After reading both the Jowitt and the Gardner articles I believe that they some how go hand in hand with each other. Essentially, both deal with the positives and negatives of podcasts, and how they are so simple to make and to listen to. As I mentioned in my podcast, some people (educators, students, parents, etc.) might shy away from either listening or recording them. Take me for example. The first Ipod that I bought (over five years ago) was the first time I ever even saw the word podcast. What did I do with my Ipod menu? Deleted the 'Podcasts' heading from the selections. I did not have any use for that kind of stuff; all I wanted was an MP3 player that had a screen that I could see while I was mowing lawns at the Cheektowaga Sewer Department Pump Plant #5. Now, three Ipods later I still do not utilize podcasts...well up until now.
Jenny was a great example of a typical student (well, the typical student that tries to actually complete her work and put in a solid effort). I think we all know too well what undergraduates are really doing on the weekends, making them have to catch up as fast as humanly possible as soon as Monday comes around. I digress from this little quip.
'Jenny' demonstrates the practicality of podcasts in the education sphere. The advantages are numerous and hit on numerous points that I will go into further.
(Jowitt, A. L. “Creating Communities With Podcasting”. Computers in Libraries v. 28 no. 4 (April 2008) p. 56)
Like your favorite Bee Gees song or Cyndi Lauper track, these podcasts are available to be listened upon syncing them up to your mp3 player. You can listen to them whenever you want, how many times you want, you can rewind and fast forward the track, take them anywhere with you (like to that dinner at your weird Aunt and Uncle's house during Thanksgiving break), and perform other activities while you're listening (such as walking or driving).
People love to talk, and some people like to listen. However, others might have a difficulty going forward with this approach to learning. There is not a problem with that, though. Everyone learns differently and that is what makes every person an individual.
On to another topic.
Richardson talked about Facebook and Ning in the chapter we read this week. I have been a Facebook user since forever. 2005 I believe, August when I first enrolled at Buffalo State College. That is when Facebook necessitated that it's users have a valid school email address in order to sign up. Oh those were the days. I do agree with Richardson, at least a heaping majority of his points. On page 134 he stated:
"Whatever the challenges that prevent us from making social networking a part of our curriculum, they should not stop us from being able to talk about Facebook or to share or model our own experiences there in appropriate ways so kids at an early age have some context for what the expectations and roles are that await them there."
I like the way Facebook is spoken about like it is the other.
It's almost like that movie Fight Club except its this:
The other should probably be thought of as more than that. People of all ages, demographics, and generations connect on this thing. Therefore, is it really not worth looking at to see if their are educational benefits from it. That would be a terrible assessment of the social networking tool. Although some might equate it to 'Separation of Church and State' but in this case separating a student's social life and his or her education. Mixing the two could be a vile mess. However, putting them together could concoct a solid rock of educational value.
As my sign off I post this link, which I will also be posting to Diigo.
http://mashable.com/2011/04/26/facebook-for-schools/
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