Podcasts.

The first podcast that I listened to for this assignment was the Smartboard Lesson Podcast. I was not sure how the podcast process was going to work. This podcasting thing is new to me and I didn't know if there was going to be a video stream or if it was going to be a radio show. This particular cast is in the form of a radio show. This particular episode includes the friendly banter of hosts: Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. The two have a fairly good chemistry between them, they ramble for the first 7 minutes of the cast and then go into the subject matter at hand. The two also take ideas via twitter and incoperate it into their radio show. The subject matter of today's cast was how to wrap up a school year and how to get your students interested in math through a medium such as movies. I found this podcast to be too scattered and not very organized.

The second podcast that I listened to for this assignment was Kidcast episode 62 with Dan Schmit. I found the structure of this cast to be much better than the previous cast. It's like a radio show, however, he doesn't go off task and goes right into the subject matter he proclaimed at the beginning of the cast. The subject matter discussed is the difference between video cast and podcasting. He believes that video podcasting is not necessarily the next step in being a podcaster, you don't have to have a video podcast in order to evolve into an exceptional podcaster. He also believes that video podcasting is more difficult for students than audio. Like he states in his cast "...audio cast challenges the students' to give descriptive language and learn how to articulate well." Audio is also easier to edit, you don't have to worry about lighting, and you don't have to worry about teachers being a gatekeeper. But he also states that there is a time and a place for a video podcasting, for example, if the students are learning about the importance of body language. To conclude, a video podcast is not an essential and could be very complex project for students.

The third podcast that I listened to for this assignment was ConnectLearning with David Warlick. This podcast starts out with snappy jazz intro and a vocal introduction for the episode at hand. In this particular episode he talked to many librarians from North Carolina and asked them how they feel about podcasting and how it helps them do their job. They agree that it can make their job better and get people more interested in reading, for example, having a book of the day--having a book talk. To conclude, they all believe that the kids are more comfortable with video and audio instead of writing. They also believe that the kids can learn from audio means and that would help them with their writing.

The fourth and final podcast that I listened to was Edtechtalk with a group of women( didn't give the names.) I particularly didn't care for this podcast at all. The quality was not very good---i had a hard time of hearing it clearly. Their show was about how to grow as a professional and they don't stay on topic a lot of the time. They start out with cash for clunkers with a refrigerator. They then talk about a kayak and how that's helping them grow as a professional. It wasn't very narrow, and not organized, I didn't like it.