Podcasts have become all the rage in education settings and there are many educational benefits for this technology.  BUT……… We NEED (I’m really yelling) to help educators understand the difference between a podcast and an audio file and start calling them their respective names.  Audio files have been around for many years and can be created in a number of ways.  Once an audio file is created it can be posted to a website and people can come listen to the recording on the site or download and listen on their computer or MP3 player.

A podcast in an audio file with an attached RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed that allows people to aggregate the information with tools like iGoogle and pageflakes.  You see the very nature of a podcast is about “information in and information out.”  A podcast is an audio or video file that is created with an accompanying RSS feed that will allow users to see new content every time the producer of that information updates it or creates new content.  For example, if I follow the information that Dr. John Mann is producing I can go to his blog or website copy his RSS feed and paste it in my pageflake.  Now when Dr. Mann updates his content I will automatically see it on my pageflake page and I don’t have to visit his website every day to look for new content. 

The same is true when we create content.  If we are going to update the content on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis then we should go through the trouble of attaching an RSS feed to it or publishing it on a page that will allow for aggregation.  If I am not going to share information on a consistent basis then I should stick it on a webpage and call it an audio or video file.

I apologize for the rant, but this has been bothering me for a while.  Thoughts??


 

Adam is responsible for oversight of Pearson’s technology integration and national professional development program. A former elementary school teacher, Adam has presented at conferences across the country, including Alan November’s conferences and has written articles on technology integration for several education publications. He has been a national consultant on school reform, technology integration, and teaching and learning for seven years. Over the past four years he has provided professional development or managed the implementation of professional development for some of the biggest one-to-one laptop initiatives in the country, including Henrico County and the state of Texas TIP program.

Adam received a BA in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida, a Master’s in Teaching and Learning with a Technology emphasis from Framingham State College, and has a Certificate in Administration and Supervision from Johns Hopkins University.

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