Educational Podcasting: Forward Thinking to Capture Students Minds

            Being a resident of the Informational Age requires a shift of practices and approaches to teaching and sharing of instructional materials.  In the same way that horse-and-buggy and rail traffic was the accepted way of transportation in the last century, learning has also leaped to super-sonic travel as well as satellite fed devices in this new century. Students are aware of technology and have grown up with it so that former ways of instructing have almost become obsolete. It is imperative that teachers now engage them with methods that are familiar and fun!

            Enter the podcast, a means of giving bite-size chunks of knowledge to students or others.  These short audio digital files can relay lessons, instructions or even music and came into use around 2004.  The MP3 files can truly make learning mobile activity.  Beginning to learn about podcast can be as easy as doing a Google search, such as the one titled “Everything about Podcasts” (Dems, 2010) or  “Bite-Size Learning: Structured to Engage” (Nash, 2012).  Both these excellent articles describe the how-to’s and why’s of podcasting and how it can be a truly effective way of delivering a lesson.

            The benefit of podcasting extends to the learner outside the classroom as well as in-school use.  For instance, the student who struggles to take notes or needs additional time or assistance to recall information can listen or view the teacher’s lesson at home or on a mobile device such as their phone or audio player.  It would also eliminate the additional time on both the part of the teacher and student when one is absent from class.  Students could keep up with the class without excuses about missing an assignment.
Announcements can be recorded and played by teachers in each period rather than untimely interruptions during class-time.   Or, perhaps a teacher would prefer to leave more instructions than a lesson plan for the substitute, even providing part of the lesson for the class.   This is also a great way to involve parents in the educational process of their children.

It was quite easy and entertaining to read articles and watch videos of the various methods to create podcasts. However, if time is of the essence in posting one, audio podcasts of lessons ready to download can be found on numerous sites such as http://www.poducateme.com or other podcast directories such as http://www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasting which has over 5000 podcasts available in both audio and video.  Teaching has now become a much more entertaining venture and has stepped into the modern age to engage and challenge todays learners.


Dems, K. and Callow, R. , 2010. Everything about podcasts. Retrieved Oct. 26,2012  from: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/audio/articles/77820

Nash, S. , 2012.  Bite-sized learning: structured to engage. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2012 from: http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/2012/10/bite-size-learning-structured-to-engage.html

Ovadia, M., 2010.  Learning how to bring the benefits of podcasting to your classroom. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2012 from: http://www.poducateme.com/

Russell Educational Consultancy and Productions, 2012. Educational podcasts for teaching and learning.  Retrieved  Oct. 27, 2012 from: http://www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/