Educational Podcasting

1) What is a podcast?


A Podcast is an audiofile that you can download from the Internet and transfer to your mp3 device. Podcasts are usually someone speaking about a subject and can include radio or news. The technology is not limited by time, so podcasts can be anywhere from a couple seconds to hours long. In order to make a podcast you need a microphone and recording software. Podcasting is different from an audio blog because it uses feeds and podcasting software.
(taking form gonepodcasting slide show in the network folder)


2)What podcasts have you found that are of interest to your discipline?


http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Science/Mathematics/Calculus-Podcast/31559/

This was podcast of a Berkeley Calculus class by F. Michael Christ. It covers material on functions of one variable at an introductory level.



http://www.mathgrad.com/

The mathgrad website gives 21 podcast shows and was created by a Colorado University Grad student on topics such as probability, complex numbers, and mapping.



http://www.mathfactor.uark.edu/

The mathfactor website has been running such 2004 and is also on the FM radio. It is a blogging website that contains math podcasts for each post. The most recent podcast post is about the book Mathletics.

3) We will be able to use podcasting in our future classroom in two ways.

Firstly podcasting will be a useful tool for the purpose of homework help. If students are having difficulty with homework problems we can give them podcasts that helps to take them step-by-step through the problem.

Secondly, we will be able to use podcasting as a way to get absent students caught up. Math is one of the subjects that is continually building on prior concepts that students have learned. This makes it extremely easy for students to get behind or become lost with even missing one day of class. Podcasting supplies a simply answer to this problem by allowing teachers to make a podcast of their whole lecture that they can put up online for students who have been absent to be able to listen to in order to avoid getting behind.