Reflection- Podcast

I always thought that in order to create a podcast you had to have all kinds of expensive tools and lots of sound editing skills. After creating one, however, i realize that anyone with a microphone can make one easily and fairly quickly. In fact I spent the majority of my time working on the script for my pod cast and hardly any time actually  putting it together. I think podcasting would be an effective tool for a classroom because it's a very creative and fun way for students to explore various topics. I think an assignment involving podcasting could be for just about any subject whether it be creating a story, reporting on a recent news event,  or exploring a science topic. I think students would really enjoy creating podcasts because they could show off what they learned to their peers with a presentation of all the podcasts that the class made.

I think there are other ways podcasts could be beneficial in a classroom as well. It would be pretty easy to make announcements to parents via podcast that are a lot more personal than an e-mail or a letter home. Also, it would be a good way for teachers to post their lectures online so that students who missed class could have access to the material. This may be more beneficial for older students but it's similar to the e-learning tool that several classes at UF have. I'm sure teachers spend a significant amount of time trying to get students who miss class caught up where as a podcast of the day would be a fairly easy homework assignment that could be posted hours after a schhol day is over.