Podcasts

As the focus of my next assignment, I was thinking of writing an action play to implement Podcasting across the school. This would be used as a daily news broadcast that would highlighting all the important information needed by students. I was thinking of writing the action play for the staff of the school, to convience them of the possible benefits.

My intention is to back up my action play with research which highlights the advantages of such a system as a tool to help student learn. The origins of Podcasts can be traced back to approximately 1994 the terms iPod and broadcasting began to be joined together. Hence the concept of being able to upload audio content onto the web with relative ease was born.

I think that the motivational aspect of content being upload onto the web in a school-based situation is a signigicant factor. Student can be in control of this situation and the information can be access not only from our school but at any time and from any where.

My concept has now grown into creating a resource for the school. Studnet in my class will read stories at different ages levels onto the web. This will be able to be access by all areas of the school and can be used as part of a reading tumble (listening post). Students can also listen to the stories at home.

Some of the benefits for students in my class will be that they have the opportunity to become familiar with a new technology, their reading aloud skills will be refined and improve (expression, projection etc) and they will also have the satisfaction of creating a resource for the school which will hopeful benefit others.

Blended Learning vs. E-Learning

It has been really exciting learning about the advantages and disadvantages of both Blended Learning and e-Learning. There are many definitions for e-learning. Nearly every article you read has a slightly different one. I am talking about e-learning that is totally web-based, just like the course we are doing. Blended learning is also described in a variety of ways. I am thinking about a blended learning environment that draws on the strengths of both a traditional style learning and e-learning.

I started out thinking that e-Learning had some advantages but that my assignment would also highlight lots of disadvantages. I was wrong! Most of the readings I have read highlight lots of strengths which I wouldn’t have thought of such as the reduced costs to the institution and how it gives students the chance to work at their own pace.

None the less, I still believe that Blended Learning is a more favourable approach. Research strongly indicates that face-to-face interaction between a student and an expert or co-learners remains critical to learning and has a significant impact on it. If a blended learning programme is design well, it can draw on the strengths of both e-learning and traditional learning.