My Thoughts on Our Podcasts
I listened to several of the EDM 310 class podcasts, but the four that I would like to make comments on are these:
1) Blogging and Education by Andrea Williams, LaShonda Pruitt, and Silas Smith
I thought this was a very informative podcast with a lot of personal opinions presented by the podcasters. I like how Andrea explained what blogging is and the three types of educational blogs you usually find on the web.
Silas had some really good comments to make about the blogs and his personal experiences since he works as a teacher's assistant at Gautier High School in Mississippi. Silas also seemed really relaxed during the whole discussion. He's a natural.
I would liked to have heard more of LaShonda's thoughts about blogging and her experiences with it. Also, they only made reference to one blog they visited during the conversation and it was a personal (independent) one. I would liked to have heard of some good educational blogs that they found that maybe future teachers could use for examples.
Overall, I thought this was an good instructional podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
2) ALEX and ACCESS: Alabama Distance Learning by Brooke Elder, Alison Davis, and Kellie Brooks
I liked how ALEX and ACCESS were explained in detail since many of our listeners may not be from Alabama so may not know about either program. They also told which schools in our area now have full ACCESS labs and which have partial labs. I would like to have known if any of them personally have visited one of the labs yet and what they thought. Also, the majority of the conversation was devoted to ACCESS. I wanted to know to more about ALEX and how they intend to use this program in their classrooms and how it could be beneficial to future teachers.
I thought the three students interacted well and it was a very informative podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
3) Facebook as an Educational Tool by Theola Hines and Larrica Smith.
I liked how Theola gave us some background information on Facebook and talked about her experiences using Facebook, since she is a member. I would have liked to have heard more about the comparisons between My Space and Facebook. What are the similarities and differences between the two? Theola did say that My Space had many more members than Facebook but since I am unfamiliar with both, I would like to know which would work best in an educational setting (advantages and disadvantages).
I thought it was interesting that Theola was able to convince Larrica during the conversation to switch from My Space to Facebook. Larrica was unfamiliar with Facebook before the conversation but now is willing to try it.
When Dr. Strange interjected, the conversation seemed to change direction from Facebook being used by high school and college students to perhaps younger students, like middle school or upper elementary. He asked the right questions to steer the conversation to a broader audience.
The students mentioned something about putting pictures of their students on Facebook as a way for the parents and other classes to see what they are doing in school. I am wondering about the liability issues with this. Would they need to get a waiver signed by the parents in order to post pictures in Facebook? This is something I would liked to have seen addressed. Also, I know there is an age limit, but as one student said, it is easy to get around. I am wondering what you do if the parents are opposed to letting their child have a Facebook account? Would this be something just used in the classroom or something the students could access at home?
Overall, I thought the two girls interacted really well and seemed to have a good rapport. This podcast was interesting to listen to.
To listen to this podcast, click here
4) Burp Back Education by Patricia Robbins, Maegan St. Amant, and Courtney Morris
This is the podcast that I participated in. I think we got the point across how each of us is definitely opposed to Burp Back education. Dr. Strange explained what Burp Back education is during the introduction so we each elaborated on it and cited our own personal experiences with it. I stressed how I like the idea of using application projects as a way to reinforce the information presented in class and also as a way to evaluate students. Maegan likes the student-led discussions in class because she feels that students can learn from each other. Courtney prefers the in-class activites like the classroom games to enhance learning. I really liked Courtney's fly swatter game idea.
I think we had a good rapport with each other but the podcast didn't flow as well as some of the later ones. I think after listening to some of the later podcasts, that maybe next time we would set it up more like a give and take conversation, where one person makes a point and the other two comment on it. Also, some of our comments were hard to hear so I guess next time we need to speak louder. Overall, I think we did pretty good, considering we were only the second podcast made. I think we are probably our own worst critic but I didn't like listening to my own podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
I thought all the podcasts were very good but some of them did sound like someone was reading from a script. I think more preparation was needed in the material presented. There was also, in many of the podcasts, instances of dead air (5-6 second pauses) seeming like the speakers ran out of things to say. Many of the speakers also seemed to be really uncomfortable in front of the microphone (myself included) though most did seem to relax towards the end of the discussion. I think if we could have rehearsed what we were going to say or had a trial run, some of that may have been eliminated but then the podcast might not have sounded as authentic. Overall, I think everyone did an excellent job, especially considering this was our first experience pocasting. Great job, class.
1) Blogging and Education by Andrea Williams, LaShonda Pruitt, and Silas Smith
I thought this was a very informative podcast with a lot of personal opinions presented by the podcasters. I like how Andrea explained what blogging is and the three types of educational blogs you usually find on the web.
Silas had some really good comments to make about the blogs and his personal experiences since he works as a teacher's assistant at Gautier High School in Mississippi. Silas also seemed really relaxed during the whole discussion. He's a natural.
I would liked to have heard more of LaShonda's thoughts about blogging and her experiences with it. Also, they only made reference to one blog they visited during the conversation and it was a personal (independent) one. I would liked to have heard of some good educational blogs that they found that maybe future teachers could use for examples.
Overall, I thought this was an good instructional podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
2) ALEX and ACCESS: Alabama Distance Learning by Brooke Elder, Alison Davis, and Kellie Brooks
I liked how ALEX and ACCESS were explained in detail since many of our listeners may not be from Alabama so may not know about either program. They also told which schools in our area now have full ACCESS labs and which have partial labs. I would like to have known if any of them personally have visited one of the labs yet and what they thought. Also, the majority of the conversation was devoted to ACCESS. I wanted to know to more about ALEX and how they intend to use this program in their classrooms and how it could be beneficial to future teachers.
I thought the three students interacted well and it was a very informative podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
3) Facebook as an Educational Tool by Theola Hines and Larrica Smith.
I liked how Theola gave us some background information on Facebook and talked about her experiences using Facebook, since she is a member. I would have liked to have heard more about the comparisons between My Space and Facebook. What are the similarities and differences between the two? Theola did say that My Space had many more members than Facebook but since I am unfamiliar with both, I would like to know which would work best in an educational setting (advantages and disadvantages).
I thought it was interesting that Theola was able to convince Larrica during the conversation to switch from My Space to Facebook. Larrica was unfamiliar with Facebook before the conversation but now is willing to try it.
When Dr. Strange interjected, the conversation seemed to change direction from Facebook being used by high school and college students to perhaps younger students, like middle school or upper elementary. He asked the right questions to steer the conversation to a broader audience.
The students mentioned something about putting pictures of their students on Facebook as a way for the parents and other classes to see what they are doing in school. I am wondering about the liability issues with this. Would they need to get a waiver signed by the parents in order to post pictures in Facebook? This is something I would liked to have seen addressed. Also, I know there is an age limit, but as one student said, it is easy to get around. I am wondering what you do if the parents are opposed to letting their child have a Facebook account? Would this be something just used in the classroom or something the students could access at home?
Overall, I thought the two girls interacted really well and seemed to have a good rapport. This podcast was interesting to listen to.
To listen to this podcast, click here
4) Burp Back Education by Patricia Robbins, Maegan St. Amant, and Courtney Morris
This is the podcast that I participated in. I think we got the point across how each of us is definitely opposed to Burp Back education. Dr. Strange explained what Burp Back education is during the introduction so we each elaborated on it and cited our own personal experiences with it. I stressed how I like the idea of using application projects as a way to reinforce the information presented in class and also as a way to evaluate students. Maegan likes the student-led discussions in class because she feels that students can learn from each other. Courtney prefers the in-class activites like the classroom games to enhance learning. I really liked Courtney's fly swatter game idea.
I think we had a good rapport with each other but the podcast didn't flow as well as some of the later ones. I think after listening to some of the later podcasts, that maybe next time we would set it up more like a give and take conversation, where one person makes a point and the other two comment on it. Also, some of our comments were hard to hear so I guess next time we need to speak louder. Overall, I think we did pretty good, considering we were only the second podcast made. I think we are probably our own worst critic but I didn't like listening to my own podcast.
To listen to this podcast, click here
I thought all the podcasts were very good but some of them did sound like someone was reading from a script. I think more preparation was needed in the material presented. There was also, in many of the podcasts, instances of dead air (5-6 second pauses) seeming like the speakers ran out of things to say. Many of the speakers also seemed to be really uncomfortable in front of the microphone (myself included) though most did seem to relax towards the end of the discussion. I think if we could have rehearsed what we were going to say or had a trial run, some of that may have been eliminated but then the podcast might not have sounded as authentic. Overall, I think everyone did an excellent job, especially considering this was our first experience pocasting. Great job, class.
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