have used this vodcast the last 3 months. The video is stunning, the directions are easy to follow and each segment is around 6 minutes. While I haven't had the students using the vodcasts directly, it would be a simple subscription to add to the computer that the students use. I think they will enjoy it.

I subscribed to this vodcast using iTunes.

Blog for Classroom Use

http://kesler.proboards38.com/

The focus of this blog is Junior and Senior Language Arts topics. Ms. Kesler and I discussed using blogs with her students and she set this one up for her students to use last year. She felt it was successful in providing a forum where students felt comfortable posting their thoughts and could have the opportunity to comment on each others’ posting. She plans on using it again later in this school year. What I like about this blog and other teacher/student blogs is the freedom of expression the student feels in a blog environment. Many students who will not make a lot of comments in class, will do so in an environment like this one. I do not care for the ads on this particular blog. There is an option to make it ad free, however there is a cost involved.

To see best how students used this blog click on the link “100 most recent posts” in the section titled “Forum Statistics”.

Podcast for classroom use

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=9863

This link is an introduction podcast to what Cut to the Core is about. Cut to the Core discusses current trends in educational technology as well as strategies to assist in educational technology integration.

If you click on the Cut to the Core graphic, the introduction will begin to play. (Runs with Quicktime)

I subscribe to this podcast to get ideas and information on educational technology integration. As the technology coordinator, I am always looking for ways to help my teachers use and integrate technology. Cut to the Core is an excellent resource for me and my teachers.

The link below is the link that will allow you to subscribe to Cut to the Core. In order to subscribe you will need some type of “podcatcher”. I am using iTunes. If you have iTunes loaded on your machine, all you need to do is click on the subscribe option and iTunes will catch the podcasts for this series. Just a fyi, sometimes local school filters may interfere with subscribing to some podcasts. If this is the case, using some of the advanced features in iTunes may help you get around this issue.

To subscribe, click on this link and scroll down the screen just a little.

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=11850&version=2215&pageID=5694

Topic2

I just wanted to test my ability to enter this blog. I will be posting my assignment in the next day or so.

Topic2: Thanks for the invite

Hi,
I just checked my e-mail and saw your invite to your blog. I had a Google account because I love Google search engine!
I will be setting up my blog shortly.
Need to check the assignment boards so that I know what's going on for today.
Good nite,
Sheila

Fall 2007 Topic2: Web 2.0 for the Classroom

Topic2: Web 2.0 for the Classroom links

What is the topic of the Web 2.0 broadcast that have you selected?
What do you like or dislike about the broadcast?

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