Week 10 reflection: Podcasts

Hey CALLers:

I really enjoyed last week's discussion on listening and speaking tools. I also enjoyed browsing blog posts from members of our class who reflected on the week's readings. I agreed with Erin A.'s comments about how podcasts can seem sort of overwhelming in terms of how long they take to prepare, record and edit; however, I also related to how Bek's presentation made her rethink the time versus the outcome for students. In a listening/speaking class, podcasts might be a viable alternative to finding barely-related YouTube videos that have unpredictable quality and vocabulary. Especially for Bek's podcast on vocabulary, I saw many connections to activities that I already to do in class. Vocabulary Logs are a staple of learning in my class, and my one qualm with them was that they barely require any listening or speaking skill to complete. During Bek's presentation, the light switched on in my head that students should be listening for the information and transferring it to their vocabulary logs. I think this is a good application for podcasts because students could relisten as many times as they want.

In a more interactive sense than what is offered by podcasts, Skype and other VOiP technologies offer a platform for SCMC. Applications like Skype have some serious limitations in terms of how many different functions are available; yet the simplicity of the Skype interface makes it highly accessible to a variety of learners and teachers.