Hew's article on Podcasts

After reading Hew’s article on the Use of Audio Podcast in K-12 and Higher Education, I learned so much more about Podcasts. To be honest, the only thing that I knew about Podcast was that it was an audio track. However, know I know that it can include video, pictures, etc. and that there are many benefits to them. One of the main benefits that Hew discusses in his article is how listening can actually improve understanding. I learned that students can learn quite a bit just by listening. Plus, the child or student is able to listen to the Podcast at their own pace. Podcasts allows students to stop and replay something that they have missed. Another aspect that I found interesting was that the use of Podcasts in ELL classrooms was not used often. This was surprising because I think that there are so many Podcasts that teach English that can come in handy. Or sometimes, an ELL teacher can use Podcasts to help students acquiring the English language here themselves speak or listen to a more fluent speaker. I did agree with how Hew discussed the barrier of students running into technical difficulties using Podcasting technology. As an adult, I too, had some trouble using the program. However, I know that if I practiced more that I would get better and better with it. Although the article did talk about how listening can aid in comprehension, I know that I am a visual and audio learner and would need both. Thankfully, now that I know that you can do both, I would love to try it out in my own class. I think that this would come in handy as an intervention tool. If students were still confused, I could play a Podcast for them. It would be like their own one-on-one teacher.