Ditgital Blog Post H -Chapter 9

There are many different ways to build your digital identity as a teacher. Among those discussed in Chapter 9 of Transforming Learning with New Technologies, podcasts, webcasts, and vodcasts stood out. All three of these tools are related back to the word broadcast. Whether through the web, IPods, or videos, they all allow the user to broadcast their information using different, but similar tools. A webcast blends the word web with broadcast. Webcasts describes streaming a media broadcast of audio and video over the internet. There are many webcasts located in the Library of Congress, that are similar to watching a televised presentation by experts, of books with information that cannot be read by the naked eye. Webcasts seem like they would be excellent when use to review very old material. I feel as though it would help students to better understand what is being said by the author. Most material that is from centuries ago is written in old English, and it is difficult to get students to try to interpret what the sentence really means. With the help of the webcasts students will actively participate in interpreting the text. These webcasts seem like a great tool for having students learn about older information. I feel as though it might be a bit difficult to get younger students to focus on this form of material presentation. If I were to use a webcast in the classroom, I would try to make it as interactive as possible. An idea would be have the students try to figure out what the text means before watching the webcast so that they can see if their interpretation matches the experts.

Podcasts are the next tool that caught my eye. They are a bit similar to webcast, but podcast combines the word IPod with broadcasts. A podcast is an audio recording distributed online and accessed on computers or portable media players using software like iTunes. These podcasts are free but are just audio. They can be used in the classroom, but it would be difficult to use if one does not have an iTunes. The great thing about podcasts however are that they are free, and can be used by anyone with access to an iTunes. These would be great if every student was able to obtain an iTunes, but it would be quiet difficult for students to maintain focus on just audio for a long amount of time. You would also need to download a podcatcher to then download the podcast.If the podcasts are short and sweet, then I would love to use them in the classroom. Therefore, podcasts would be great to put to use but it all depends on the lesson plan and picking the correct audio. However, podcasts are also free to create. This means that students and teachers can record their own podcasts and share what they have learned with the class. Podcasts can also be used by teachers, so that they can listen to themselves, in order to see how they can improve the information and discussions that were orally presented to the class. Another way that students and teachers can use podcasts, is for collaboration. They can develop exciting learning projects together, like assembling oral history interviews into a podcast-based report.

Vodcasts have gained popularity as a part of the movement toward flipped or flattened classrooms. Vodcasts are recordings that include video and audio, and they are a version of podcasts. In science, history, and other subjects, students watch the lecture or information presentation portion of a lesson on videos outside of school and spend in-class time doing experiments and discussing the academic content. Vodcasts must also be found using the iTunes store but they hold a lot of educational value. Vodcasts can help to hold students attention, and they would be fun to use with a class. I personally, would love to use vodcasts in the classroom environment to allow students to show off what they have learned. An example would be if a high school history class studied The Great Gatsby, they could complete the lesson, and then make a vodcasts about what they learned. Vodcasts are great when used as an educational tool.



This is a website where you can find many different types of vodcasts.