Blog Assignment #4

Eagle's Nest Radio & Class Blog:
I chose to listen to Episode #2: Totally Terrific Time Travel with Explorers. The podcast was very good and the kids did an excellent job. The quality was great and the presentation was clean and very easy to follow. Listening to it I also felt as if the kids had a lot of fun in the process of making the podcast. The first thing that jumped out at me was the intro music and the sound effects throughout the podcast. I really enjoyed the creative incorporations of these effects and I plan on implementing music into my podcast now as well. The second aspect of the podcast that I really enjoyed was Evan and Lizzy having their own personalized segments. Evan had a review asking questions to see if you paid attention to the show and Lizzy had a vocabulary quiz. All in all the podcast was very professional and the kids and teacher are to be commended for such an excellent job!

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom: by Joe Dale
In this video reasons are presented as to why podcasting is an effective educational tool. There are clips of students actively participating in their own podcasts as well as interviews from them getting their feedback on podcasting.
I learned quite a lot from this video. First and foremost I learned that I am a Millenial, (anyone born after 1980 and has never experienced life without technology being a heavy influence.) I also learned that Podbean is a free website and source for teachers who want to implement podcasting in their classrooms. This podcast also taught me how podcasting is beneficial in relation to Bloom's Taxonomy. As a psychology enthusiast I found this very interesting. Another important point that I took from this video was how podcasting by teachers could help sick students that are unable to attend class. As a sports enthusiast as well this led me to think of the applications for high school athletes. Many high school athletes miss classes for their athletic competitions. If teachers podcast their lectures it would be easier for athletes to keep up with the material covered in class while competing. The application also applies to coaches who could use podcasts and vodcasts to teach their athletes proper form and technique as well as skills to improve their athletic performance.

The Education Podcasting Network:
Under The Education Podcasting Network I decided to listen to Smoking: Differences between Men and Women located in the subject specific podcasts in Healthful Living. I choose this particular podcast to review because I am a Health Education major and the psychological reasons behind the habit of smoking have always intrigued me. In this particular podcast Dr. Karen Hartwell details a few of the psychological factors she has discovered by using MRI scanning. She explains how her research study is set up and her hypothesis on how these scans can help those who want to quit smoking to stop.

I am very pleased to have found this website. This site has given me an entirely new outlook on incorporating podcasts into the research process as well as my teaching curriculum. Using podcasts that chronicle research methodology while also presenting pertinent subject matter can be very resourceful as a teaching aid. It could "kill two birds with one stone" so to speak by allowing students to experience the scientific process behind the lesson being taught along with gaining valuable, easy to understand, and applicable information.