The+Educational+Benefits+of+Podcasting

**What are its educational benefits?**
The educational benefits of Podcasts are being recognised and are slowly building momentum. There are three educational benefits for Podcasts that are identifiable at this present time, although there are bound to be more that will appear in the future. The first educational benefit is that students will be able to use Podcasts as a means of presenting their work. Podcasts and Podcasting provide another educational and presentation tool for teachers to create a final product where students can demonstrate their knowledge and learning. It also assists the students in making their learning more meaningful as they are able to create a product that other people can access. In comparison to the traditional presentation tools such as posters, books and more recently PowerPoint presentations, Podcasts can be made accessible to everybody outside of the classroom walls. Using Podcasts as a presentation tools caters to the students different learning styles where different sensory inputs are utilised instead of the traditional text format.

The second educational benefit is teachers are able to record and present the information they would like their students to learn onto a Podcast and upload it to the Internet. This information becomes accessible to everyone that has a computer that is connected to the Internet and has Podcatching software. There are top tertiary lecturers and institutions that have seen the potential Podcasting has in providing the appropriate information that will assist in improving their students academic success. iTunes is becoming a leading innovator in providing tertiary lecturers and institutions with a service where they are able to upload lectures, as audio or audio-visual tracks, via the free-to-use service. Some institutions such as Stanford University and our own Waikato and Otago Universities are now making use of iTunes new services. It is called iTunes U, U stands for University, and provides a specific area dedicated to offering free educational content including course lectures, language lessons and lab demonstrations. All of this is offered in addition to providing supplementary information for current and prospective students. This information is available for download in the same way you access music and movies on the iTunes Store however they are totally free. Both iTunes and tertiary institutions are starting to make better use of Podcasts attributes.

The third and final educational benefit is using available Podcasts as an extra resource and supplementary material. There is a huge variety of Podcasts available on the Internet that present a wide variety of topics and themes. As previously stated there are top class institutions from around the world that provide information from their lecturers and lectures that would otherwise would not be available if you were not an attending student. In addition to these services there are Podcasts out there that provide specialised information that is not readily to an individual. It can also provide a different point of view from either a specialist or someone passionate about a certain topic. In some ways Podcasts have the potential to be the perfect resource. All of this information is free, easily accessible, and can deliver the right content to their learners at their own convenience as they can listen to it anytime and anywhere they want on a portable MP3 player.


 * Educational Benefits ||
 * Presentation Tool || Presenting Information || Resource ||
 *  · Makes learning more meaningful as students see a final product that other people can access.

· New educational tool students can relate to as they may use them outside of the school in their personal lives.

· A different presentation tool that is contemporary.

· Accessible to people outside of the class.

· Can presented in both an audio and video format.

· Caters to different learning styles especially to students who respond better to sound, e.g., understanding spoken language, analysing music, hearing the professor’s voice. ||  · Caters to different learning styles especially to students who respond better to sound, e.g., understanding spoken language, analysing music, hearing the professor’s voice.

· Being ‘talked through’ tasks in the lab or workshop, even on the computer.

· Having the ability to pause, rewind or fast forward through the audio material.

· Hearing facts, discussions and opinions from experts in their field.

· Being encouraged by the voice of somebody they know and respect.

· Able to review lecture notes and lecture in own time.

· This can be done for free.

· Provides a lot information that can be easily accessed over the Internet.

· Can presented in both an audio and video format. ||  · Caters to different learning styles especially to students who respond better to sound, e.g., understanding spoken language, analysing music, hearing the professor’s voice.

· Being ‘talked through’ tasks in the lab or workshop, even on the computer.

· Having the ability to pause, rewind or fast forward through the audio material.

· Hearing facts, discussions and opinions from experts in their field.

· Wide variety of Podcasts, perspectives and information on the Internet.

· Most Podcasts are free.

· Can presented in both an audio and video format. ||
 * === === ||
 * ===Some Negatives for Podcasting === ||
 *  · Not everyone has access to a computer, the Internet, Podcatchers or a portable MP3 player. If you do not have access to all or some of these resources efficient Podcast use will definitely be affected.

· The computer that is being used will affect the ease in which a Podcasts can be created. Mac computers have programmes readily available for Podcast production however PC computers tend to encourage consumers to purchase their own programmes.

· In addition to the above point you will need to have audio recording, audio editing and Podcatching programmes installed on your computer. And if you want the convenience of listening to Podcasts wherever and whenever you want you may need to purchase a portable MP3 player. These will definitely come at an additional cost.

· Some Podcasts require a fee to subscribe to, which may limit Podcasts you want to listen to.

· There is a limited amount of knowledge about Podcasts so there may not be too much enthusiasm about its educational potential. Thus there maybe some form of initial resistance.

· The process for uploading a Podcast onto the Internet appears confusing and may distract people from using it.

· Insufficient Podcast information may limit the ease in which someone can locate a Podcast on the Internet or in a searchable directory of Podcasts. This may decrease the amount of possible subscribers or it may restrict access to people who are interested in a Podcast. ||