Podcasts

Podcasts, what a fantastic use of classroom and student time. What an incredible way to get students deeply involved into the curriculum, participate in assessment, and organize an authentic solution to an authentic problem. With the need for factual information, the design of a script, the organization of ones message, and the actual finished podcast, students have wonderful opportunities to express what they know in a non traditional assessment that is entertaining to themselves, classmates and all that take part. The need to assist young children in putting a podcast together can, and more than likely will, be seen as excessive work, time consuming, and non constructive for the purpose of assessing students understanding of curriculum. In this time of meeting national and state standards, podcasts can be seen as over the top non educational activities that benefit none and have little effect on learning. Personally I do not see it that way and hopefully administration will quit wrapping their heads around numbers that have little to do with what children have learned and their ability productively put their learning to use. The creation of a podcast is certainly an authentic activity that takes what students have learned and use that knowlege and information to inform others in a creative and authentic way. Here here to podcasts.