Thing 19 - Podcasts

With very few good math videos for students podcasting may be the way to go. I thought it was interesting that one teacher made review podcasts for his students. I find that many middle school students do not know what to do in order to study for a test after they complete the study guide. Creating a review that goes over the material allows the student to review as many times as needed before the test.

I listened to the math grad podcast at http://www.mathgrad.com/ When we are learning about probability I play deal or no deal with my students. On this website there was an explanation of the math of deal or no deal. I may use this after we play the game.

I also listened to Dan's math cast at http://dansmath.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts This podcast seemed to have many topics that are covered during the school year. This could be a good place for absent students to go to listen to an explanation on the topics we covered in class.

The problem I see with listening to podcasts is that there is a lot of advertising in the podcasts I listened to which made me think twice about encouraging students to listen to them. In addition, with nothing for the students to look at as they are listening tends to get a bit boring. If a podcast is short it is easy to listen to, but those that are on the longer side seem to drag on and I can see students getting bored listening to them. Creating a podcast of my own to review the lessons I teach may be a really good way to help absent students catch up or help students on there homework. I'll have to think about it...