Travel Diaries of a Web 2.0 Newbie

I found exploring podcasts to be a similar experience to exploring blogs i.e. I think that it will take some time to get the flavour of a certain podcast and subscribing to them will be an ongoing process. One thing that concerns me about subscribing to a number of podcasts is that you can mentally cross off the time that it will actually take to listen to them or watch them. Unlike a reader, where you get a preview, you have to actually listen to the podcast to find out anything more than the brief preview that’s given with the downloaded file. So, I am reluctant to start madly subscribing to every podcast that sounds as though it may be interesting or relevant. One thing that I did find helpful was when the site gave the length of the podcast – I have discovered (to my concern) that I may actually be part of the “MTV generation” with their stereotypical goldfish attention span. The reason I say this is because the podcast I enjoyed the most was Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, where the podcast summarises a recent scientific finding in, literally, sixty seconds. I think I could find these useful as short discussion generators with some of my older students, and it would also be another way of encouraging them to keep in touch with current scientific trends and news. Another worrying feature I discovered, along the same “MTV generation” lines as before, was that I enjoyed video podcasts more than most of the audio ones. Watching National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles was engrossing and I can imagine that, given a few suitably chosen sample podcasts to watch, some of my younger students would subscribe to these out of interest. I think the flexibility in viewing time is a feature that would appeal to a lot of them. As their teacher it gives me another level of resource to use that doesn’t take up any of my, already too short, class time. Again, I hope that reviewing a recent video podcast would initiate a student-driven discussion of its subject material. I find that with audio podcasts, I can’t be at all tired when I listen to them, or I just blank out and miss what is being said.

Using the iTunes Store (because I am already familiar with it) I found some meatier (and audio!) podcasts e.g. recorded Biology lectures from UC Berkeley, may again be of some benefit to my older students – setting them an assignment to listen to a podcast on a subject, before we begin it in class could either provide them with a useful overview in which to place all the details from the coming lessons; act as a review of a topic, from a different perspective, which I always find useful (and again, not done during my class time); or function as an extension resource for students who found the topic interesting and wanted to explore it more.

Realistically, I’m not sure how much students will take up the idea of listening to the longer podcasts, no matter how interested they are in the subject – their time is probably as precious as mine (or so they would lead me to believe every time I give homework). On this point, it surprised me a bit how much waffle there was in some of the podcasts (no names mentioned) – this is possibly one of the downsides of this resource i.e. anyone can do it. I got bored waiting on a few presenters getting to the point of the cast after listening to them witter on like some aged DJ. Students might prefer shorter, to-the-point casts with no frills or padding (I know I would).

I am already subscribed to the Nature and Science Signalling podcasts through iTunes as a way of keeping up-to-date with current research in my previous field, and I think that this is an important part of maintaining some freshness and relevance in my teaching. I like the flexibility of having the podcasts downloaded and being able to listen to them when I want. It does freak me out a little when the downloads start to build up if I have been busy, but a preview of the contents enables me to simply delete the less interesting ones – a very therapeutic exercise.