Chapter 9: Creating and Sharing Information with Multimedia Technolgies

Q: How can teachers integrate podcasts and vodcasts into their teaching?

Podcasts and audio recordings which are available through the internet and can be saved to personal computers and portable media devices. Anyone can record a podcast, including teachers.
Vodcasts include video with the audio and can be accessed in the same way.
The availablility  and accessibility of podcasts and vodcasts make the man excellent teaching tool. Teachers can make their own or access the thousands made by other teachers. They can be shared with students in the classroom or at home.
It makes learning more interactive andfrees up classroom time for questions and discussions because the students can review the lesson before or after it is taught in the classroom. They can also find podcasts or vodcasts on their own if they are intrigued by a subject and want to learn more.

Tech Tool

PBS Teachers is a website that I have used many times as an education student. They always seem to have a what I am looking for with regards to lesson plans and new teaching ideas. They provide amazing free resources such as educational cartoons, interactive learning games, lesson plans, worksheets, timelines etc for teachers and students to use. All of the resources are sorted by grade level and often list the standards that the lesson plays into.

Summary 

Multimedia technology is "the presentation of information using multiple media including words, pictures, sound, and data." that can be used by teachers to communicate information to students. Traditional classrooms of the past did not use multimedia technology as a methos of instruction. Teachers today realize that this technology allows them to capture a students attention and better teach to all elarning styles.
Through the use of programs like PowerPoint teachers can spend more time interacting with students and less time writing on a chalkboard for students to copy down. The PowerPoinnt can then be shared online allowing students to spend more time listening and less time copying down information.
Whether online with podcats and vodcasts, or through DVDs and CDs, videos and audio can be used to engage visual and auditory learners, but teachers must be careful to make sure that it does not become a passive activity. Teachers need to make sure that students use higher order thinking skills in relation to the video and audio.