Assignment 2- Podcast Critique

I listened to the Podcast assigned and realized that I should only subscribe to podcasts that: 1) I am very interested in, and 2) Have entertaining hosts that keep my attention for longer than 5 minutes. I really didn't like the Smartboard podcast. The way they set up their discussions made it extremely boring and I had to skip through most of it. The commentary and jokes were kind of corny and I just couldn't bring myself to listen through to the end. I do think some of the topics they discussed were interesting topics and I would like to have heard more about some rather than others.

When I played to EdTechTalk, I had trouble listening to their discussion because the sound quality was very low. It sounded like they were in a tunnel speaking on a cell phone. Another thing that I did not like was the conversational structure. It was patchy at times and I felt like I was eavesdropping on someone else's conversation. I don't know if this is typical of podcasts. I did enjoy the topics they brought up because they spoke about teachers' involvement with technology and ways to meet the demands of a classroom using this technology cooperatively.

As I listen to these podcasts, I see that they all begin with a little bit of introductory music and the speaker introduces him/herself. I really liked Kidcast compared to the other podcasts. It was easy to follow and I was much more focused on the speaker and the message he was sending out. I believe a podcast usually tries to involve aspects from more than one speaker, but I feel that this takes away from the main focus- which is the topic of the conversation. I also felt like the speaker was not using jargon that I was still not familiar with. I think this would be a great tool that I could definitely use in my own classroom one day.

I liked the Teacher's Podcast. The sound quality was high and I was able to really listen to the speaker. Their was more than one speaker but they did not interrupt each other, they took turns speaking and they both stayed on the same topic, being careful not to jump ahead of each other. I really enjoyed the content of the conversation and these people were very organized about what was going on with teachers. I am realizing that a good podcast, in addition to interesting content, will make listeners not only want to listen more but want to join in and be a part of the conversation. I think this is a good example of a podcast because it makes the audience want to interact and I believe that to be a large part of this new technology. If you go to the Smartboard Podcast site and look under Listeners Also Subscribed To, you will find The Teachers Podcast: The New Generation of Ed. Tech Professionals.

The KPSforParents podcast was done a bit differently. It was conversation created and monitored through a blog that was converted to a podcast series so that the audience could get the information they needed "on the go". I really loved the content of the conversation and it was right down my ally for becoming a special ed. teacher. I learned some things from this podcast as well. The sound quality was high and the message easy to follow.

The Special Education podcast with Thomas Cervantes was once again right down my alley for special ed. content. The speaker, Thomas Cervantes, was easy to listen to but I could tell he was reading and I think it would have been done better if he would have spoken differently. I think practicing one's message is important for creating a good podcast. This podcast was very short and didn't have as much content as I would have liked to hear. I don't think this would be a podcast I would use directly in the classroom or for it. If you want to find this podcast you can enter Special Education into your iTunes search window when on the podcast site, and several options for Special Education podcasts should show up in the main viewing window. From there, you can click on Special Education with Thomas Cervantes and it should take you to his site. Look under Viewers Also Subscribed To and you will see a podcast titled Making Education Actually Work. If you click on that link it will take you to the KPSforParents podcasting site.