TeacherTube - A New Kind of YouTube

I discovered a relatively new YouTube clone called, oddly enough, TeacherTube. It works just like YouTube, but all content is produced by teachers and students. Take some time to explore at:

http://www.teachertube.com

Here is one example that I think you will like:

GrammarGirl - A resource for writing students

With the help of our Director of our Writing Across the Curriculm program and Assistant Director of our Midwifery program, I found a new resource that I would like to share with our community and other higher education and K-12 institutions.

Grammar Girl is a podcast about, guess what, Grammar!!!

In under five minutes, you'll get a fun and friendly dose of writing advice. Grammar Girl covers everything from punctuation and grammar to style and voice.

To subscribe to Grammar Girl in iTunes, click the following link:

Subscribe to Grammar Girl

iTunes will open and you will receive the current episode and all future Grammar Girl episodes. To listen to previous episodes, click on Podcasts and download the episodes you would like to listen to.

Pedagogical Implications of Podcasting

The pedagogical implications of podcasting and VODcasting are intriguing. There are some simple and obvious uses, like recording classroom lectures and making them available for student notes. Even though this is technically easy to do, not only would a standardized recording process have to be set up, but more importantly, a permissions based distribution architecture would have to be established to limit access of the class content to approved class
members.

This could be done through the our current Blackboard and iTunes University architecture, or something completely new - again pointing to the fact that global content management and distribution in the University community is a growing issue.

Beyond simple recordings of lectures, a variety of other uses to enhance learning can be imagined for podcasting - in fact many of these are already being tested.

Following is a sample list of ways that podcasting might be used:

• Audio recordings of textbook text, made available for students by the chapter, would allow students to “read” or review texts while walking or driving to class. It could also be a significant aid to auditory learners.
• Students could record and post project audio and video interviews which could be automatically downloaded to an instructors laptop or MP3 player for review.
• The same could be done for language lessons where students forward audio of their pronunciation dialogues. They could even swap these with peers for peer review before turning in the final form to the instructor.
• Oral reports recorded and archived.
• Musical resume’s. Music critique.
• Libraries of bird sounds that the budding ornithologist could receive via seasonal subscription and take with them to the field.
• Downloadable library of high resolution heart sounds for medical students.

Beyond the technical opportunities and issues, both podcasting and VODcasting raise other significant issues. Some of the questions already being asked:

• How does podcasting or VODcasting challenge the current “talking head” model of classroom lectures ? If all lectures are available via video and audio, do students need to go to class? How often? Why? How do we keep them in class?
• Who owns the content, the school, the instructor, the user? Can this content be used outside of the university community? How is it protected or secured to the owner or subscriber?
• Who’s going to edit the content? What are the guidelines for editing? What’s real - what’s not?
• How is copyrighted material tracked and/or verified?

Here is a list of ideas compiled by the iTunes U Pilot Group at PhilaU

Reference:

Mar 2005. “Podcasting & VODcasting, A WHITE PAPER on Definitions, Discussions & Implications." Peter Meng.