If they are listening...why not podcast?

In the article, Teaching with Technology: Podcast, Jim Lengel, Dean of Faculty at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, highlights the advantages of using podcasts for educational purposes. How right, he is? If you can use an educational application with an Apple product, it is bound to be a hit with young people today. Let’s face it, tapes and cds are a thing of the past. If it plays on an ipod, people will listen.

Lengel explains, that ipods are being used on college campuses, not only to listen to playlists. University students, are using podcasts, to study for exams, listen to lectures or to explore new areas of study. Instead of sharing notes, students can create corporative study groups by using podcasts or they can walk to class listening, to lasts weeks lecture. Further, Lengel points out, that podcasts are particularly effective when exploring verbal or musical material, as professors can create innovative lectures that contain the material they wish to highlight. This allows for the students to not only hear examples during lecture, but at their leisure or even on the go. In his two-page article, Lengel even explains how to make and distribute a podcast, so how hard can it be?

As both a future teacher and a student, podcasts sound very appealing. As a future teacher, podcasts sound like they could be an innovative way to help students review for tests or to work on drill and practice. They seem like a new, fun and an easy way to appeal to students. With all the hours they listen to their ipods, why not get yourself on their playlist?

As a student, I really like the idea of being able to listen to a difficult lecture again or to be able to review for an exam, while out walking. Let’s face it. It is a busy world out there and time management is everything. If I could study on the go or on the road, it could save me hours of sitting, pen in hand. Podcasts seem like yet another way to incorporate technology into curriculum.



For more information, visit
http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/podcast.shtml

Storyboarding: A Visual Way to Collect and Organize Ideas

In Using Storyboards in the Classroom: Writing Tool for Visual Learners and Classroom Collaboration, Tammy Andrew introduces you to the world of storyboarding. This technique is not only used for those in graphic arts, set design or the movies, but teachers are using storyboarding as a visual outlines in the classroom. In this article, the author explains that storyboards are useful in the classroom setting because they provide a type of “graphic organizer” for writing projects or presentations. Further, they allow for visual and flexible development of a project, as well as, helping to facilitate a concrete understanding of sequence. Storyboards typically use images or choice words to represent an idea or scene.

Andrew highlights that storyboards are great for reaching different learning styles; for example, they are extremely effective planning tools for visual or creative learners. Also, storyboards can be used as a tool in classrooms of any grade or ability. She writes about storyboarding being ideal for kindergarten-aged students to illustrate the ideas of beginning, middle and end in a story. At the same time, storyboarding can be used as a great way to promote cooperative learning in groups with older students. For example, these visual organizers can promote a flexibility of ideas, as scenes can be moved and rearranged easily and without consequence. This can allow for increased group collaboration and stronger intra-group participation. Andrew also points out that storyboards can also be wonderful planning tools for individual projects, as they offer a visual tool in which to brainstorm or edit ideas. Is there anyone storyboarding can’t help?

It seems storyboards can be a helpful organizational tool for all ages and grades. As I was reading the article, I automatically thought of how I could use storyboarding as a future teacher, not just to help my students, but also to organize my own ideas or plan my own presentations for the class. I have never done a storyboard before, but the more I do power point presentations, I am seeing how beneficial it would be to organize oneself visually prior to actual set up. A visual organizer of these ideas could make planning more precise because it could allow for a visual rough draft of a visual final project. That said. I do love a traditional outline. I wonder if I am ready to go visual?

Thoughts and Questions
1. Does the use of pictures to create scenes in the storyboard allow for a more descriptive outcome? Could this “graphic organizer” help to foster more creativity, even if it were a written work?
2. What if you are not artistic and feel frustrated when drawing, as the finished product does not represent what you could say in words? As a teacher, how do you handle that? Obviously there has to be flexibility on how the scenes are constructed for this reason.
3. What if you are not a visual learner?

If you’d like to see this article, check out…
http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_storyboards_in_the_classroom
At the bottom, there are also sample scene sheets for you to check out.