1.With the website I created for my classes last year, I did embed videos from Khan Academy and from phschool.com to help further explain the lessons I taught in class. I also have used videos from Khan Academy as a part of my instruction in the classroom. This upcoming school year I would like to incorporate a few podcasts on a trial basis to see if it would be beneficial within my math classes. Some of my concerns using video and audio resources are as follows:
Will students actually pay attention and possibly take notes during the video or podcast?
Do students have access to the internet outside of school to access the resources?
2. PodOmatic is a site where a person can create and post their own podcast for free as well as view podcasts others have posted on a wide variety of topics. The basic version is free while the pro version will cost some money. With the basic version, a person gets 500MB of storage along with 15GB of bandwidth. A person is also able to follow other podcasts, have access to easy-to-use publication tools, and share podcasts with others. PodOmatic also has another feature called Minicast. Minicast is free software that mashes up photos and audio into a slideshow. Just like PodOmatic, Minicast can be shared with others via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.
3. I think using video resources verses strictly audio resources are more useful in a math class because students have better chance at understanding math if they can visually see things like the process of how problems are solved or how formulas are derived. (Yes, I do understand that there are those who may find the audio resources more beneficial to them. And I know I probably contradicted myself in what I said in question one).
Using a strictly audio resource could possible bore students and make them less interested in listening and more interested in going off task. If there is, however , a well made podcast that would capture the interest of students in math, then I could see the possibility of lively discussion afterward.
Trina,
ReplyDeleteYour concerns about students watching videos/podcasts are shared by many educators. If you want students to watch video/podcasts, you need to give them a reason to, such has having them take a short quiz after the video or showing you their notes the next day. You should also try to make/use video that are short (8 minutes or less) and entertaining. It has also been shown that students learn better when they are watching a video made by their teacher.
As for the students that don't have internet access at home, there are other ways they can watch the videos. The simplest thing to do is put the videos on a CD or USB drive and have the students watch the video at home on the computer. If students don't have a computer, but have a smartphone or mobile device, they could download the video onto their device at school and then watch it at home. If that is an issue, those students could watch the video before school, after school, or during lunch.