Podcast Power

Enhanced Podcasts: A New Twist on an Old Tool
by Liz Kolb March/April 2009

In this article, Liz Kolb shares that an enhanced podcast simply means "a podcast with images and text". She discusses that this is a great educational tool to get children to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of what they have learned in class. It is fun and highly motivating and allows children to use their own creativity and add their own unique touch to their projects. Ms. Kolb talked about several curricular areas that podcasts could be effectively used in. In Language Arts, the possibilities are really endless. One idea is to have the students read a poem that they have written. They can add graphics and images to make their work personal. Kids can also create digital storybooks in much the same way, by narrating their own original work and adding sound effects, pictures etc. Science and Math are also areas where students can show their mastery of a concept such as a chemical reaction by going through the process step by step and illustrating this. Younger students can use enhanced podcasts to create their own counting or alpabet/letter sounds flashcards. Again, this is a fun project that lets the student show their creativity while showing the teacher their mastery of the classroom lessons.

I loved this idea of using and making podcasts in the classroom. I think that it would be effective all the way from young children to adult learners. I can see the kids really getting into the project, adding their own sound effects, costumes and props. I believe that the children will get as excited as the teacher does so I would make it a big deal to get my students enthused. I loved Ms. Kolb's idea of using podcasts as a sort of "classroom newsletter" on occasion to either email to parents or post on a school or class website. I will definitely use this idea in my future classroom, especially now that I am learning the skills in Education 422 to be able to build websites and blogs in which to post podcasts.