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­­T­oday Maureen asked a question that got me thinking: What would you say to a teacher who asked, “how is your research going to benefit me?”

Mmmm… three things came to mind:

•    Highlighting the need for more child centred oral language in the classroom
•    Concrete examples of the benefits of having a go at podcasting.
•    Practical examples of how you can run a podcasting programme in the classroom

From my research to date I am reading that when students use oral language they are processing knowledge.  Speaking your thoughts and speaking to others helps to logically sequence ideas and think critically, creatively and logically.  If the teacher is only person in the classroom doing the talking then students are missing out on vital learning opportunities and chances to process their thinking.  I want people to walk around schools and celebrate how noisy they are not how quiet they are!

I have met a lot of teachers who ask why they should add a web 2 tool such as podcasting to their classroom programme.  These are the teachers who need to be convinced of the educational merit of a strategy before investing the time and effort in it.  This is an admirable trait.  These teachers will thoughtfully weigh the pros and cons of a tool before implementing it into their classroom.  My research aims to give these teachers concrete examples of the benefits of using podcasting.  

Lastly, there are many teachers out there who are enthused by the idea of using podcasting but really don’t know how to go about it.  By publishing case studies of students carrying out a podcasting programme will give these teachers practical ideas for getting started themselves.  This reminds me of the metaphor of turning a moving car.  These teachers already have their motors running and need to start moving in a direction before starting to turn their car in the different directions using web 2 tools can take them.

So, after careful thought, I think I can answer that question.  I think my research project has value and the most valuable element, in my mind, is giving back students their voice.  

The power of a single voice can change our world

I have been following this incident as it has been unfolding on the web.  It is really interesting how much Web 2 has played a part in the aftermath of this tragedy.  To read my take on this issue visit my Ictucan blog page.

In my position as an ICT Facilitator and even more so now that I am spending a year researching podcasts in the classroom, I get to listen to a good many different classroom podcasts. I thought that it would be a good idea to present some of these podcasts in a review to help teachers who are wanting to have a go at podcasting have a starting point. The podcasts that I review in this episode are all primary (elementary) schools: KPE: http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?family=1,338,788 Small Voices: http://kinderteacher.podomatic.com
Rowland: http://rowland.podomatic.com
Andersen's: http://adonnell.podomatic.com
Cefn Fforest: http://cefnfforest.podomatic.com
Appleby Showcase: http://allanah.podomatic.com
Pine Hill School: http://room5.podomatic.com

If you would like to listen to this podcast, just head over to my podcast page.

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This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog ­On Saturday 10th March I had the pleasure of presenting at the NZRA mini conference in Dunedin. ­It really is a privilege to attend different conferences for different audiences.  The buzz at a reading conference is quite different to that in a room full of early childhood educators and completely different to that in a technology conference. 

I highlighted the literacy values in podcasting in this workshop especially the literature around effective oracy providing the basis for all other learning "writing floats on a sea of talk".  Being able to communicate orally gives students the ability to interact with others, it can raise their self esteem, it can ease frustrations, it can help with problem solving.  The more I look into the importance of oral language teaching the more ashamed I become at how I only ever taught it as an add on.  The poor country cousin to reading and writing.  Without effective oracy even numeracy is effected!  I have attached a pdf file entitled "The cost to the nation of children's poor communication" it is a British publication but it really spells out the urgency with which we need to take oral language more seriously. 

 Podcasting is a great tool for focussing on Oral Language as it provides us with a middle ground that wasn't easily available before.  It gives us the chance to edit and revise our oral work.  Students can listen to themselves, receive feedback, make changes etc.  It makes Oral Language similar to Written Language in this sense.

I recently had the good fortune to be selected to attend the Microsoft Regional Innovative Teachers' Conference in Siem Reap, Cambodia. On the way to Cambodia I went to Singapore visiting two schools there: Xingnan Primary and River Valley High. Xingnan Primary is experimenting with new modes of delivery for effective and engaged learning. They include the use of podcasts, video broadcasts, real-time or pre-recorded interviews/programmes, and movie-making. They have a room permanently set up for blue-screen photography and broadcasting.
	River Valley High is a Backpack.net school where the students are using laptops and tablet computers to improve outcomes for students. Students in a Chinese language class were using tablets for calligraphy. The students worked together in pairs on their tasks. The school was conducting a lot of research into whether the use of ICT was having an effect on outcomes for students.
More photos from Singapore can be found on Flickr using the keywords Singapore, Xingnan and Rivervalley. You can also read more about my Singapore trip on my Inquiring Mind blog.

­Today I had the privilege of running my first workshop on my eFellow­ Pr­oject. I drove an ho­ur from Dunedin to beautiful Garvan House (pictured­) a lovely bed and breakfast ­just outside of Milton. In this picturesque setting, with the sun shining and participants just finishing their delicious lunch, I began a­ workshop on podcasting and oral language. It was tough to compete with the­ surroundings and cosy feeling of full bellies! ­The thing that made this workshop truly exciting for me was that it was to a room full of early c­hildhood educators. Wow! Imagine if we can get technology into the hands of children that young, imagine what we could do with them when they get to primary schools! There would be no way that high schools could restrict access to technology, these digital natives (for want of a better name) will demand access!­

As my research is around oral language and podcasting I thought I would upload my recordings of my initial thoughts at the end of my first week with the Gurus at CORE in Christchurch.  I am walking down the street talking into my hand held recorder trying to sort things out in my head.  I have tried to reduce the 's' noise with Garageband but there still seems to be alot so if anyone has any suggestions on how to reduce the 's' with a hand held recorder please let me know.

I have just spent the week in Rotorua at the Learning @ School conference.  It was great to see the gurus from CORE again and spend time with Dorothy and Jonathan.

You can find my thoughts on the David Warlick Keynote I attended by clicking here .  I also attended a seminar by David in Dunedin the day after flying home from Learning @ School and you can read my thoughts about this seminar by clicking here . 

I think I'm a bit conferenced out now.  No more thoughts for a little while :-).

After our first week at Core I feel better about what I'm doing with my project. It's become a lot more clearer with help from the people at Core as well as my principal and other colleagues. Just a bit of a hoha finding research that's been done in this area, though I have asked certain people who will hopefully send me references etc on literacy that they have come across that relates to my project. Looking forward to it all though

Most of this week has been spent doing administration type things so that the project can actually get underway.  I can't believe how long it has taken to write consent forms, prepare project information sheets and complete my research plan.  At times it has taken far longer than it should just to fit the correct word into a sentence!  If I were a pupil at school, I'm sure my teacher would have been giving me a detention for taking my time.  I think we hurry our students far too much and reward the fast more than the best.  Quality thinking takes time, ideas mature, sometimes they go off, but timely consideration allows us to reflect and gain a deeper understanding.  It would be great if schools could develop quality thinking.

Over in the e-fellows private yak-yak space we've been having a discussion about Marc Prensky and his assertion that kids today are different than those from previous generations.

"Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach."

Maybe the world is a different place, but I'm not so sure that the kids have changed.  If our educational system does not start to change though, it could risk becoming irrelevant to those it is trying to help.