Podcasting can supplement the teacher's lectures and assist students who miss work or have special needs.
Podcasting is a relatively new concept, particularly for classroom use. Many students walk around with I-pods and other portable devices used for downloading music from the internet, but these are mostly used for blocking out the teacher. Students can easily look like they are listening attentively to the teacher by wearing the ear-buds with a hood over their ears or arranging long hair and a turtleneck collar just so. Although the teacher appears to have a well-behaved, attentive class, the opposite may be so—students are not listening to a lecture, and are pretty much tuning out. Additionally, the music’s content is not being monitored, so it is a double whammy.
The term “podcasting” is a combination of the two terms “Ipod”, after the Apple device and “broadcasting”. Podcasting usually refers to the downloading of subscribed to audio files, most often music. It is easy to see the implications of podcasting for the music classroom. Students can really have their music lesson individualized, just on the basis of musical taste. A music teacher could easily have one objective for an entire class, but each student could choose his or her preferred music. Only thirty years ago, the technology of music class consisted of a scratchy record that might have been Beethoven or Bach (who knew; it was not music we liked!).
Aside from music class, podcasting can be used in an inclusive setting, hugely benefiting students who have attention deficit disorders. The teacher can arrange for the student to download lectures and other course materials from the computer, and the student can listen individually to it, without distractions. A student who has a hyperactivity disorder might possibly benefit from listening to music while completing assignments. Many students who are hyperactive need to feed a variety of senses at once. Students who might usually need an Assistive Listening System might be able to use the less expensive Ipod or similar mp3player.
Other classroom implications for podcasting include the following:
- Students who are absent can download and listen to missed information
- Students who are weak readers can listen to novels and follow in their hard copy
- Students who are auditory learners benefit
Teachers can set up podcasting in their rooms very easily, in many cases using what their students possess already. The portability of the device makes podcasting extremely convenient!
