Using podcasting in education, benefits

Currently podcasting is pretty much only used in online higher education courses because of the fact that elementary and high school teachers do not have the funds to include podcasting, unless they wish to pay for it themselves. But with more knowledge available about the benefits of using podcasting in education hopefully the school systems will work this great feature into their budgets.

Benefit one:
One of the major benefits about using podcasting in education with young kids and teachers is that this medium encourages teachers and young students to work together to accomplish the task of creating a podcast. Teamwork is essential in our business world today and by learning from an early age about working together as a team, young children will have an advantage when they grow older. Higher education also benefits from the teamwork that is provided when making and creating podcasts.

Benefit two:
Another benefit about using podcasts in education is that you can use multiple learning styles in a single format. It is a known fact that everybody learns differently, some people learn by reading, some learn by hearing and some learning by doing. With the introduction of podcasts teachers can combine all three types of learning styles into one format, this helps to teach a wider range of students. For example you can combine the learning and hearing learning styles by having somebody give a lecture about a science project and the children must follow the directions and do the project. The lecture and step by step instructions can also be added to the podcast if the teacher is using video podcasting rather than audio podcasts.

Benefit three:
Another benefit about using podcasting in education is that it is teaching children skills that they are going to need later on in life. At the rate our country is growing in terms of technological advances our children are going to need to learn all of these technological skills in order to compete in the business world. As some of you adults have discovered getting that promotion now a days usually means you have to have some basic computer knowledge. If that is required now just think what it is going to be in about ten years from now. By teaching our children these skills at a young age they are more receptive to learning and can build on these basic skills.

Benefit four:
Using podcasting in education also helps to engage our children in active learning. By using podcasts children can actually be involved in creating the podcasts or they can interact with the podcasts, either way can create a fun learning environment. Everybody seems to learn more when they are having fun, so be using podcasts in education the children are having fun while they are learning, which can lead to higher test scores because more of the knowledge will be retained by more children.

Benefit five:
Podcasting can also be used in higher education through the course of online learning or just for general use in the classroom. Podcasting is a great way to delivers lectures on almost anything which online students can download but still get the benefits from hearing the lecture, reading the lecture is not the same as hearing what the professor has to say. Or say you have a series of lectures that you wish to give to your class but the current schedule only allows you to deliver two or three, creating an ongoing podcast is a great way to include your extra lectures.

Benefit six:
Podcasting in education is also a good tool to help develop the children's critical analysis and reflection skills. With podcasting educators can deliver more in depth content then they can by simply giving lectures or showing slides. With podcasts you can have the children interact; include sound effects or music to help enhance the learning experience.

Benefit seven:
Another important benefit to using podcasting in education is that children can enhance their creative skills. No longer do they have to stick to using poster board and writing paper for their oral reports. By letting them use podcasts children can add elements to their oral reports that were not possible before.