Exploring Podcasts

I was not sure what to expect when we were assigned to listen to various podcasts and post a response. I had heard of podcasts, but that was the extent of my knowledge. The first podcast I listened to had me a little leery. The podcast was SMARTBoard Lessons--Teachers Connecting 11: Year End Ideas. (The host was Ben Hazzard, and his guest was Joan Badger.) The introductory music ran into the conversation and made it difficult to hear what was being said. The music lasted 2 plus minutes, a little long for an introduction. I hung in, however, and actually liked some of the ideas discussed between the Mr. Hazzard and Ms. Badger. One thing in particular involved using movie clips in Math class. The movies mentioned, such as Father of the Bride, had scenes that could be used in math class to teach concepts like multiples and factors. I never would have thought of an idea like that had I not listened to the podcast.

The second podcast I listened to was Kidcast #62, Some thoughts on Video Podcasting. I did not care for this podcast. The speaker was Dan Schmit. I say speaker because it seemed like I was listening to a lecture. And it was not a very good lecture at that. The content was not awful, the delivery, however, was. Mr. Schmit made some good points about the benefits of video casting, but his speech was so riddled with "uhm's" and smacking that it was hard to focus on the content.

I also listened to This Week in Photography: 104 Like Penguins, Feeding their Young. There were several people participating in the podcast. I'm not a photography buff, I only take family pictures, but I found their podcast to be quite interesting. They covered a variety of topics relating to photography ranging from accessories, to cameras, and even some benefits of copyrighting photographs. The information was given in a friendly, lively manner that made it enjoyable to listen to. If I were interested in pursuing photography, I could learn a lot from this type of podcast.

The last podcast I listened to was MacBreak Weekly: # 154Graceful Degradation. This podcast was also presented as a discussion. Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and Alex Lindsay carried on a discussion of various electronic devices such as an iPhone, Kendal, and G1 (what ever that may be). I was actually quite lost in the discussion. This podcast is, in my opinion, for someone more tech advanced than myself. Even if I listened to their podcasts regularly, I don't think I would benefit from their information they share.