PODCAST INTRODUCTION

After viewing and reviewing several of the suggested Podcasts, I found myself getting bogged down and overwhelmed. I can see the importance of each venue and actually before it was all said and done, found myself exploring other areas outside of the education arena. I see now how it provides additional resources for students and teachers to explore, connect and collaborate with other classrooms all over the world, perhaps in an even more specialized setting.
One of the podcasts actually compared the pros and cons of video podcasts as opposed to audio podcasts, which I found very interesting. Video seems to be preferred when emotional reactions, body language or visual models are needed. It was also noted that it is more expensive, harder to edit and time consuming. Basically it all seemed to boil down to which media best fits the message. That being said, video podcasts may not be the natural progression to audio. The audiences experience, method of viewing and classroom environment all play a role.
Personally, I found the video podcasts easier to follow and felt the more technical program podcasts might have been better understood if an illustration were provided.
The Smartboard Lessons podcast proved to be very helpful in that in addition to each session, additional links were provided on such topics as surveying multiple classrooms, photosharing websites and even mention to Google Docs spreadsheets.
It would be virtually impossible to include all the links I visited in this blog, but this did prove to be a very important learning experience for me. Just jumping in and learning to swim sums it all up for me. Thank you, Dr. Strange.