My Old Blog

I have begun creating podcasts for students in my French course. Although they have access to our class recordings, I thought they might appreciate having podcasts which briefly re-cap key vocabulary we have learned. I am using Podomatic to host my podcasts. It is a free service that gives you up to 500 MB of storage for podcasts. You can upload files from your desktop, publish podcasts from your Podomatic media library, or create podcasts using a webcam or microphone which Podomatic will access with your permission. If you want more features and storage space, you can choose the "Pro" option. For information, you can visit this link. There are language education podcasts at Podomatic at this link. They are also ranked within the category of languages. I am liking Juan France's Chansons podcast for French language learning. I think it would be really suitable for Intermediate and Advanced learners.

I found this link thanks to @Alice Ayel who re-tweeted José Picardo's update on this Teachers TV video. I particularly like the segment where José's students demonstrate how they use ICT to improve their spoken language skills. What is taking place in Mr. Picardo's class is a prime example of disruptive innovation in teaching. I have just completed reading "Disrupting Class" by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson. In this book, the author speaks to the need for public schools to engage in disruptive innovation, whereby they begin using ICT to support personalized learning environments; furthermore, the teacher's role becomes a facilitator and coach, providing more one-on-one assistance to students. Rather than batching students together during instruction, students could work individually at laptops or desktops using software that helps them strengthen their skill level in a subject area whilst utilizing their strongest "intellige...