Podcasts, Voicethread, Relevance

For those who know me, I can get REALLY excited about some new technologies (i.e. Jott) that click with my vision and practice, but I can also dismiss other technologies (i.e. VoiceThread) that I just can't get in to. (Perhaps there are just too many usernames and passwords to manage?)

Knowing that TIME is a big issue for teachers, the whole idea of podcasting seems to be intriguing and elusive. I've seen three different grant proposals from three different teachers looking to get iPods for classroom use (podcasting of lessons, English language learners, etc.), so it seems to be a pretty hot ticket. I think the time and relevance to instruction still continues to be a significant issue. BTW, none of the grant proposals were funded. :(

Mark Milliron just blogged about Mobility and Learning (more to come, I'm sure) and shared a story about a professor (higher ed, but could be K12) who would review classroom writing assignments by creating a podcast of her feedback as she would read the student's work.

According to her, the students flipped. They loved having this mobile, in-depth
feedback. She loved literally being able to talk her students through her
impressions.

Taking this a step further, it clicked with me that one of the challenges of turning work in via an online system (Moodle) is the need to get it printed out to handwrite comments. I'm intrigued with the idea of the writing samples being ONLINE, the teacher reading it online while recording his/her thoughts into a custom audio narrative.

...or, I guess we could continue requiring 1" margins and a box of red pens...