Introduction
The term podcast burst on the scene late in 2004. In the short time since
then it has entered the mainstream, especially when a dedicated area in
the iTunes
Music Store was set up to make it easy to subscribe to podcasts. So, what's so special
about podcasts? How do you know a good one when you hear it? In the space of 90
minutes, you're going to grapple with these questions and more.
The Task
To develop great podcasts, you need to develop a thorough understanding
of the different possibilities open to you.
One way for you to get there is to critically analyze a number of
examples and discuss them from multiple perspectives. That's your task
in this exercise.
By the end of this lesson, you and your group will answer these questions:
- Which two of example podcasts listed below are the best
ones? Why?
- Which two are the worst? Why?
- What do best and worst mean to you?
The Process
- To answer the questions given above, you'll break into
groups of four. Within the group, each of you will take on one of
the following roles:
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The Efficiency Expert: You value time a great deal.
You believe that too much time is wasted in today's classrooms
on unfocused activity and learners not knowing what they should
be doing at a given moment. To you, a good podcast is one
that delivers the most learning bang for the buck. If it's
a short, unambitious presentation that teaches a small thing well,
then you like it. If it's a longer program, it had better
deliver a deep understanding of the topic it covers, in your
view.
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The Affiliator: To you, the best podcasts activities
are those in which the personality of the voices comes through. You value
the human qualities that make each podcast and podcaster unique. What matters
to you is that you get a sense that you know the speaker and wish to know
them better.
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The Altitudinist: Higher level thinking is everything
to you. There's too much emphasis on factual recall in schools
today. The only justification for bringing technology into
schools is if it opens up the possibility that students will
have to analyze information, synthesize multiple perspectives, and chew
hard on complexity.
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The Technophile: You love this podcast thang. To you,
the best podcast is one that makes the best use of the audio medium. If
a podcast has bumper music, interesting background noise, sound effects,
good quality audio, visual enhancements, you love it. If it's just barebones
narration, you'd rather just read it.
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- Individually, you'll examine each of the sites below and jot down some notes
of your opinions of each from the perspective of your role. You'll need to take
in each cast fairly quickly. Don't spend more than 5 minutes on any one podcast.
Your instructor will keep time using this clock:
Here are the sites you'll be analyzing:
- When everyone in the group has sampled each podcast, it's time to
get together to answer the questions. One way to proceed would be
to go around and poll each team member for the best two and worst
two from their perspective. Pay attention to each of the other perspectives,
even if at first you think you might disagree with them.
- There will probably not be unanimous agreement, so the next step
is to talk together to hammer out a compromise consensus about your
team's nominations for best and worst. Pool your perspectives and
see if you can agree on what's best for the learner.
- One person in each group should record the group's thoughts.
- When debriefing time is called, report your results to the whole
class. Do you think the other groups will agree with your conclusions?
Conclusion
Ideally, this exercise will provide you with a larger pool of ideas
to work with as you develop your podcast-making skills. The best podcast
is yet to be produce. It might be yours!
Last updated on September 14, 2007
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