podcasting finally

Well, more getting round to actually listening to podcasts the way they should be ie out there on the run.

Finally got together in one place at one time   -   a) the mp3 player b) batteries for it        c) iTunes d) the initiative to actually do something about it and e) my 14 year old patiently sitting next to me to encourage (NB. He doesn’t listen to podcasts himself but has a much more exploratory reaction to problems than I do!) So am now furiously browsing podcast lists and downloading all sorts of things, with the expectation that I will be getting my students to do this themselves in a couple of weeks. Is there a way of searching (eg on podcast alley) for podcasts that are recent? A lot of the links I followed the podcasts had evidently dried up several years earlier.

Am open to suggestions re good podcasts. To date I am convinced by podesl.com for my students.

And for me? I quite liked the BBC Front Row highlights and am trying out The Word Nerd. I guess that you need to listen quite a while before knowing whether this one does it for you. Do others have podcasts that they listen to on a regular basis? Surely we should be doing it for ourselves before telling our students to?

So now I just need to go out for a walk…

One of my favourite cartoons below… which doesn’t stop me from trying out making podcasts myself!

Week 2 thoughts

What are the benefits/constraints that these open environments may bring in your context? Without a doubt, the major benefit is that social media provide my students with a different voice. I always hark back to the first class with which I used blogs. A lovely Chinese girl, very shy and at intermediate level, told me (in writing in a questionnaire) that her blog ’is the first time I have used English to communicate’. It blew me away then, and still does! So the benefit is the communciation… Constraints? Well, the technologically literate students have a distinct advantage.

Are you promoting open participatory skills in ELT? How?  I commented on someone’s blog about the institutional imperative to use our LMS (Blackboard and which no doubt we pay megabucks for) who have just introduced built-in blogs, wikis and podcasts. There are limits to what they can do, but they would provide a safe environment for my students rather than an open one. So I guess the question is who do I want to participate with my learners, and what value do I place on the openness?

You see, this is very much a reflection – and lacks connection !

Join the dots…

‘Blogging is all about connecting the dots (referencing, linking and aggregating).’

I like this quote from the week 2 instructions. And it’s timely for me as I tend to use my blog for my own musings and forget that it is about connecting. Otherwise I might as well be writing in my diary. I’m always pleasantly surprised when someone comments to find that I do have an audience occasionally! So thanks for the reminder : )