Podcasts

Exploring the amount of podcasts at my fingertips is overwhelming. I had never taken the time to develop an understanding of podcasts, but I always knew they were available on iTunes just a click away. I have gained a positive perspective on this new educational resource. 

I came across K-12 Greatest Hits: The Best Ideas in Education. One particular episode that I enjoyed was called Cellphones in the Classroom: Distraction or Undervalued Teaching Tool? It was argued that cellphones link to attention deficit, and they are being used as toys instead of tools. The opposite argument was that teachers of the 21st century must teach skills for today. One of those skills is mobile skills - which is required by many jobs for employment. So teachers must not ban cellphones - because we know that the students will bring them anyways - but teach students how to productively use them and make it an aware issue. 

The podcast matched identically with the research my group has been doing on BYOD (Bringing Your Own Device) into the classroom. There are many many benefits of BYOD as long as the devices are used productively and practically; there are always going to be distractions in the classroom - devices or not. 

One of my favourite things from the episode was the use of a traffic light sign on the door. If red was chosen, no cellphones visible or heard in class. If yellow, cellphones must be off and placed in the right hand top corner of the desk incase devices may be used periodically throughout the class; or green, cellphones will be used actively during the entire class.

Ultimately, it is not up to the teacher but it is up to the student to be responsible for knowing how they learn best.

This particular podcast may be beneficial to play during the first week or two during a school year, and as a class, creating a BYOD or cellphone/laptop rules or regulations guided by the teacher, regarding use of devices in the classroom.