Podcasting in Education

What is a podcast?
The best way to understand podcasting is to imagine a merger between blogging (regularly posted articles of news, insight, fun, grips, literature, and more) and radio (an established broadcasting medium that people have listened to for news and entertainment for generations).
Podcasting is essentially radio programming that can be produced with a standard computer, microphone, free software, and a web site for posting your programming. Podcasting can be listened to with any computer connected to the Internet and able to play standard MP3 audio files.

In the purest form of the term, Podcasts are published as RSS feeds (most blogging software features RSS feed generation). Listeners are notified of new programs by their aggregators, which then download the programs and then transfer them to the listener's MP3 audio player, such as an iPod. Get it? Podcasting! There are thousands of podcast programs available on the net, and their numbers are growing daily. Teachers, lawyers, doctors, housewives, children, and even classrooms podcast. In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen people.1

Attributed to David Weinberger
http://epnweb.org/index.php? Downloaded 01 April 09

Listening to a podcast
Ecotourism and the Grand Canyon, with Prof. Claudia Jurowski
http://epnweb.org/index.php?request_id=235&openpod=11#anchor11

Who do you think the podcast is intended for?
This podcast is intended for students and other people who are interested in tourism and the relationship between tourism and ecotourism and management. It is an interview with Claudia Jurowiski and additional information in relation to sustainable travel and ecotourism introduced at the start of the podcast.

Can you imagine using the podcast in your teaching or learning? If so, how would you use it?
It is an excellent resource for people who are interested in tourism, management etc. It gives an understanding of other peoples interests or points of view. It allows students to gain up to date information and research not only about this resource but also information that is given over the podcast. It also allows students to re-listen and therefore consolidate or revisit the information again.

What barriers, if any, do you see to the widespread use of podcasts from this site?
There is a need for internet access at a reasonable speed. It is also no use to students who have hearing difficulties or students who don’t favour auditory study skills. Also the site is big and therefore students would need to know what they were looking for as there is a lot to chose from (this could also be good as students could ‘stumble across’ something that may be interesting.