Teach42

Jack was emailing me back and forth a few times after the BlogWalk, and brought an interesting idea to my attention. He pointed out that I didn’t have a direct link to my last podcast so he couldn’t listen to it. The reailty is, the number of people with pdocatching software is still pretty minimal. For people who want a ‘taste’ of podcasting, or to sample a show, I really need to make sure I keep including direct links. After updating the show notes with a link, he gave my ‘cast a listen and sent me the following email…

There are zillions of bloggers. You can find a plethora of information about your very small niche of information. i.e. Rodeo Clowns. (quick search - Dream Job description. No blogs dedicated to the job, though there seem to be
more that are Rodeo-centric.)
* most attendees were business (value to the company; worth of the blogging activity)
* Steve is looking at education
* “education” doesn’t think about value - wasting time isn’t the same as dollars down the drain for the school (but then it is too). Maybe educators should be thinking about this.
* i.e. “bad blogging” could translate into lots of wasted dollars for a company
* what kind of expectations should we have for teachers who blog? communication, resource for students, communicate with parents?

idea that testing doesn’t have value
* schools that scored low at the start are looking like they are improving
* riff on why testing isn’t helpful - hard to test “do they know how to find out how to solve a problem” when they don’t know how
* How do we teach kids how to learn. This is the most critical aspect. Personal example of learning about technology in Steve’s job.
* Can we show “the government” that we have a better way to achieve (teaching how to learn), but how do we measure and compare this capability?

Ok, this was just a sample, but I have to tell you it sparked quite a few fireworks going off in my head. Whenever someone thinks about podcasting and education, the first thing most people say is, “Wow, we could record every class and the students could download the lectures!” This is true, and it might be a good idea for students who are absent, or want to be able to concentrate on content first and take notes later. But most podcasts don’t fall into this category. The reality is that most podcasts are closer to radio shows. When I record my podcast, I assume that people are listening to it in the car, on the bus or while walking. However, there could be just as many people listening in front of their computers.

Jack was an active listener. He was trying to absorb everything that I was saying, taking notes, even following up on some of the comments i made by doing a few searchs (appearantly rodeo clowns are out of luck in the bloggosphere right now). I generally think of my audience as passive listeners. I’d like to think that at some point they might take some of the things I talk about and put them into practice, but I don’t think about people actually taking notes during my ‘cast.

It’s something I need to think a bit more about. There’s a seed of an idea germinating inside right now, and I’m having trouble pinning it down. But there’s an innovative way to harness active listening and podcasting. I’m just not sure how yet. Thoughts?

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