NPR podcasts, need for transmediation

Published by in edtech, literacy on September 16th, 2005

Miguel Guhlin observed on his blog this past Monday that listening to the same information can be a qualitatively different experience than simply reading about it. I heartily agree with this perspective.

I commented on this on his blog but will paraphrase here– NPR is now publishing a ton of it’s content as podcasts, which I think is really awesome given the exceptionally high level of quality of their programs. I listened to the NPR “Story of the Day” from this past September 11th, called “Reading, But Not Remembering.” The story is about a former lawyer who recently suffered a stroke, and has problems remembering almost anything she reads. She can, however, often remember more ideas and concepts from movies she sees, and also from things she experiences.

This is so important for educators to understand! We hear people talk about the need for differentiated instruction and educational settings which engage students with different modalities of understanding: auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc. Here is proof of why that is so critical. Educators have a PHYSIOLOGICAL OBLIGATION to teach students and engage them in active learning using multimedia. These processes of transmediation must be in EVERY course, not just language arts or theater arts.

Why do so many people kid themselves that the “traditional education” they received was/is/and will be the optimal format for students today? As high school principal Wayne Morren said in the interview I podcast this past Wednesday, school must be so much more than “sit and get.”

Are teachers at your school and/or the school where your kids attend understanding this? If so, they need to be walking the walk, not just talking the talk. But talking about it (including listening to podcasts and telling others about them) is a great way to start!

On this day..

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