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I agree that watching podcasts of teacher lectures are not a replacement for hands-on, inquiry-based learning with students. That said, I could see the value for students in certain instances, where if they are absent from the classroom, and if during that absence, teachers have facilitated lecture demonstrations, it may be worthwhile for them to watch a video-enhanced podcast of a teacher lead-in for certain science concepts, or a make-up lab. If you would compare it to the alternative, which might be conducting the make-up work without the ability to watch and listen to the prior discussion or observe the teacher demonstration, watching a podcast of the same may be better than missing it altogether.
Don't get me wrong. I am not an advocate of passively watching talking-head videos as a replacement for collaborative social discourse, critical thinking, and hands-on learning experiences (which may involve the use of technology), I'm just offering a counterpoint, where podcasts of missed lecture/demos could be of value, even for those that were not absent, providing a way for students to review the material after the fact. Brief lecture/demonstrations have their place in teacher-facilitated learning. I do not have the exact citations, but there have been a few studies (undergraduate), where students benefited from having access to review of lecture/demonstrations, and these were used to enhance asynchronous student online discussion--and found to be beneficial. Finally, I attended the COSN K-12 summit (cosn.org), where a high school teacher had created lecture/demo podcasts and a student team lauded their value. Another very worthwhile application obviously is to facilitate student-created podcasts/blogs/videos where the media may provide engaging ways for them to internalize and communicate results from certain projects, experiments, etc. See an interesting article titled “Engage Me or Enrage Me” http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0553.pdf
Below is an abstract and citation for further reading if interested:
Web 2.0 and its associated applications and tools have, in many areas, brought about and are continuing to bring about significant shifts in the way people communicate, create, and share information. Pervasive access to broadband Internet connectivity and communication services has created new forms of relationships and patterns of communicating and learning. The expanding lexicon of Web 2.0 applications (podcasts, web logs, wikis, mashups, etc.) signal changes in the learning landscape, where learners are active participants, creators of knowledge, and seekers of engaging, personal experiences. In what has been called a culture of participation, the line separating consumers and producers of content is becoming blurred and we are witnessing a new wave of “prosumers,” very often learners, who are actively creating and sharing content and ideas. By adopting an innovative learning paradigm that the authors call Pedagogy 2.0, teaching and learning strategies can enable greater engagement of learners in shaping the education they receive through participatory choice, personal voice, and ultimately, “co-production.”
Citation: McLoughlin, C., & Lee, M. J. W. (2008). The 3 P's of pedagogy for the networked society: Personalization, participation, and productivity. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 20(1), 10-27.
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