17 July 2017

Article Review - Using Podcasts in the Classroom


The article titled “The Power of Podcasting: Perspectives on Pedagogy” the authors discuss the benefits of using podcasts in the classroom in two specific types of ways. Those ways are using it for lectures, or instructional purposes, and the other is using it as feedback from instructor to student. For instructional purposes, podcasts benefit students in many different ways. The authors list some of the benefits as being able to listen at home or “on the go”, creating notes at one’s own pace, and being able to repeat the podcasts to clarify or fill in gaps. The article discusses that using podcasts for feedback is more effective than just using written feedback, especially when used together with the written feedback. There were studies done and students reported that they had the most positive experience when they received both written and audio feedback.  
This article was very interesting to me, especially in reference to the feedback portion. I do not have to give a ton of feedback, but when I do on papers, I dread it. I think giving audio feedback makes giving feedback a lot easier. I could happily fill out a rubric, and then give audio feedback about why I graded the student the way I did. I also think in a third grade classroom that has stations, using podcasts gives the teacher some freedom to focus more on guided reading groups versus answering constant questions. It also gives a ton of opportunities for adaptations. Every year there seems to be a few students that are so far below reading level they cannot read the content required to complete assignments. By providing these students with audio clips, they can listen to the content and then still answer questions or complete assignments.  Overall using audio in the classroom seems like a simple way that does not take a lot of work, to enhance the classroom instruction and feedback.

Palenque, S. M. (2016). The Power of Podcasting: Perspectives on Pedagogy. Journal Of Instructional Research, 54-7. 

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