Using iPods podcasting to learn English

Introduction

The development of technology permits educators using different kind of gadgets for educational purpose. IPods do have educational uses and many teachers have discovered the possibilities that iPod offers. This article describes how to use podcasting to learn English, what podcasting is and what are the advantages of using podcast.

Uses of podcasting

Youngsters want to learn through hands-on experience, action, interaction, identity in cyberculture and connectivity with the world. Educators have implemented different ideas of social software to afford social learning. Podcasts, blogs and wikis belong to the category of social software (P.P. Panday 2009).

A podcast is series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication (Wikipedia 2007). The word “podcasting” comes from “ a portmanteau” of Apple's 'iPod' and 'broadcasting' and is a method of publishing files to the Internet, enable users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically by subscription, usually for free (P.P.Panday 2009).

Creating a podcast you have to follow these steps:

• Thinking about the topic to podcast
• Creating a podcast:
1. Recording podcast episodes (mp3 format)
2. Uploading the podcast episodes on a webpage

• Creating an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for the podcast
• Subscribing to the podcast
• Listening to the podcast:
1. Downloading the podcast
2. Transferring the podcast to an mp3 player/iPod (P.P.Panday 2009).

Teacher using podcasts

Practice with pronunciation, listening, and speaking are specific ways that foreign language teachers and learners can make use of this technological tool. Podcasting allows teachers to contextualize pronunciation and create meaningful tasks (L. Ducate & L. Lomicka 2009).

To dispread the extra information (such as useful tips, project guidelines, feedback, motivational quotes) that teacher cannot cover in the class can be done by teacher's podcasting. Lectures that are podcasted might prove helpful for slow learners and learners with English as Second Language to apprehend information in their own tempo (P.P.Panday 2009).

Students using podcasts

One of the most valuable tools on the iPod is note taking function (D.L. Vess 2006). Taking complemental notes and re-listening to lectures from the audio recording is reassuring activity to transmit knowledge and learning (S.Scutter, I.Stupans, T.Sawyer & S. King 2010).

Creating podcasts teaches students to do research, to communicate successfully, to speak effectively, and to catch an audience's interest with sound (D. Sparague & C. Pixley 2008).

Students can go to the library with their iPods, look for the demand resources, and then work through assignments or review important materials with their iPods. The voice memo function of the iPod allows students to record oral presentations (D.L. Vess 2006). The students can record an event, their experiences of real-life, interviews, or anything they want to share with others in the classroom (P.P.Panday 2009).

Podcasting gives students opportunities to create and publish for a real audience and facilitate recording and distributing news broadcasts, developing brochures, and providing oral history archiving and on-demand distribution (L. Ducate & L. Lomicka 2009).

Advantages of podcasting in education

When some students are absent, a podcasting gives them chance to review or learn material for the test. Podcasts can be downloaded to any computer or MP3 Player. Also they can be burned to a CD (D. Sparaque & C. Pixley 2008).

Experts show that students who read their work aloud often correct their written errors as they go. Repeated practice in reading papers aloud improves students' abilities to notice mistakes in written text (D.L. Vess 2006)

Podcasting helps students to use different learning strategies. While some students learn most effectively by taking notes, others learn better by active listening (S.Scutter, I.Stupans, T.Sawyer & S. King 2010).

Conclusion

The iPod is playing an important role of the language learning process. It helps students to learn more effectively and helps to organize teacher's work. Soon this “little tool” becomes a part of teacher's or students' school life. 

References

Ducate, L. & Lomicka, L. (2009) Podcasting: An Effective Tool for Honing Language Students' Pronunciation? Language Learning & Technology,Vol. 13-3. Retrieved January 9, 2011, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num3/ducatelomicka.pdf

Panday, P. P. (2009) Simplifying Podcasting. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 20 -2. Retrieved January 9, 2011, from http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE271.pdf

Scutter, S., Stupans, I., Sawyer, T & King, S. (2010) How Do Students Use Podcasts to Support Learning? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 26-2. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/scutter.pdf

Sparague, D & Pixley, C. (2008) Podcasts in Education: Let Their Voices Be Heard. Computers in the Schools, Vol. 25 (3-4). Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/717633_751311464_906683598.pdf

Vess, L. D. (2006) History to Go: Why iTeach with iPods. The History Teacher, Vol. 39-4. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30037068?seq=9

Wikipedia (2007) Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting