Using Podcasts in class

The article The Atom Family:Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary by S. Michael Putman and Tara Kingsley published in The Reading Teacher, 63 (2), describes a successful use of podcasts in science class. An experiment described in the journal proves that podcasting has become a very popular and wide used tool not only in Middle and High School classes but also in Kindergarten and Elementary educational setting. Reasons for having podcasts widely used in schools are many: it is "inexpensive to produce, simple to use, portable, reusable, and beneficial to auditory learners" (Smaldino, Russell, Heinich, & Molenda, 2005 - according to Putman 2009, p. 101).

Putman and Kingsley used podcast as an enhancing tool for "science-specific vocabulary development in fifth grade". Their research demonstrates that podcasting increases students' recollection of the words and improve their understanding of the material studied in class. Students listened to podcasts to review class material and make up missed classes when they were sick.

The whole article can be accessed through EBSCOhost. There are many ideas on teaching vocabulary by the means of podcasting.

Among examples of educational podcasts and resources published in the article are:

Radio WillowWeb, published by Kids for Kids.
Small Voices - using podcast by Kathy Shields, Elementary School teacher.
Eagen High School: Honors Chemistry - multimedia in High School Chemistry classes.
Just Vocabulary - learning vocabulary with a podcast.

Picture Credits - JustVocabulary.com

Literacy in a digital world

An article about 21 century literacy in digital age was published in ReadWriteThink blog. Traci Gardner highlights that literacy skills nowadays are more complicated than just changing formats of texts, from print one to electronic. She write that "it’s not about reading that dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre on some electronic gadget. It’s about a completely re-thought notion of what we read and how we read". Our students read a variety of texts, often not recognizing that some of the documents they read, view or listen are texts. When creating lists of significant texts students use they realize what literacies they need to accquire. Multimedia literacy, once being not necessary to be introduced, now became an essential part of education. Read more about defining reading in digital age on the ReadWriteThink (NCTE) web page.