READERS
respond
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Participate in our reader poll at
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POLL RESULTS
Should Podcasts Replace Lectures?
The majority of respondents believe that podcasts can enhance,
but shouldn’t replace, live lectures.
Yes
26%
Real Teachers for the Real World
The real world calls for the dissemination of information from an instructor
who knows and understands the content well enough to describe it several
different ways, place it into the learner’s relevant scope of understanding,
and then ask and answer questions to
make sure that the students understand basic factual information.
Robert Maninger
Huntsville, Texas
Discussion forum reply from the L&L group
page ( www.iste-community.org/group/landl)
Flexibility and Variety
Podcasts provide flexibility in where
and when learning occurs. They can
be stored, recycled, and shared. They
free up time for more in-depth, conversational interaction in seminars.
Enhanced podcasts embed images,
graphs, videos, and links to Web
sites, and support text and quizzes.
Michael Vallance
Future University
Hakodate, Japan
Don’t Eliminate Humanity
What happened to seeing that a student is struggling, the puzzled look on
the face, or knowing that emotional or
other problems are at work? Technology doesn’t offer answers to these situations. We have removed too much
humanity already. Infusing technology
for technology’s sake isn’t going to get
us to the goal that we want to achieve.
Kelly Campbell
Springfield, Missouri
Comment from the ISTE.org homepage poll
Before, During, After
Before lectures, podcasts are useful
for scene setting and provide base-level knowledge, freeing up the lecturer to digress, clarify, or enhance
the lesson material. Side by side with
lectures, they are invaluable for auditory learners to take in material more
effectively and prepare participants to
ask more intelligent questions. After
lectures, they allow clarification, help
reinforce learning, and provide cramming material for exam preparation.
Chris Waterman
Presbyterian Ladies College
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Can’t Replace Face-to-Face
Most important is the face-to-face
interaction that is lost when information becomes a one-way broadcast.
The opportunity to interact, interpret
body language, and be engaged on a
human level can be enhanced, but not
replaced, by digital media.
Lee Kolbert
Palm Beach County School District
West Palm Beach, Florida
No More Boring Lectures!
Without a doubt, podcasts should replace lectures. How many bad lectures
can you take in one lifetime? With lectures via podcasts, they must be good!
If they are bad, the party responsible can
and will be subjected to punishment via
WWW! Both teacher and students are
required to perform at their very best.
Michael Pearce
Teachade.com
Fisher Island, Florida
No
74%
LETTER
Online Education Saves Money
Recent comments have suggested
that schools cannot afford to
implement online education programs. Nothing can be further
from the truth. Many schools
have instituted online programs,
in fact, on the theory that the
programs will save them money.
Research indicates, though, that
a good program costs about the
same as regular education, and
real savings come only from
slashing costs in ways that are
harmful to student achievement.
Still, unless a school wishes to
invest significant up-front money
in developing its own high-quality curriculum rather than
purchasing or leasing it from
an existing resource, any school
should be able to provide online
education to its students without
any great financial commitment.
Schools across the nation are doing it now, even tiny rural schools
out on the distant plains.
John Adsit
Online Education Consultant
Boulder, Colorado
