Second Annotate Biblio Part II

Lederman, Doug “Duke’s Every-Evolving iPod Initiative” Inside Higher Ed, 28 April 2006
This page talks about the Duke Digital Initiative. The Duke iPod First-Year Experience debuted in 2004. The program gave iPods to all incoming Duke freshmen for free. Now, according to this article, any Duke student can purchase one for $99, as long as they are taking a class with a professor approved to use the technology.

Richardson, Will Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Power Web Tools for Classrooms 2006 Corwin Press, pp. 111-122.
Will Richardson refers to Web 2.0 as the Read/Write Web. He does a good job explaining how to create a podcast, as well as telling of various uses for it, mostly in the K-12 classroom. He mentions everyone from language and social studies teachers to science and music educators using podcasts to increase learning of language and music or narrating lab exercise or re-enacting historical events.

Seitzinger, Joyce “Be Constructive: Blogs, Podcasts and Wikis as Constructivist Learning Tools” Learning Solutions: Practical Applications of Technology for Learning 31 July 2006. 12 March 2007

Warlick David http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/
David Warlick is a former educator who has started his own consulting business. He firmly believes that we must integrate technology, our “new literacy” into the classrooms to be prepared for the future, and that it’s “not your father’s future.” This site has several podcasts that talked about using podcasting technology in the classroom, mostly aimed at K-12 but still useful information.

Second Annotated Biblio

Bull, Glen “Podcasting and the Long Tail” Connected Classroom Learning & Leading with Technology November 2005.
This is a monthly column by Bull, according to the magazine. In this column Bull talks about podcasting and how it’s one of the technologies that he teachers are most often asking about.

Duke University http://www.duke.edu/ddi/projects/digital_content.html
The one-page article talks about the Duke Digital Initiative and the ways it’s providing digital content to students.

Educause Learning Initiative “Seven Things you Should Know About . . . Podcasting” www.educause.edu/eli/
This is a brief synopsis explaining what podcasting it, how it’s done, who’s doing it, and what are the implications of teaching and learning it. It’s a very brief article but had some good solid ideas

Fryer, Wesley “Classroom Podcasting Benefits” http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/01/14/classroom-podcasting-benefits/
Wesley Fryer reflects on what he’s previously written about podcasting, as well as what he thought of David Warlick’s podcast from PodcasterCon 2006, a conference of, by and for podcasters.

Fryer, Wesley “Tools for Teks: Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Classroom Audio Podcasting” http://www.wtvi.com/teks/05_06_articles/classroom-audio-podcasting.html
Wesley Fryer is an educator, digital storyteller and podcaster. He writes an educational blog as well. This article is pro-podcasting, where Fryer talks about the cheapness, creativity, potential for interactivity and fun of classroom podcasting.

Geek!Ed! Episode 10.
.http://coverpage.pcs.k12.mi.us/geeked/podcast/geeked-010-2006-01-11.mp3
Four educators from the Pinckney MI school district produce a weekly podcast about technology and the classroom. Although this school system encompasses K-12, this podcast talks about an article, “Podcasting in the Classroom” (cited elsewhere in this bibliography) which talks about collegiate applications of podcasting. The four also debate audio versus video podcasting. They are pro audio.

Krause, Steven D. “Broadcast Composition Using Audio Files and Podcasts in an Online Writing Course” Bowling Green State University
http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/krause1 Krause is an associate professor of English at Eastern Michigan University. In 2005 he interwove podcasts into an undergraduate class he taught. He also surveyed students concerning their thoughts on this technology.

Well, I'm pretty much done with my research and have started writing. I was a bit surprised that I found as much material on podcasting as I have. I do have two studies, small though they are, on actual podcasting use in the classroom. These two studies both occurred in 2005. But I'm encouraged by the research and feel pretty good about where I'm headed. There are a lot of interesting podcasts out there and part of the fun was listening to different ones. Thanks to Lisa, as I was able to use one of her resources. And so, I'm off to write! Colleen

WORKS CITED
Research Project on Podcasting

Calandra, Brendan and Flanagan, Brian. “Podcasting in the Classroom” Learning and Leading with Technology Nov. 2005.
This is a straightforward although short article on the basics of podcasting, including benefits and issues regarding podcasting, as well as simplified steps to receiving and creating podcasts. This article mentioned a study by Duke University on its innovative program of distributing iPods to its student body in 2004. I plan on following up on the Duke article.
Campbell, Gardner. “Podcasting in Education: There’s Something in the Air” Educause Nov/Dec. 2005.
This article creates an “imagine if” scenario where a female student at a state university uses podcasts daily in her educational universe as well as her personal one. Campbell explains how this pretend story is happening now and what’s made it possible is the ease with which is can be done. He says that although it will take a few tries, podcasting takes “rudimentary skills” and is accessible to most computer users. Campbell advocates including “creative digital tools” in education or we as educators will be cheating students. He also compares the histories of radio and podcasting, and how he’s using it in his own classroom.
Evans, Ellen and Po, Jeanne. “A Break in the Transaction: Examining Students’ Responses to Digital Texts” Computers and Composition 24 (2007) pp. 56-73.
This article examines the “millennial generation’s” (I love this term and plan to use it in my paper) reactions to moving from print to digital texts in a college literature course. The authors note that although we as educators assume that students embrace the use of new media in their lives, the transition to classroom learning with these technologies hasn’t been studied nearly enough.
Fernandez, Luke. “I Upload, Therefore I Teach” The Chronicle of Higher Education 1 Jan. 2007.
Luke helped his father, an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, work mp3 audio into the elder’s lecture-style course. The younger Fernandez discusses how this project worked. He also talks about using podcasting in his own teaching. He juxtaposes technology and oral tradition, and this makes me stop and think about the benefit of podcasting in the classroom.
Gerard, Lisa. “The Evolution of the Computers and Writing Conference, The Second Decade” Computers and Composition 23 (2006) pp. 211-227.
This article is a sequel to an earlier article, published a dozen years earlier, that focused on computers and writing from 1982 to 1994. Gerard, speaking on behalf of writing educators, says that although we sometimes worry and feel overwhelmed by technology, basically we are optimistic about the future of technology in the writing classroom. She states that we love to experiment and I interpret that as encouragement in include podcasting in the writing classroom.
Isakson, Carol “Caught on the Web: Podcasts in Education” Education Digest April 2006.
This is a very abbreviated yet informational compilation directing readers to various websites concerning podcasting and education. She gives a pretty good across-the-board survey of websites.
Johnson, Val. “Power Up! Enhancing (Already) Successful Lessons With Technology.” Extending Conversations: Multimedia in the K-16 Classrooms, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI 10 March 2007.
Johnson is a teacher in an alternative high school in Michigan. She talked about using a digital voice recorder, where her students had just completed a short unit on personal essays. “It was amazing to see students’ perception of audience and the importance of revision transform as they began recording their essays,” Johnson said. The students had to have their essays in written form before they could begin recording. The act of students listening to their written words really helped with revision and made final drafts even better. The idea for the personal essays, Johnson said, was modeled after National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” series. Even though Johnson didn’t specifically cite podcasting, I am taking the liberty to extending her idea of digital voice recording one step further to include the idea of podcasting.
Todras-Whitehill, Ethan. “Web logs, podcasts give students new tool” The Grand Rapids Press 8 Aug. 2005, New York Times Service.
Elementary and high schools students are shown integrating blogging and podcasting into their curriculum. One teacher says that this way of presenting information has really motivated his students and that it’s not an easy way out.“You just can’t fake it with this show. You’ve got to own it,” meaning the information the kids are learning. I liked this article because it showed how students can be excited about using new technology and it also showed a teacher who really believes it adds to his students’ knowledge of their subject matter.
Vestal, Shawn. “Region’s universities test podcasting: Professors using new technologies to connect” The Spokesman-Review 25 Feb. 2007, Spokane, Wash., McClatchy-Tribune Business News
This is one of many newspaper articles I found touting podcasting as the latest trend and technology in demand at colleges and universities. Here the author talks about Washington universities experimenting with the podcasting of professors’ lectures and how this may affect class attendance. Something it talked about that didn’t, I think, really concern me was the idea of using virtual sites such as Second Life in a quest for better distance or online learning. The article does provide both points of view on podcasting; those who are excited about its potential and those who think it’s a passing fad.
Warlick, David. “A Day in the Life of Web 2.0” Technology and Learning 1 Oct 2006, CMP Media LLC.
This article surveys all types of multimedia including blogs, wikis and podcasting. The author discusses a middle school English teacher, Mr. P, who is using podcasting to record a class discussion on “The Grapes of Wrath”. A parent of one of Mr. P’s students, meanwhile, is across town listening to a discussion of a science fiction short story. This article does a great job interweaving various aspects of technology throughout the various levels of school-related personnel, including parents, teachers, students, a principal, school board members and even a school superintendent. It is not clear to me, however, if this story of related technological relationships is real or if simply a figment of the author’s pro-technology imagination. Either way, I think it gives concrete examples of how to use the tools we have in new and exciting ways.

Research Project

My research project will be on why, as educators, we should integrate podcasting into all levels of secondary and post-secondary education.

I am extremely intrigued by the use of podcasting in the classroom. As we know, the use of the Internet is pervasive, as is the use of personal audio devices. These devices are seen being used everywhere and by everyone, no matter what gender, race or age the user may be. Just enter an elevator in Pray-Herald and you are surrounded by students plugged in to their portable mp3 players.

When I attended an orientation for parents of high school freshman last fall, the principal stated he was going to have to create a school policy concerning iPods, because they are so prevalent in school hallways. The principal referred to it as a safety issue. He would try getting the attention of a student, only to discover they were plugged in and zoned out on their iPod.

In my beginning research, I have found Will Richardson seems to be well-versed on the subject of podcasting. Richardson is supervisor of technological instruction at a New Jersey high school. He has a new book out titled “Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.” It is listed in EMU’s library but is checked out till April, so I hope to purchase it via the Internet.

Richardson also hosts a blog entitled “weblogg-ed.com” where he discusses integrating not just podcasting but blogs and wikis into the classroom setting. He focuses on high school education but I think what he proposes easily translates to the college level.

I’m also very excited to have discovered a college professor who has integrated podcasting into her classroom activity. Barbara Ganley is a lecturer in the Writing Program and English at Middlebury College.

Ganley proffers the idea that by having writers integrate podcasting into their lives helps to make a connection with writing and other parts of their lives. Richardson seems to agree with Ganley to some extent, as noted on his blog.

“So much of our traditional thinking about personal learning and classroom practice is being challenged by our ability to publish and connect and collaborate primarily because of the opportunities afforded by the Read/Write Web. For instance, in a world where literally any place can be a classroom, we have to unlearn the comforts of four walls that we’ve become accustomed to. When we can share our work with wide audiences, we need to unlearn the idea that student writing and projects are simply ways to assess what they know. http://weblogg-ed.com/

As we’ve seen in ENG 516, podcasting also is a way for students to listen to lectures at more convenient times than a traditional class time offers; it allows for listeners to play back the lecture again and again; and to take notes in a slower, more meaningful fashion.

The use of podcasting in the writing has great potential in at least two ways identified so far. Firstly, reading one’s writing aloud has been documented as an effective tool for helping in writing revision. Students may be apprehensive about their reading aloud ability in the classroom. But with podcasting, they could record in private and then post the reading for others to hear. Or, after recording their writing, they would then listen to their writing and revise from there.

Secondly, I think podcasting would provide an interesting mode to insert into Web texts, or classroom blogs, or I supposed even into wikis. Students could insert their own voices and writing, or perhaps that of people they have interviewed or are discussing in their writing.

As part of my research project, I hope to learn how to create a podcast. There are at least two websites that promote free tutorials and so I plan on exploring those. Perhaps this project is a good excuse to purchase an iPod as well.
Some type of history outline is important to include in the project in order to fully understand podcasting implications. But from a few podcasting blogs I’ve skimmed, the history of podcasting is debated in the podcasting community.
Here’s one view of the history of podcasting from a tutorial on podcasting at http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/history-of-podcasting.htm
The next step in the history of podcasting was audio blogging. The ability to transfer larger pieces of information and faster connection speeds led some bloggers to start audio blogs.
Instead of writing their thoughts, they recorded themselves speaking and posted it to their blogs as an MP3 file. The spoken word added a new personal element to the media of blogging. Some audio blogs naturally evolved in to the first podcasts history.
It is the responsibility of teachers for meeting students half-way and integrating what they use in their lives into the classroom, i.e. iPods. We also are responsible for teaching students to how to learn on their own. The podcast can be an invaluable tool for students learning to “self-direct their own learning.” (The Steep Unlearning Curve, Robertson, webblogg-ed Feb. 7, 2007)

Using podcasts in the classroom isn’t just an educator being lured by technology. I hope to offer specific ways in how to use this amazing technology directly.

You should be thinking about this even before you produce your podcast. The key is to tightly integrate a podcast into your course content and learning activities. If you make it optional, most students will not listen to it. Try to make your podcast part of a required learning activity instead of an ancillary content resource. At a minimum, make sure it is perceived as valuable for at least 50% of the students in your class. http://engage.doit.wisc.edu/podcasting/teachAndLearn/#five

Scooter (blue collar) and Max, both dachshunds we found at the pound. They are wonderful lap dogs!