Podcasts

Podcasting

I enjoyed being able to explore some of the different educational podcasts through Itunes. I have used podcasts through Itunes before to listen to different sports podcasts and talk radio. One of the educational podcasts that I really enjoyed was TED Talks. There was a particular podcast titled “18 Ideas Worth Spreading” by Salman Kahn. He discusses the uses of video to teach students material. He created a website called Kahnacademy.org. Through this website, students are able to watch videos that teach the material and complete problems at their own pace. The teacher is then able to login and look at where the student has progressed and the specific areas that they are struggling or exceling in.  Since I teach math in a special education setting to a wide range of ability levels, I thought that this would be an excellent way for students to move that their own pace. This week I set up gmail accounts for my students and logged them into this website. I had them work the last 20 minutes of math class on this site. They really enjoy this site and completing the math problems. Another interesting thing that I noticed in the education section of the podcasts was that there were a lot of podcasts teaching different languages. I listened to a couple hoping that by the end I would be bilingual. It didn’t work, but I could see foreign language teachers using these in the classrooms or as homework assignments as supplemental material. Podcasts are a great way to learn new information and material. I enjoyed listening, and sometimes watching, the different podcasts.