Podcasting in Education

  I am one who will readily admit that podcasting has been one of my greatest interests and pastimes for a few years now.  Maybe a bit too much.  Initially, I didn't see the point, but after experiencing a variety of genres and formats, I've been persuaded.
  Part of this experience has given me an insight to the benefits of podcasting and especially how it can apply to education.  I'll lay out some education relevant information for podcasting.

Pros: 

• Podcasting is mobile, so it doesn't have to be done in front of a tv, radio, or chalkboard.
• The prevalence of podcasting means there is almost anything for anyone.
• Podcasting has been around for a while, so there are many people who are veterans trained with producing quality.
• Being recorded, you can revisit interesting content
• Like written literature, the speaker's personality can come out and be a compelling part of the production. 
• Most podcasts are free
• Audio editing is worlds easier than video editing.

Cons:

• It's necessarily recorded so you cannot interact.
• They tend to be audio (vodcasting is for video) and have difficulty conveying step by step processes that benefit highly from illustrations or written word to revisit

  For an occupation with so much work that goes into the everyday prep, it can be that much harder to provide ways to enrich student understanding or even provide another way for students to approach a topic.  Since podcasts are mobile, numerous, and free, you can have students listen to well-produced work and spice up the monotony of learning from only one person.  Since podcasts are not tailored specifically for your class (unless you make them), they can provide additional insight that you may not have covered yourself.
  Less abstractly, podcasting lets you bring amazing people to your students.  If you are talking about the stars, you can listen to people like Dr. Pamela Gay of Astronomy Cast or Neil Degrasse Tyson on Star Talk.  If you want to have your students know more about an author of a book, you can have them listen to an interview with them about their book on one of many, possibly NPR.  Especially for students who are having difficulty reading tone in script, hearing the passion of a speaker can help to convey interest and curiosity that may have been missed all along.
  Though its probably not good when trying to explain the quadratic equation or other procedures, podcasting is a great way to convey ideas and provides the opportunity of hearing in-depth discussions already had by others.  A podcast like the Titanium Physicists knows that it can't convey the mathematics behind the physics, and it instead provides an accessible approach to complex concepts and counter-intuitive ideas.  Sure, students can still ignore it or not listen at all, but podcasting provides another needed avenue to reach our students.

Podcasts mentioned:

1. http://www.astronomycast.com/
2. http://www.startalkradio.net/
3. http://titaniumphysicists.brachiolopemedia.com/