Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Classroom Audio Podcasting

I have finished writing a new article for the TechEdge this evening/morning entitled, “Classroom Audio Podcasting.” I have had to write another article from scratch since TCEA refused to publish a 2nd article I wrote this fall, this time concerning digital curriculum and bandwidth. Admittedly the piece was politically strident, but I am still very disappointed they would not publish it. I plan to do additional research this spring on the defeat of House Bill 4 in the last term of the Texas legislature, and seek publication again when I have more supporting sources cited.

Here is the introduction to the new article:

Education in the twenty-first century should focus on the development of authentic literacy skills for students. Learning to read, write, listen, speak, critically analyze information and communicate ideas using a variety of modalities is vital for children of all ages. Some of the most frequent complaints of writing teachers, however, revolve around a lack of student motivation to write. How can teachers increase students’ desire to express themselves effectively and appropriately?

One of the most basic and powerful ways to increase student motivation to write and communicate is to change student perceptions of audience. Some students are motivated to write to please their teacher and earn a high grade, but that is not the case for everyone. Instead of asking students to write exclusively for an audience of one (the teacher) using technology from the mid 1500s (a pencil,) teachers can now challenge students to publish for a global listening audience via a classroom podcast. This article provides an overview of the benefits of classroom podcasting and showcases several exemplary classroom podcasts teachers and students can use as models when creating their own.

The article includes ten different benefits for classroom podcasting, and cites exemplary classroom podcasts like Room208 and Radio Willoweb.

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2 responses to “Classroom Audio Podcasting”

  1. […] Moving at the Speed of Creativity: Classroom Audio Podcasting […]

  2. Michael Avatar

    Mr. Fryer:

    Thank you for the comment you left on my blog earlier. I see what you’re trying to say about thinking outside the box and expressing creativity. Students theses days aren’t as willing to take a chance vs. going with the flow. I see it all the time at my school.

    I also feel for the secondary teachers in the Public Schools (the education system in Hawaii is a bit different than the situation on the mainland) who feel pressured into producing good test results. It seems to take the fun out of teaching and I get the sense that many teachers are discouraged.
    http://blog.brettmoller.com/?p=67

    I guess you could say that elementary school is the only real time to you experience your youth before going off into the middle school and have to start worrying about grades and getting into college. While this is to some unfortunate, I think it is often a representation of what’s to come. (responsibility, stress and being a part of the wheel)

    I believe learning is interacting with your enviroment and more importantly people. So yes, podcasting can be used achieve those means. But it is going to be a long time before podcasting is accepted. Gee if you think about it, these days the word “blogger” has bad connotations! I guess there’s a lot of work to be done.

    P.S. you seem like a humorous person. Based off the contents of your blog I’m going to guess that you might also like to read this blog. Creating Passionate Users. Gosh they’re so funny yet so insightful.
    http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/