Social Networking: A Definition
Whenever I think of Social networking, I think of the Beach Boys song “I get around” because essentially what you’re doing is cruising around the internet and making your people skills visible.
Social networking is defined by about.com as “web-based networking which occurs through a variety of websites that allow users to share content, interact, and develop communities around similar interests.
Social networking sites allow users to do three things:
1) Create a public, semi-public, or private profile
2) Create a list of users to share connections and updates with
3) View and traverse the profiles, connections, and updates of those other users
Social networking in Schools
I believe social networking certainly has a place in the school system, but in order for it to be used effectively, you must follow some of the suggestions in Library 2.0 and Beyond.
1. Explore the website beforehand
2. Set the ground rules
3. Have students add specific content that is decided upon by the teacher/SLMS/and principal if necessary.
4. Update regularly to ensure that the project is successful and being utilized to its fullest potential.
In order to screen out online predators, the SLMS can be in charge of who is added as a user or “friend” and who is not (as opposed to students) and can also control the privacy settings on the account.. You are under no obligation to add users or “friends” to your profile. This is also one instance where a blog is useful because you can block who sees and does not see your content. The teacher and SLMS can also help oversee comments and delete those that are deemed to be derogatory. Maintaining a social networking website profile can mean A LOT of extra work, so be sure you are prepared to undertake this amount of responsibility.
I believe that websites like ThinkQuest are most useful for schools because they are designed to be used in an educational setting only. Online predators are not as much of a concern because privacy settings are strict and controlled. Content is geared for all age groups of students without being inappropriate or harmful. It also hosts contents to see which schools can come up with the best educational webpages and webquests.
Our school filters social networking sites to a great extent. We aren’t allowed to use blogs or any services that require you to sign up with a username and password. This means that sites such as Flickr, Delicious, blogs, glogs, and other userful tools are not available. In order to use social networking websites, we have to get permission. But we have had success stories! There was one teacher in our system who had never used technology before and wanted to talk to her son in Argentina so she could teach her students about Hispanic heritage month. She had alerted the media specialist, who in turn had to alerted the county technology specialist. The county technology specialist came and set up her classroom with a webcam and unblocked Skype. The students had a wonderful time learning about Argentina and were featured in the county newspaper!
Social Networking Sites: Going beyond the Classroom
We know the common social networking sites like blogger, flickr, facebook, and myspace. But here are some lesser known sites you may not know as much about. I’m sure you could come up with a lot of ways to use these in the classroom. Many of the uses are obvious (i.e. using Zoopa for advertising/marketing classes to create and upload their own ads or using DeviantArt for art classes to upload their student work and create a portfolio).
Thinkquest
http://www.thinkquest.org/en/
This is a website where students can create and share their own webpages. A contest is hosted annually for the best one and prizes are awarded to the winning school. Previous entries are not deleted, but rather showcased and hosted in the ThinkQuest library.
Italki
http://www.italki.com/
A place where students learning a foreign language (and the teachers who teach them) can network. Students and teachers can get help with their writing, get feedback on their speaking skills, and make friends with others around the world to practice the language they are learning.
ScienceStage
http://sciencestage.com/
A collection of science multimedia uploaded by scientists from around the world. You don’t have to join to browse the collection of videos, documents, and group discussions about everything from astronomy to engineering.
GoodReads
http://www.goodreads.com/
LibraryThing is a popular website, but there are also other websites out there such as Goodreads. You can create your own booklists, take book quizzes, answer trivia questions, see what your friends are reading, and browse current titles.
Shelfari
http://www.shelfari.com/
Shelfari is run by Amazon.com. It is basically a virtual bookshelf which you can share with your friends. You can write and edit plot summaries, enter quotations, character descriptions, and other fun facts about the books.
Wattpad
http://www.wattpad.com/
Wattpad is a place for up and coming writers to share their stories with each other through video, text, and audio. Others can read the posted fiction and comment. There are many categories including poetry, humor, historical fiction, and even fan fiction (most of which are based on popular book series such as Harry Potter).
Zooppa
http://zooppa.com/
Zoopa hosts contests for advertising and marketing campaigns. All you have to do is sign up, choose the contest you want to participate in, create and upload your video advertisement, view other submissions, and wait to see if you’re chosen as a finalist. Great for advertising and marketing classes!
DeviantArt
http://www.deviantart.com/
Deviant Art allows you to create a profile, post your own artwork onto that profile, and network with other artists. There are several discussion groups, and a shop where you can order prints (with the artist’s permission). Great for art classes!
Disaboom
http://www.disaboom.com/
Disaboom allows people with disabilities to network, learn about their rights, obtain products and services, discuss mobility and job advocacy, discuss recreational activities, and much more! This is an awesome networking site with a lot of resources that will help disabled students (and their parents) not feel so isolated in the community!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Social Networking
20 years ago, the forms of communicating with family and friends were basically the telephone or letters. 10 years ago, emailing started to infiltrate our world. Today, in 2011, people don’t write or use “snail mail” to send letters and some don’t even make phone calls. We rely on text messaging and other social networking sites such as Facebook to communicate with others.
Facebook is the most popular social network, with more than 65 million active users. It is the sixth most visited website in the United States. Why are we not using a tool that is that popular in the classroom? Most school districts have blocked Facebook from school computers and see it as
a negative source, but Facebook and other social networks can have a place within the classroom and be a good asset if used correctly.
Maybe we should evaluate and look at Facebook and other social network sites for what they are…............ a “SOCIAL” network. Goals for incorporating and using social networks should be social in nature. Social Networks could allow students to form bonds with classmates and give them a sense of belonging. It could also increase the bond between the teachers and the students. They could also be a good form of communication between parents and the school. More than likely, many parents are among the 65 million active social network users.
There are many things to consider before a teacher can integrate social media into the classroom. One of the first things that needs to be considered is the filters at your school. Facebook is one of the top blocked websites at schools and workplaces Teachers and students will need access to the websites, if they are going to be used properly. To ensure that social networks are used properly, add internet citizenship training to the curriculum. Adding this to the curriculum can help address concerns such as security and privacy. Finally, a teacher needs to create a profile that is separate from their personal profile. There have been many concerns about the appropriateness of sharing your personal life with your professional life. This could easily be addressed by having two separate accounts.
A media specialist role in a school is more than just checking out books and aiding in research. As technology evolves, so does the role of the SLMS. A SLMS must keep up with all the new technologies. Our main goal is to make sure that students and teachers have access to the best information possible. Social networking is a way to meet these goals. If we properly
utilized social networking for our media center, maybe we could inspire other teachers to try it too! The media specialist could also conduct workshops to help teachers set up accounts and get them using these tools in their classroom.
For ideas and ways to use social media in the classroom check out the following links:
13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom:
http://bestonlineuniversities.com/2009/13-enlightening-case-studies-of-social-media-in-the-classroom/
100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/
Inspring ways to Use Social Media in Your Classroom
http://blog.nettrekker.com/2011/04/06/inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-your-classroom/
Facebook is the most popular social network, with more than 65 million active users. It is the sixth most visited website in the United States. Why are we not using a tool that is that popular in the classroom? Most school districts have blocked Facebook from school computers and see it as
a negative source, but Facebook and other social networks can have a place within the classroom and be a good asset if used correctly.
Maybe we should evaluate and look at Facebook and other social network sites for what they are…............ a “SOCIAL” network. Goals for incorporating and using social networks should be social in nature. Social Networks could allow students to form bonds with classmates and give them a sense of belonging. It could also increase the bond between the teachers and the students. They could also be a good form of communication between parents and the school. More than likely, many parents are among the 65 million active social network users.
There are many things to consider before a teacher can integrate social media into the classroom. One of the first things that needs to be considered is the filters at your school. Facebook is one of the top blocked websites at schools and workplaces Teachers and students will need access to the websites, if they are going to be used properly. To ensure that social networks are used properly, add internet citizenship training to the curriculum. Adding this to the curriculum can help address concerns such as security and privacy. Finally, a teacher needs to create a profile that is separate from their personal profile. There have been many concerns about the appropriateness of sharing your personal life with your professional life. This could easily be addressed by having two separate accounts.
A media specialist role in a school is more than just checking out books and aiding in research. As technology evolves, so does the role of the SLMS. A SLMS must keep up with all the new technologies. Our main goal is to make sure that students and teachers have access to the best information possible. Social networking is a way to meet these goals. If we properly
utilized social networking for our media center, maybe we could inspire other teachers to try it too! The media specialist could also conduct workshops to help teachers set up accounts and get them using these tools in their classroom.
For ideas and ways to use social media in the classroom check out the following links:
13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom:
http://bestonlineuniversities.com/2009/13-enlightening-case-studies-of-social-media-in-the-classroom/
100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/
Inspring ways to Use Social Media in Your Classroom
http://blog.nettrekker.com/2011/04/06/inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-your-classroom/
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Creating an Amazing Media Center Website!
There are media centers across the nation with and without web pages. However, those that have one are not all created equal. Some have too little information, while others have too much. With this said, a good website is an important networking tool for media programs. As media specialists look to serve their schools efficiently, creating an attractive, relevant website should be on the list of many “to dos”. Creating and maintaining a website is a major step in public relations and marketing. Therefore, these tips will serve as a PR starting point for creating an amazing webpage to market your school media center. For starters, I found this article, which highlights the need for media center public relations by Kathy Schrock, titled The ABCs of marketing: Promoting your Library Media Center is a Necessity viewable at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA332671.html.
So why worry about “PR” for the media center? If you build it, they will come, right? Well, maybe, but the right public relations and networking certainly add more value to media programs in times of budget cuts. Therefore, creating and maintaining a website is essential to school media centers for several reasons. First school media centers can use web sites as an introduction to the media center, while highlighting its mission to the school and community. Next, a good website serves as an interface or one-stop-shop for external curriculum relevant resources for staff and students. Additionally, websites can be used as an internal publisher of the good works of students as it relates to information literacy and the curriculum. Last, but certainly not least, a good media center website can be used as a data resource for staff and students. A website would not take the place of the media specialist, however, it can be utilized for direct access to information to engage students in real world problem solving, while providing a vehicle of instructional and learning support for parents and school staff. For more information related to website building and its potential for schools/media centers, visit the following website.
http://eduscapes.com/sessions/brick/index.htm
In closing, websites are not new in this technology age. However, with the many technology tools out there, this is a great time for media specialists to develop or even modify their websites in an effort to be more efficient, while maximizing collaboration and public relations in the media center program. I would recommend glancing at other media program websites to be abreast of trends and ideas. In addition, while developing a website may be easy for most, we must keep in mind, a website is a public domain and care must be taken to ensure goals of accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, one final tidbit for an amazing website involves the evaluation of your and any other website viewed. Please reference Kathy Schrock’s article, “The ABCs of Website Evaluation” downloadable at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/pdf/weval.pdf.
Additional Resources regarding websites for Media Specialists
http://kathyschrock.net/eval/index.htm
A lesson plan regarding critical evaluation of a web page for: Grades 6-8:
http://kathyschrock.net/abceval/teacherwebeval.pdf
A website evaluation and internet lesson plan guide for teachers and the user can type into and save information on this form!
http://www.wigglebits.com/
A web resource on building a school website!
http://www.ala.org/oif/iftoolkits/internet
An ALA toolkit link to use for the education, information and promotion of the library media program
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Websites Can Be a Great Opportunity for Media Specialists
As media specialists, we must always look for ways that we can …shall we say… market ourselves and our services; websites/blogs offer us excellent opportunities to showcase our abilities of collecting, organizing ,and presenting information in a cogent and cohesive way.
Many schools are now requiring their instructional faculty to setup and maintain websites. I have noticed that while this endeavor is admirable, it often seems that once the decree has been made that there will be websites, there is little in the way of support or training that is allotted to assisting the teachers in their website challenges.
Because of this, many teachers have issues setting up websites that are well functioning. This is where we step in! I think it would be quite easy to justify the allotting of highly coveted Professional learning Units (PLUs) for in-service seminars on websites, and everybody knows that incentives assure success! Since the best resource in a school is its faculty, it would be an excellent idea to setup an in-service that utilized the expertise of members of the faculty. The media center could host the seminar. I know in our library there are 24 computers at two separate tables and 2 mobile laptop carts that house 24 computers each. There is also a connected computer lab that has 30 computers. I would have different areas set up for different issues. One could be for utilizing different website services. One could be for technical issues and another could be set up for general use. Of course, it would be a good idea to send out an email requesting help and asking for issues that need to be covered. It is also important to note that most centers have LED projection systems that could be of great help in conducting a seminar of this type.
Web sites offer users the ability to communicate information in an easily accessible manner. Teachers can use them to post assignments for absent students, notes from lessons, links to helpful sites, and maintaining communication. Media centers can use them for collection listings, event planners scheduling, notices, communication and as compendiums of general information and paths to it.
There are quite a few website/blogger sites that offer free pages. Just remember that free pages do not come with all of the bells and whistles of the pay for services. However, they are more than enough to make an attractive, user friendly site.
Two of the sites that I have found to be the easiest to use are:
Weebly
I found the video tutorials for Weebly to be excellent.
Blogger
Offered by Google
Quite an impressive address!
Blogger is very intuitive to use.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Five Ws of Wikis!
What & Who: Wikis Defined
Even in this day of technological advances, there are probably individuals out there still wondering what is a wiki? In 1994, Ward Cunningham introduced the first wiki-based website, derived from the term “Wiki”, a Hawaiian word meaning fast or quick. According to Boeninger (2006), wikis, in the simplest term, is defined as websites with content that can be created and edited by a community of users. Accordingly, wikis are touted as tools of collaboration among a community of individuals. Therefore, in educational settings, essentially, a wiki is a database for creating, searching and browsing through information for the purposes of teaching and learning. Please visit or share the link below for an introductory to wikis.
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/what_is_a_wiki.htm
Where & Why: Use in School Media Centers
According to Information Power (1998), the central concern of a student centered library media program is to help students flourish in the learning community. Accordingly, this is achievable through assisting students become active, creative seekers, evaluators and users of various information sources. Therefore, the use of various sources, including educational wikis, serves as a valuable tool for school media centers. Media specialists can collaborate with teachers throughout the school to create wikis for targeted grade level needs. For instance, where the primary grades may need skill-building resources on a primary grades targeted wiki, the upper elementary grades may need targeted task that incorporate the Georgia Performance Standards of text limited information for a CRCT targeted areas, such as fifth graders and the Civil War. A middle school media specialist may assist with setting up a scavenger hunt wiki teaching the research process, while a high school media specialist may assist in developing a wiki for an Astronomy project. Therefore, wikis are appropriate for use across many settings for educational benefit and it helps with communication and increasing collaboration among educators for common teaching and learning goals. For a list of ideas on how to use wikis across the curriculum, check out the link below, which also provides suggestions for use with younger students.
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm
When: To Use Caution with Wikis
Although wikis are beneficial in many ways, from communication, collaboration, research and more, caution must be taken with the use of wikis. According to Courtney (2007), the first thing to decide is whether a wiki is really needed. There are several “best practices” for wikis outlined in Library 2.0, which are:
1.) Determine the need or vision for the wiki (i.e. communication, solve a problem, collaboration, research)
2.) Once the need is established, review other wikis for ideas on how to incorporate content ideas and organizational structures
3.) Next, the media specialist should investigate the available wiki software options
4.) After selecting the software/format and creating the wiki, the real work begins by adding content, structure and documentation advising what it is and how to use
Additionally, care must be taken to determine the validity, reliability and authoritative scope of the information provided as wikis, as with many internet-based websites, are not created equal.
♦Social Media Tools 101: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/socialmediabeginnersguide/social-media-tools-101/#Wikis
References:
American Librarian Association. (1998). Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. ALA: Chicago
Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user. Libraries Unlimited: Westport, Connecticut
Nations, D. (2011). What is a Wiki? Retrieved from http://webtrends.about.com/
TeachersFirst (2011). A Wiki Walk-Through. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/
Even in this day of technological advances, there are probably individuals out there still wondering what is a wiki? In 1994, Ward Cunningham introduced the first wiki-based website, derived from the term “Wiki”, a Hawaiian word meaning fast or quick. According to Boeninger (2006), wikis, in the simplest term, is defined as websites with content that can be created and edited by a community of users. Accordingly, wikis are touted as tools of collaboration among a community of individuals. Therefore, in educational settings, essentially, a wiki is a database for creating, searching and browsing through information for the purposes of teaching and learning. Please visit or share the link below for an introductory to wikis.
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/what_is_a_wiki.htm
Where & Why: Use in School Media Centers
According to Information Power (1998), the central concern of a student centered library media program is to help students flourish in the learning community. Accordingly, this is achievable through assisting students become active, creative seekers, evaluators and users of various information sources. Therefore, the use of various sources, including educational wikis, serves as a valuable tool for school media centers. Media specialists can collaborate with teachers throughout the school to create wikis for targeted grade level needs. For instance, where the primary grades may need skill-building resources on a primary grades targeted wiki, the upper elementary grades may need targeted task that incorporate the Georgia Performance Standards of text limited information for a CRCT targeted areas, such as fifth graders and the Civil War. A middle school media specialist may assist with setting up a scavenger hunt wiki teaching the research process, while a high school media specialist may assist in developing a wiki for an Astronomy project. Therefore, wikis are appropriate for use across many settings for educational benefit and it helps with communication and increasing collaboration among educators for common teaching and learning goals. For a list of ideas on how to use wikis across the curriculum, check out the link below, which also provides suggestions for use with younger students.
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm
When: To Use Caution with Wikis
Although wikis are beneficial in many ways, from communication, collaboration, research and more, caution must be taken with the use of wikis. According to Courtney (2007), the first thing to decide is whether a wiki is really needed. There are several “best practices” for wikis outlined in Library 2.0, which are:
1.) Determine the need or vision for the wiki (i.e. communication, solve a problem, collaboration, research)
2.) Once the need is established, review other wikis for ideas on how to incorporate content ideas and organizational structures
3.) Next, the media specialist should investigate the available wiki software options
4.) After selecting the software/format and creating the wiki, the real work begins by adding content, structure and documentation advising what it is and how to use
Additionally, care must be taken to determine the validity, reliability and authoritative scope of the information provided as wikis, as with many internet-based websites, are not created equal.
Please visit the websites below for more information regarding wikis’ instructional possibilities in educational setting and use the five Ws as it relates to creating your own wiki!
♦A Comprehensive Guide to Wikis: http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/guide_to_wikis.htm
This website serves as a comprehensive introductory to wikis.♦A Comprehensive Guide to Wikis: http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/guide_to_wikis.htm
♦Social Media Tools 101: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/socialmediabeginnersguide/social-media-tools-101/#Wikis
♦The Moving Forward Wikis: http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/Education+Blogs+by+Discipline
The website houses a host of resources to help change agents move schools forward into the 21st century.References:
American Librarian Association. (1998). Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. ALA: Chicago
Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user. Libraries Unlimited: Westport, Connecticut
Nations, D. (2011). What is a Wiki? Retrieved from http://webtrends.about.com/
TeachersFirst (2011). A Wiki Walk-Through. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Wonderful World of Wikis
What Is A Wiki?
The article “7 Things You Should Know About Wikis” defines a wiki as “a webpage that can be viewed and modified by anybody with a web browser and access to the internet.” It is basically a collaborative database which takes sharing information to a whole new level. While many teachers are used to uploading files and sharing them via a staff share drive, wikis provide a new avenue of storage. Information can not only be stored and retrieved by other members of a network, but can further be edited by and shared with members outside of the network. This includes sharing information and files from school to school, district to district, community to community, and even country to country! This presents students, as well as teachers, with an excellent opportunity to network, collaborate, and to share information instantly.
Use In the Classroom
Wikis have many uses in the classroom. See the following website for some great ideas!:
50 Says to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom
This website promises exactly what the title says! It’s an excellent resource for
making wikis an active tool rather than a passive storage system.
Wikis are of particular interest to media specialists. The Article “7 Things…” states that wikis show the evolution of the thought process. If this is true, then wikis can be used to illustrate and add to the research process. If you’ve taken Instructional Design, chances are you’ve come across how many steps can be involved in the evolution of an idea into a final product. Even if the steps are simplified, it is necessary to have a visual representation of the cognitive process. In this way, you can document how a few brainstorming ideas evolve into a finished product.
So when it comes time for a science fair project or a research project, wikis provide an excellent opportunity for collaborative group work where ideas can be shared. This can be done in a variety of ways: interactive notetaking (adding to each other’s notes and instantly adding resources to a group bibliography), posting multimedia resources to share with the group, creating group outlines, storing files for group powerpoints or presentations, and finally using the wiki to create a finished product or to post the finished product on so that it can be shared.
Drawbacks
Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki which means quick. The problem is that as quickly as information can be uploaded to the wiki, it can be deleted or destroyed in the blink of an eye. With or without the consent of the person who uploaded it. Students may find it frustrating when their work is accidently deleted by another student.
Wikis are also notorious for misrepresentation of factual information because, for the most part, they are used to support personal opinions. And with opinions come biases. Wikis are rarely used to document scientific or factual evidence because such facts would be subject to modification. This goes to show that there is no guarantee that the person uploading or modifying information on a wiki is a reliable source of information. This is a problem that I have come across with my students, because they like to copy and paste quotations from Wikipedia in their papers. Honestly, I’m beginning to feel like a broken record because I’m constantly having to explain why resources like Wikipedia cannot be trusted (never mind copyright infringement with the copy/paste scenario).
One last major drawback to using wikis in the classroom is that not everyone has access to the internet outside of school, and not all schools have the funding to provide every student in a class with a computer. Some teachers are also slow to embrace new technology and have a fear of it. If you are one of those teachers, I recommend the following website:
Teachers First: Wiki Walkthrough
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/
This website provides an easy to follow tutorial of what a wiki is, how to set one
up, and how to utilize it in the classroom. The short, simple instructions make learning as painless as possible.
Additional Resources
Best Educational Wikis of 2010
http://blog.wikispaces.com/2011/01/best-educational-wikis-of-2010.html
This website provides a sample of how wikis have been used interactively and successfully in the classroom.
WetPaint
http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/?mail=1140&t=anon
This website provides educational hosting for wikis and allows users to create their own wiki for educational purposes.
My Brilliant Failure – Wikis In the Classroom
http://kairosnews.org/my-brilliant-failure-wikis-in-classrooms
This article explores how group interaction and collaborative documentation is needed to make wikis successful in the classroom.
Rubrics for Assessment
http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.cfm
This website provides a rubric for grading many types of technology based projects including the use of wikis and blogs.
Blogs and Wikis: Use In Libraries
http://islmablogswikis.wikispaces.com/
This website provides links to wikis that are used in public and school libraries as well as offering information on how Media Specialists can best utilize the tool within their own library.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tired of casting the same old bait to try to hook students' attentions? ... Try podcasting!
by Blake Turner
Podcasting is a term that has been making its way to the forefront of the English technology lexicon since 2004. It is now a widely understood term that essentially refers to an electronic means of delivering information via audio streaming or video streaming. In essence, the term podcast refers to audio or video electronic packets of information that are created by individual users and are posted to various electronic platforms. Podcasts allow any user of the internet or other electronic delivery systems to view, listen, or download presentations in audio or video formats.
The extent of its popularity and applications are obvious in The Diffusion Group’s (June 15, 2005) statement that a “study predicted that nearly 60 million listeners by 2010” would by utilizing podcast technology. Obviously, because of its widespread use, educators can be sure that many of their students are quite familiar with this format and probably have used it more than once. As educators look for new and innovative ways to deliver instruction and increase understanding, podcasts provide a delivery system that is novel and engaging.
So, the question is posed: How can media specialists harness this information delivery method in such a way as to assist educators in their endeavors and, in turn, help make media specialists relevant resources for classroom teachers? Well, in a sense, the possibilities are limitless.
As a media specialist, I would collaborate with teachers on integrating podcasts into their classrooms as an alternative to the tired old poster and diorama projects. I would show them how podcasts really encourage the students to become actively engaged in the learning process while allowing them to incorporate their own personalities into them. I could provide a quick mini seminar on how to utilize i-movie and other software to produce the video podcasts. I could also perform a mini seminar on how to create simple audio podcasts. The beauty of using podcasts is that the students are gaining understanding in a variety of areas and are satisfying state standards associated with content areas and the use of technology.
Projects such as book presentations, character comparisons, musical arrangements and more done in video or audio or both would encourage the students to become more involved in the content of their subject and learn relevant technology skills. A great idea for a podcast is to have your class create a weekly review of what the class did that week and what skills were learned. These reviews could be posted by the students and utilized as review resources by the whole class. Teachers can also post podcasts in the form of lectures or notes for students that may need help with specific areas. Like I said, the possibilities are endless.
I found a great site that gives some excellent
ideas for teachers wanting to use podcasts in
their classes.
Check it out:
Check it out:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11531
References
The Diffusion Group. (June 15, 2005). Podcasting users to approach 60 million US consumers
Richards, Emily. (2011). 10 podcasts for teachers and kids. Scholastic. Retrieved from
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11531
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