My iTunes Podcast Remarks

As I listened to the six podcasts, I felt as though I was listening to a show on a talk radio station. The podcasts were very relaxed and informal. The people conversing in the podcasts were very knowledgeable about the subject matter. The podcast were more of a conversation instead of a lecture with speakers. I was not sure what to expect when I first sat down to listen. I had to concentrate a lot to really hear what was being said.I think if I were driving in my car I would it would be easier to concentrate on.

I listened most of all six of the podcasts and I enjoyed listening to Connect Learning. The podcast had a very casual format, the content was easy to understand and very informative. As a prospective teacher I felt it had a lot of useful information about the use of technology in the classroom. I agree that customizing the curriculum to the students was an excellent idea. I also agree with the idea of giving the students control over their learning by self evaluating and setting goals for themselves.

In the EdTech Talk podcast I also felt that it had a lot of useful information about professional development that school districts would find useful. The podcasts discussed how little time teachers are given for professional development. This podcast discussed state requirements for re-certification and that many teachers had little time to get the continuing education units to get their certification. The need for teacher education in the area of technology was also discussed, since technology is changing at such a fast pace.

The KidCast podcast discussed when should a podcast be just audio and when should it be video.The speaker pointed out the need for a video podcast was necessary when body language, a demonstration or animation was needed to explain the subject matter better. A visual podcast has much more to consider like lighing, background etc than does an audio podcast. The MacBreak Weekly and This Week in Photography podcasts were not that interesting to me, they were very slow and somewhat boring. I believe they were too technical and I did not understand much of what was being discussed. The Smart Board Lesson Podcast had a lot of useful information for teachers. I particularly liked the idea of Professional Development using a whiteboard and either teachers could participate live or it could be recorded and watched at a convenient time. I believe that a large school system could use this to their benefit because it would reach a lot of teacher.