To continue on the theme of “Technology as a teaching tool”, podcasts have become very popular with students in postsecondary education. Many university students prefer it to lectures as they feel they can take in more information while using familiar devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, as opposed to sitting in a large, crammed lecture hall with need to scramble to take notes. Studies reveal that students access YouTube and websites most often directly after live lectures and just prior to exams. Podcasts can be stored on phones, IPods, and other portable devices making them easily accessible and can be listened to over and over. Teachers find it to be a time saver as they can record a podcast or video from home, email the link to the entire class at the click of a mouse and cover a good deal of the course requirements while saving actual classroom time for interacting with students hands on, face to face. Podcasts are a great tool for students who need extended or remedial support. For auditory learners they are invaluable.

Once again, the questions that needs to be asked here is; Are we allowing technology to undermine the most important aspect of education: the student/teacher relationship? That relationship is the key to not only the learning process but also provides valuable mentorship, motivation and guidance in a very impersonal and fast paced online world. It is important to know how your students learn and retain information. My students are very visual/kinaesthetic learners. They may retain what they hear but are able to retain for longer after seeing and then repetitively performing the task at hand. A very high percentage of my students are homeless or living in shelters. Having IPods or smartphones is not a reality when most are trying to figure out how to find a few dollars for their next meal. Teaching people with multiple barriers requires a great deal of patience, empathy and insight. Building trust and nurturing relationships are key elements required for the process. As said earlier, many people with learning disabilities learn through repetition and need to be shown the task again and again in real time.

I feel that podcasts are a very useful tool for those with a heavy course load whether they are in high school or university. I can see that it is a time saver for both teacher and student when it comes to courses that require a great deal of reading. All the success I have had in teaching people with barriers has come through spending quality classroom time helping to understand a particular individual’s thought process in order to tailor my teaching style to meet their needs. I could use podcast or video lectures on cooking to deliver content before class and then use the time in class to practice said content.

To recap; I can certainly see the advantages of pod casts in traditional education. It is a highly accessible learning tool and frees up classroom time that would otherwise be spent covering material that they can get from podcasts and videos. It could make for an interesting assignment enabling students to develop new skills. As far as using podcasts or videos in my classroom, its use would be limited. What we need to keep in mind is that teaching people with multiple barriers requires a very tangible human interaction. It requires a teacher to improvise and adapt on a daily basis and to develop trust and build relationships with individuals who are naturally curious and yet inherently mistrustful of authority. All things considered podcasts and other social media don’t bring much to the table when it comes to teaching tools for people with barriers, one being poverty.