Podcasting, (definition and considerations) is a great tool for recording and disseminating teacher's lectures and for students listening to lectures on their own time. As well, using MP3 audio files is good for sharing what could only be considered boring if in written form. Podcasts normally are available as an RSS feed.

There are many more educational MP3 files available than there are available as podcasts. Consider this workshop summary, hosted by the Canadian Education Association, which includes the presentation of the panel discussions in MP3 format. Now you can get into the conversations of the participants. Not a podcast, but made available none the less.

In the Medical Education field (I won't be digressing much into this field) Dean Robert Golden, at the 2006 Curriculum Transformation Retreat titled "Separating the Baby from the Bathwater" spoke about A Vision of Innovation for Medical Student Education at the University of Wisconsin.

Most podcasting for educational purposes seems to be teacher lectures made available online just for the students of that particular teacher.

Many more public domain education podcasts would be nice - and rewarding as well. Here is a link to a page of education related podcasts called, Podcast for Teachers. It does have quite a few links to school podcasts.

Podcasting resources - a site called, Podcasting in Education. Good site, check it out. And from the Online Education Database, there is this collection of courses and links.

The US Army certainly takes advantage of podcasting, as this site shows.

For Canadians there is this site, called Canada Podcasts. The Prime Minister's official website offers MP3 announcements at the PM's website. They are under the Audio Centre link on the right side. The Canada Business Audio Workshop has numerous audio files available as well.

Finally, even the White House does podcasting, video podcasting seems to be preferred. Here is the link.

The students I know would much rather make videos for YouTube display. Audio podcasting seems too - non-interactive. Videos are much more interesting and fun to watch, listen to, mimic, chuckle at antics, etc. The students I know have made their own videos and uploaded them to YouTube. Even some school band concert videos are there as well. But this is students for students. However, having said that, instructors should consider using a lesson plan for their podcast and use voice inflection just as if they were speaking to a live audience. It keeps it interesting. The one really good reason for an audio lesson is that a student can concentrate on the voice and have no other distractions. Learning can take place in more depth because a difficult lesson can be replayed until it sinks in.

Using MP3 technology for lessons is good and podcasting the lesson is good (because you can set up an RSS feed to get them automatically as they become available).

So don't hold back, get those lessons on a podcast and your students will/may thank you for it (if they miss it in person)!

I took a very small poll of some students and they would much rather see the teacher teach in person. But if that is not possible, then anything else that still gets the lesson to the student would be good.

Good luck and good teaching!

Cheers - Mike

PS: For Edmonton teachers/Instructors: If you don't know how to make an audio file for podcasting, or need help hosting a podcast, let me know! I'll do my best to help you.