Charles Moran discusses the rising expectation for educators to incorporate technology in the classroom. He also claims that “this pressure on educators to use technology exists despite the fact that…there is no proof yet that technology improves students’ learning” (203). Recently, Dr. Jennifer Bowie did a small study on student-podcasting. See the link for details http://www.screenspace.org/Podposter.html.
As podcasting relates to education, Dr. Bowie’s podposter quotes, “[A study] found that students who listened to the podcasts with PowerPoint handouts and took notes scored higher on an exam than students who attended a lecture with PowerPoint slides.” I have always been a proponent of triangulating the audio, the visual, and the traditional methods of learning. Each person learns differently, and, using multiple learning methods in one presentation/lecture, combining the audio-visual with the traditional method of teaching will ultimately benefit the student. Thus, I like preparing PowerPoint presentations for any and all oral presentations. Despite having read this article before, I found the fact that student-based podcasts are significant for oral communication and delivery skills as a phenomenal outcome.
As a literature major, I can see how student-produced reading response podcasts can be quite useful in lower division English courses. Adding to the educational benefit of such an endeavor is the ease of promoting and instituting such a project in the English classroom – along with blogging reading responses or creating website projects for paper presentations. Technological endeavors – like podcasting, blogging, and web design – are not limited to the rhet/comp student. The world of academia should mirror the real world of podcasting, blogging, and web design. From science to education to the humanities and abroad, these technological devices can aid learning across the entire curriculum – and even the non curriculum.
Moran states, “Computers have altered our landscape. They have changed the medium in which some fraction of our students read and write. Therefore we, as writing teachers, need to pay attention to what is happening. On the basis of this knowledge, we will be able to make informed decisions about our use of technology in our teaching” (204). I agree with Moran’s assessment and the newly required skills of educators. Change has come and is coming. Educators must rise to the expectation and the technological demand.
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I can see how the audio is a useful tool as far as technology goes. I myself am an extremely audio-oriented learner--for example, I learned early on in college that I did so much better in classes where I regularly attended lecture, because reading the textbooks just wasn't an adequate replacement for my brain. Technology is a good way to open more avenues for using those other forms of learning that various students might have.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting on my blog. I agree that "technology is a good way to open more avenues for using those other forms of learning that various students might have."
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