edu-tastic

When skimming through the classroom blogs and listening to the podcasts, I was amazed at the quality of the productions, and by the fact that third graders knew what a podcast was, and how to make it. It still scares me a little when I see eleven-year-olds with cell phones and iPods, especially if they’re newer than the one I have. But the students who make podcasts and record their progress in the classroom are amazing. Technology, in these cases, is acting like a record and review of everything that has happened in the classroom. I listened to a couple of episodes of the Bob Sprankle/Room 208 podcasts. Students explained the creating of a podcast and how the project of podcasting fits into their normal school curriculum. Although they say that they spend a lot of time making the podcast, it seemed like it wasn’t as much of a replacement to their normal curriculum, but a supplement to the material. In the episodes I listened to, students reviewed what they learned in class, what future projects were planned, and how those projects turned out. Creating the podcast, and broadcasting it on the internet, and allowing other people to email and respond to it, makes the process seem important, because someone will be able to listen to the product. It’s not just paintings on their mom’s refrigerator, it’s something that anyone with an internet connection can access. This gave students a sense of pride in their work, and also responsibility for the finished product. I also liked the organization of the project. Each student has individualized pages and is responsible for a certain section of the website and podcast, but they were all linked together in the finished product. Allowing each student to focus on one area that they are interested in kept them interested in the project, and also utilized their specific talents and interests.

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