Thursday, July 16, 2009

Module 5


Do I think vodcasts, podcasts and Youtube could enhance student learning in and out of the classroom? Absolutely. Does it also present challenges in the effective use of classroom time and allow students to filter information from entertainment and create evidence of real learning in a short period of time? Absolutely.

If I asked students to find a video from youtube that reflects how animals adapt to their environment, I am pretty sure that they would use their school-issued macs to laugh about while they watched the following youtube video of a cat flushing a toilet.



This is not meant to to be a slur on the commitment of students to their homework tasks; just a fact of life that as technology moves forward, the way it is utilised by society can give the appearance of going backwards and we are inadvertently dumbing ourselves down.

EdPod (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/edpod/) has a collection of podcasts from ABC radio. An interview on Thursday 25th June 2009 between host, Richard Eady and guest Marco Torres caught my attention. Marco is an educational advisor to President Obama. He talks candidly of the need to make students creators of information rather than recipients of information, as was the traditional model of educating young people. He acknowledges that there is too much hype around the tools of technology rather than focusing on the outcomes of relevant learning. Podcasting can be achieved by anyone who has the technical experience, but like good journalism, the quality of the product is defined more by the level of research prior to creation rather than by mere fact that it was published. I think the cat video supports my view.


Having said that, poor research methods, plagiarism, and under-developed thinking skills are time honoured problems experienced by students of all generations. Podcasting could actually help students tackle these problems should they be given enough time and direction to synthesise course content. At the very least, it can create a hook for student engagement. The problem is that curriculum content, particularly secondary schools and increasingly also in primary schools, is getting broader rather than deeper and this can undermine the opportunities for students and teachers to effectively use podcasts because of time constraints. In the meantime, I see real potential for my students in accessing podcasts and vodcasts and then using this as a model for maybe creating their own vodcast so long as it doesn't involve cats and toilets.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Grant

    I think you have brought up some very good points about the use of podcasts and vidcasts in the classroom. My line of thinking was more directed to the use in the classroom. But as you pointed out, this type of resource should and can be used as a synthesis task.

    Creating tasks of this nature changes the notion of teaching from chalk and talk to assigning independent tasks that students can complete in groups or individually. Given the time constraints and the broadening of the curriculum, perhaps each class can choose a focus topic and assign 3-4 lessons to create a podcast/vidcasts where it is possible.

    Proper direction would need to be given so as to focus on producing quality work that is appropriately researched. It is best, I feel, to monitor students closely and have their work sighted by the teacher to ensure quality. Such a method may go against ‘independent learning’ but I think it is important to put these ‘training wheels’ in place for students until they can become effective independent learners. For instance, year 9 Geography students researched a natural hazard and were required to create a power point present. I found that student engagement was lacking as they have all created power points before. This could be easily changed to be a podcast or vidcasts and hence the novelty would engage students. The teacher could provide a scaffold of how to go about producing the item and then monitor students and sign off when they have completed a step correctly.

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  2. Awesome Video mate... very funny.

    I do think the biggest problem with youtube is the volume of things on there. I know when i looked for something very specific it took alot of trial and error to find what i needed.

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