My first contact with podcasts was brief, accidental, and uninformative. It was basically a group of guys arguing opinions on the details of a football game that had recently ended. It seemed as though there was no legitimacy to the conversation and any credentials that these men had were not made apparent through their words. However, I recently became more knowledgeable of podcasts and other similar programs. While the random guys bickering about the football game is an example of a podcast, it is not indicative of the entire scope of what a podcast is, nor does it reflect the true utility in the classroom.
Being a foreign language teacher, I am sure that I will be using some form of podcast or a sister program in my classroom at some point. Auditory learning usually takes a back seat to visual learning, which is somewhat warranted, but using the visual stimuli in addition to the auditory feedback is extremely useful and effective. I have found that listening comprehension is a very difficult aspect of learning a foreign language. Podcasts and other programs such as google voice allow students to practice their auditory skills as well as their oral affluence.
For instance, I am currently in a college course where our homework is to call into a google voice number a couple times a week and speak in a foreign language. It is very little work for the teacher and it allows the student to complete the task on his/her time. Podcasts could be used much in the same way. Students could record a conversation in a foreign language that is taking place in a virtual cafe. Allowing students to get creative with means such as podcasts and google voice to complete assignments is an effective way to reach the interests of increasingly tech savvy students. It is also a great way to gauge comprehension and assess the skill level of your students. This can be done as a take home assignment or something that the students complete outside of school and bring it in to share with the class. It seems as though the options are wider than one would think. Especially one who thought podcasts were exclusive to terrible sports talk. I got schooled. Hopefully I can school some students with this material.
