Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tapping Into the Hidden Potential of Podcasting
Podcasts have many uses for a seemingly infinite number of topics. They can provide entertainment, information, tips and techniques, instructions, and more. As I searched through many different podcast sites and resources, I was able to see how podcasts can richly contribute to the field of education. Teachers and administrators may tune in to podcasts and podcast forums for a wealth of ideas and solutions for education and technical issues. Podcasts have the capability of connecting schools and educational systems worldwide in a professional network. The value of such a network is that educators may be able to resolve common issues or expand learning capabilities by learning what other professionals have done in their systems. I can see that podcast technology has the potential to exponentially broaden the reach of scholarly journal content and research efforts.
Some scholarly journals (not just in the field of education) are experiencing financial strains as academic and public libraries struggle with their financial strains and are not able to renew print subscriptions of such journals. One remedy was for libraries to join in a consortium to share the resources among a group of subscribers for a discounted price. Podcasts could somewhat alleviate issues of financial constraints because much of what is required to podcast is available freely on the internet.
Having a professional network of audible information that shares solutions to problems, new ideas for teaching/training/professional development, and free or low-cost resources for educators and educational systems is golden. Publishing these types of podcasts with well known stations like Podcasting-Station.com and PodcastingNews.com can quickly grow the listener base and evoke more contributions from listening professionals.
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Katherine,
ReplyDeleteThese are all excellent points as they relate to podcasting. One of the most valuable points was alleviating financial restraints by using podcasting. Teachers and librarians are successfully using podcasts as teaching tools in their classrooms. There are so many expert driven podcast on the internet. My colleagues and I often have issues getting approved for extra funds for purchasing additional teaching software to get the point across during library instruction. So, we decided to create podcast for resources that students and faculty showed high interest in and added them to relevant LibGuides on the library's site. As teachers and librarians we have to be resourceful and innovative. Podcasting is a great tool for that, especially when funding isn't available.