Podcasts

Before reading a half dozen blogs about podcasts, I didn't really know a whole about them to be honest. I searched through ITunes for a good hour, listening to a few educational podcasts and came to one called "Reinventing the Classroom: What's Next?" by BAM Radio Network. Basically they discussed the technological explosion that has happened in the last decade or so within schools and especially in the classroom. They point out the evolution from blackboards, to whiteboards and now to smart boards. One of the topics discussed was that kids don't learn the way they used to, they need technology to help them learn and so the classes or teachers need to stay up to date with all of the new classroom technology.

They also discussed the future of blended learning, which is combining face to face classroom methods with on-line learning. It gives them an opportunity to be engaged, at their level because they are living in this digital environment. Whatever they may complete online, the teacher will be able to see it. They say that online schooling will be the next thing to take off in the next decade, but it's a matter of teachers getting the proper training through PD sessions to administer this type of teaching.

I enjoyed this podcast because it gave me sort of a glimpse of what's in store for the future of education. So we as future teachers should take full advantage of PD's that introduce new technology.

You could test blended learning with a group of students, to see if it's effective or not. Maybe have them do their own podcast on their thoughts on blended learning and ask them to share how much they have noticed technology changing over there years in school. (Social Change Unit)