Using Podcasts in English Lessons

 I have just viewed a channel 10 news item about how a particular teacher is using podcasts in his classroom.  This teacher has the children to write poems however to get them interested and motivated he instructs the students that they are then going to podcast these, and use blue-tooth technology to upload them to their mobile phones.

The use of podcasting in the classroom is very beneficial for students.  Podcasting allows students to publish and share their work with other students and to a wider community.  Children are egocentric, therefore through publishing their work they will take pride in what they are doing.  Uploading their work to their mobile phones allows students to share their poems with their friends and family.

Using this technology is fun and innovative learning experience for students.  One student was quoted saying ‘It feels like a lesson because your doing work, but its so much more fun than any other lesson’ (Alice).  The other students in the class state that it makes poetry fun as it allows them to play around on Apple Mac’s and learn to upload things to their mobile phones.  Students are learning skills which they can use in other subjects and in other aspects of their lives.  This experience is not just for the students.  Students have been teaching their parents about podcasts and showing them how they have been using them.  It also encourages students to share their published work with their parents.

Through incorporating this technology into the classroom I believe students will become motivated and active participants in their learning.  This News item has been a fantastic eye opener as to the use of podcasts in the classroom environment.
Click here to view the news item