Our Students As Podcasters...

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Our students want creative avenues to express themselves, and podcasting offers such a means, if used effectively. When I conceptualize podcasting, I think of a dynamic, engaging broadcast that relays the creator’s thoughts, opinions, and/or creative ideas, such as is done with writing. Whether it be current events, opinions on various pop culture occurrences, or story-telling, podcasting (much like blogging) provides our students with another avenue to express themselves with an authentic audience provided by online users.

Podcasting seems beneficial in that it provides students a range of opportunities in which to express themselves, and offer ways to think about how communication can come in varied forms of expression. In thinking about English, podcasting offers a great way to tell stories in a more dynamic way. One of my favorite podcasts is presented as a community radio broadcast in a fictional creepy town, with the narrator discussing the various going-ons of its residents and community (its much more interesting than it sounds!). While such a story could easily be told in a written format, podcasting enables the creator to use production aids such as sound effects and vocality to create a more engaging product to solicit users as well as highlight their story in a way that is better suited than in written form. This kind of thinking could be carried to our students by showing them that, if they hate writing as a medium for their self-expression, other means and technologies exist that allow them to express themselves creatively, and create a product which they can call their own. Podcasting provides our students another medium of expression, a benefit that is worthy of highlighting. There are also numerous benefits in terms of thinking about its application with students whose first language might not be English. Providing them an online, audio-recorded means to both record and listen to a language they might not be comfortable with creates more opportunities to both practice and integrate the language into their daily routine.

In terms of obstacles, I think its imperative to structure the assignment to both give authentic meaning and direction for the use of podcasting in the classroom. Its easy to say, "record yourself talking about topic x" and tell the students that they are creating podcasts. Rather, its important to provide our students a range of options, and find the one that best suits both the assignment and the most effective means for conveying their point. And (as always) there’s a hefty dose of digital citizenship and privacy concerns that go along with the idea of our students posting anything online, something which we, as instructors, should try to mitigate as much as possible.

A Blog About Blogging...

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Blogging...Why do it? Isn't it an antiquated form of expression, given we now have Twitter and Instagram? One of the larger pitfalls that many seem to fall into when looking at blogging as a conceptualized form of online expression, is to fail to take into account the evolution and development that the form has developed into since its inception. Its very easy to categorize and limit blogging as this form of an online personal diary, but that fails to take into account the numerous and varied forms blogging has evolved into, and how it is utilized to share information as well as stay up-to-date on current events. Whether it's live blogging the most recent Supreme Court decision, or perusing a vegetarian recipes blog for what to make for dinner tonight, blogging as a form of expression has grown and evolved from its original use.

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What I like about blogging is that it provides (at least for me) an avenue to utilize and develop my writing background experience, without having the pressure of deadlines and a mandate on the topic that I write about.  My undergraduate degree is in Journalism and I do genuinely enjoy writing, and utilizing it as a form of self-expression. Blogging allows me to continue to write, while also (hopefully) working as a teacher in the future. Whether it being sharing professional ideas or keeping a running journal on how my new garden is shaping up in the spring, blogs, as a form of expression, blogging allows us (as writers) to put our thoughts out to an unknowing audience, which makes the act both unnerving and liberating.

That being said, in terms of its application within the classroom setting, there are several caveats as to its use for our students. We obviously want to be sensitive in allowing our students to express their opinions, thoughts and perspectives via blogging, while still recognizing that the Internet can and is a dangerous place. Thankfully, miraculous privacy settings (something which we should definitely be teaching our students about anyway!) allow us to tailor our audience to best suit the needs of the assignment, whether it be to just peers in our class, or to a larger audience abroad. We can also discuss and explore ideas such as meaningful and respectful digital citizenship, and writing for an audience. Dangers aside, blogs allow our students to be creative, find a voice and have an authentic audience in which they can share their own unique and diverse perspective on a range of topics.