Podcast II

The Process:

Okay I feel foolish. I went to the Apple website and watched their tutorial on how to subscribe and download podcasts. Well I thought I had it all figured out. I opened my iTunes, went to the iTunesStore, and found the Education K-12 section. What a great selection. I found four or five podcasts I wanted to subscribe to based on their abstracts, some on Web 2.0, one on French Language, and one on being a new teacher. Well I go to subscribe, and I can't the Subscribe button is not highlighted. Okay I restart iTunes, go through all the steps again, nope, still can't subscribe. Third try, I try to download individual podcasts, nope that didn't work either.

So here is why I feel silly. I on the off chance it had to do with my Preferences for iTunes clicked into them. Well it turns out that if your parental settings are set to not allow podcasts or radio, they won't let you subscribe to any podcasts. Go figure. Well I fixed the issue, and now I am the proud subscriber to five podcasts.

After I downloaded them all to my iTunes, I synced my iPod Touch so now I can listen to them on there. According to the Apple website, I can even set up my iTunes so it will search for new podcasts in my subscriptions and automatically download them to my iTunes. Also if my iPod is connected to my computer I can have it automatically sync my new podcasts directly. I don't have to do a thing. So cool!

Classroom Application:

I am thinking of using the French Language podcast with my French 7s. Maybe it will help them feel more confident. Students could easily download their own podcasts and listen to them in class, hearing French spoken properly will increase their expressive French language.

In other classes, students could download podcasts to help support their research. Podcasts could also be used as a communication tool between students. They could download podcasts of their choice, based on interests, and report back on the content of the podcast. This could be conducted as a whole class discuss, small group assignment, or partner sharing.