Pod- and Vod -casting in C lassroom

1. Pod- and Vod-casting in Classroom Taehyo Kang, Cassie Henefield, Jessica Davey, Amanda Carrigan, Brittany Woestman • Introduction: • With the development of technology, many new teaching technologies using Internet and computer are emerging. One of them is podcast and vodcast. Podcast is a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player. Vodcast is a little different from podcasts in that podcasts usually contains only audio while a vodcast contains audio and video. • To create a podcast or a vodcast, the following steps are needed: first, record video/audio file with webcam, microphone, VirtualDub, or Audacity. Then convert the video/audio file for pod/vodcasting with LAMES, iTunes, or Viodeora iPod Converter. Finally, upload the file into web server to share with other people with RSS file. People can receive podcast/vocast from other web servers with Windows media player or Juice. • With podcasting and vodcasting being widespread in the lives of Americans today, many people claim that podcasts and vodcasts also can be used effectively in classroom giving many advantages to both of teachers and students. How much podcasts and vodcasts would be effectively used in the education system today? • Method: • We created a ten-question survey to answer the following questions. • - Can podcasting/vodcasting be effectively used in the education of students? • Our survey was created with Survey Monkey, an online survey website. The survey questions consisted of six multiple-choice questions, one Yes/No questions, and three open-ended questions. After the survey was created, it was e-mailed to about 70 educators in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and college fields. These educators teach in Minnesota, in the towns of Winona. Our ten questions were as follows: • Do you know what podcasting/vodcasting is? • a. No, I’ve never heard of it before. • b. I’ve heard of it before, but I don’t know what it is exactly. • c. I can explain what it is, but I don’t know how to pod/vodcast. • d. can explain what it is as well as what software is needed. • 2. What software do you have to download or create • podcasts/vodcasts for your class? • a. iTunes • b. Windows media player • c. Quicktime • d. None • 3. Have you seen your students work successfully with technology? • a. Yes • b. No • c. Sometimes • 4. How many times have you used/worked with technology with your students in your classes? • a. Never • b. Once • c. Twice • d. More than 3 times • e. Very often – too many to count 5. In what ways have you experienced podcasting/vodcasting? 6. Why do you think podcasting/vodcasting would be beneficial or non-beneficial to your students? 7. What do you think is the ideal age group to start introducing information through podcasting/vodcasting? Choose one. a. K-2 b. 3-5 c. 6-8 d. 9-12 e. Postsecondary f. Never 8. In which subject do you think podcasting/vodcasting would be most useful? Choose one. a. Language Arts b. Math c. Reading d. Science e. Social Studies 9. How would you best assess a student’s understanding of materials when the materials are introduced via podcasting/vodcasting? a. Including a worksheet with the pod/vodcast b. Giving a quiz over what was covered c. Have students discuss what they learned from the pod/vodcast d. All of the above e. Other 10. Name 3 different ways that you would use podcasting/vodcasting in your classroom. Findings: After analyzing our data from the survey we conducted, the following results were provided: This graph shows that only 9% teachers surveyed could explain the term and how to create it . The most teachers didn’t know the term “podcast and vodcast” and how to create it. The information was gathered from question number one in our survey. This graph was from question six in our survey. What this graph shows is that most teachers (81%) think that podcast and vodcast would be beneficial to their students. More specifically, 30% of teachers answered it would be beneficial for students who missed classes and for students who want to review their class one more time. Other 30% teachers also showed that podcast and vodcast is effective because nowadays it is technology age and students and teachers can have a change to attain one technology skill . Also, about 20% of teachers suggested that they can enhance their class by adding variety of other sources like sounding and imaging with help of podcast and vodcast. The rest of teachers (19%) answered they weren’t sure, which meant not totally negative, but it is under control the different situation. This graph was from questions four in our survey. As the above graph shows, most teachers (81%) have experienced of working with technology in their class. To be specific, 38% teachers used technology with their students and 33.3% teachers said they used technology in their class very often. Conclusion: The most important finding we had from our research is that teachers have a positive attitude of podcasting and vodcasting. Majority of teachers were sure that those technology is beneficial to improve their teaching strategies, therefore students can have more interesting class. In addition, they also accepted today is technology days, and they should make use of technology, which is a good chance not only for them to acquire new technology, but also for students to keep pace with the technology era. Also, most teachers already have experienced of working with technology in their class with their students. Therefore, although teachers can’t explain what podcasting /vodcasts is and can’t create it, they are likely to learn how to create it and applicate it with their previous experience of working with technology if they are given chance. That is, podcasting/ vodcasting can be beneficial in classes if teachers are supported to learn how to create it. Further research can be done with both of teachers and students. First, we need to interview the teachers to find some factors that prevent teachers from learning new technology. Also, some teachers that are using podcasting and vodcasting in their classrooms will be helpful for further research to know how they acquired the technology and how they are using is now. Moreover, our group need to conduct further research students because our previous survey didn’t focus on students’ opinions at all. What we need to know is that how much students are interested in their class with technology and whether they had bad previous experience with their classes with technology and why it was bad. References: 1. How to produce podcasting http://bamcat.typepad.com/bamcat/ThePodcastProcess.pdf 2. Educational Podcasting http://educationalvodcasting.com/vodcastinglive.asp 3.How to produce vodcasting http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/linsenk-146554-vodcasting-elementary-classroom-education-ppt-powerpoint/