Podcasting.

In my opinion, podcasts are a very valuable and powerful tool.  I think that using a podcast made by either the teacher or the students as a supplement to class discussion can help with comprehension as well as help students interact with the text.

From the perspective of the teacher, I think that a podcast can provide a chance to cover discussion topics that may or may not have come up in class.  With a 50-minute time constraint, I think it is very difficult to get into really deep discussion, and by raising a few more topics online and discussing your point of view on them, it provides a chance for the class to continue.  In addition, I think that allowing (or requiring) students to respond to your podcast either on a blog or another forum gets them thinking not only about the text itself but about publishing and facilitating a healthy discussion ONLINE.  Providing students with an summary of what was discussed in class or of the reading itself may also be helpful to students who have a hard time understanding the literature.  One example is this audio podcast about To Kill A Mockingbird.

Instead of the teacher authoring all of the podcasts, using them as a tool to get students interacting with the text is also useful.  By splitting the class and the text up into groups, then having them record a podcast based on either their chapters or their theme (depending on how your divide the text), it causes the students to dig in and create something that becomes somewhat of a study guide or supplement to the text.  Although it may not be a podcast in the traditional sense because it won’t have more episodes, this video is one example of how  students can create a supplement.

One more idea that I had about podcasts is how powerful of a tool they can be for days when there is a substitute teacher.  Although I know that substitutes are very capable, I’m sure that there will be days when a break in discussion will cause a break in the rhythm of the class, and a podcast could help that.  I’m sure it’s not something tried-and-true, but it is an avenue that I would try.