Thing #17

PodCasting - I learned alot and even found some of my misunderstandings to be straightened out. I don't have an Ipod, so I just assumed that podcasting was something that I really could not do. While I found out that I could do podcasting without an Ipod, I don't really like the idea of being tied to my computer for hours on end listening to the various downloads. Maybe for Mother's Day - hmmm.... Okay so to address your questions:

• Which podcasts did you preview? I had been following a blog feed for Practical Prinicipals and noticed they had a weekly podcast, I decided to subscribe to it through Itunes to see what podcasting was all about.
  
• What did you think? I was surprised at how much the podcast was really just a conversation or discussion between the presenters. I guess I still had the old school idea of "shows" as being scripted or prepared ahead of time, maybe some of them are, but the several that I found were more like discussions - but they were useful and had some interesting and thought provoking discussions.
  
• Which directories did you search and were you able to find podcasts of value? I used Itunes and found several of the same podcasts that were suggested for us. I'll keep looking.
  
• Do you have any ideas about incorporating existing podcasts into your classroom or professional learning? Of course, I don't know how to make a podcast yet, I'm sure that I'll learn in a thing or two, but seeing how students can use this in their learning excites me. I envision that students could reflect on their learning, "teach" others what they've learned, participate in active discussions, the possibilities are endless. I'm pretty sure that one of my teachers has students creating podcasts, but I haven't actually watched them in action! I'll have to ask him where to find them out there in the great big www!