Week 6 - Podcasts

The implications of using podcasts and other tools to facilitate interactions and critical thinking are numerous. Podcasts allow instructors to present information in a different format and in a format that engages the learner more than traditional formats. Podcasts also enable instructors and learners to access current information using RSS feeds and MP3 players to receive these feeds. Podcasts help us to stay in touch with the global community and what is happening in the world. I also believe that Podcasts encourage higher order thinking as well as social interaction. Not only does the instructor get to present information on these tools, but the student has that opportunity also. Students can learn from each other with these new Web 2.0 technologies.

What prevents us from making the changes and crossing over to embrace these new technologies is our own mindset, a lack of training, and money. I feel that there are some people – especially in education- who just want to teach the traditional way because that is the way it has always been done. They have a mind set that they are not going to change their teaching methods. There are other people who are willing to use these new technology tools but they feel intimidated because they just do not know how to use them. They need the time to learn but they also need someone comfortable with these technologies to train them. The last and most obvious reason for not changing to use these technologies is money. I feel that a majority of school districts do not have the budgets to purchase the technologies necessary to stay abreast of a progressive world. Purchasing electronic equipment is expensive. Add to that the attempt to provide enough for one-to-one student usage, plus the maintenance costs, and the expenses snowball.

If I could wave a magic wand, every student would have a laptop computer to use at school and to carry home. Each student would also have an Ipod with access to electronic textbooks, EBSCO K-12 Databases, and access to instructors’ websites. Every teacher would have an interactive whiteboard in the classroom, and the library and computer lab would also have one. In fact, every classroom would look more like a computer lab. I would make these changes because I believe every student and every teacher should have individual access to technologies. I currently teach on the middle school campus, and several times in a week, I am wishing that I each of my students were seated at a computer and that I had an interactive whiteboard to enhance teaching and learning. The only time this wish comes true is when I reserve the computer lab for the day – which inconveniences computer classes. It is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury to have one-to-one technology access in each classroom for all students.