Unit 4 - Pod Bean Experience

Hello colleagues,

Welcome to my unit four blog post! In this unit I summarized the ISTE standards as follows: Educators understand the social, ethical, and legal issues involved with the digital world and model digital citizenship for students and professional colleagues. As part of this units' learning we were tasked with choosing a digital audio publishing platform. I chose Podbean, a podcast hosting platform that allows you to publish your own podcast and monetize from your podcasts ([Podbean homepage], n.d.). It's an overall great podcast platform for the novice. What I thought was particularly interesting was that every Podbean account automatically gets a free podcast website and you get to choose free templates to customize your podcast site. Most importantly, Podbean offers you with analytics to see how often your listeners are engaging with your podcasts. Thus, Podbean's features convinced me that this was the best digital audio publishing platform for me to use.

    

Regarding my experience making an account on Podbean and recording my first podcast, the process was relatively easy. Making the account was the easiest because I was able to connect my Google account to sign in to Podbean. Once I logged in I was immediately taken to the Podbean dashboard. The dashboard was not the most straightforward in my opinion; and at first I was a little confused. The first thing that I naturally looked for was a recording button, but I couldn't find one. So I started exploring and began to fill out my profile. I then realized that I had to download the Podbean app on my phone in order to record my podcast. Thus, it appears that the audio recording option is only possible through the Podbean application on your phone. Additionally, through the app you are able to edit your audio recording such as cutting specific parts you wish to remove from your audio.

If you read my previous blog post or the Unit 3 - Experience Creating a Digital Learning Product Using Canva, you may remember that last week I taught a lesson modeled after the Integrative Model of teaching. The Integrative Model of teaching is essentially a student - centered approach to teaching and learning. To provide colleagues a better understanding of the Integrative Model and under what other teaching philosophies it is considered to fall under, I decided I wanted my first podcast to give more information on the nature of the Integrative Model and explain the benefits of incorporating it in the classroom. I thought this would be an excellent way to continue to reflect on my teaching and involve my viewers on my learning journey.

In all, I enjoyed creating my first podcast using Podbean! As I reflect on my experience I realize that incorporating the use of digital audio publishing platforms such as Podbean is a great way to engage, accommodate, and enrich the learning of students in the classroom. According to Commonwealth Charter Academy, incorporating podcasts in the classroom increases engagement, strengthens listening, comprehension skills, encourages learning from anywhere, innovates the way students interact with media, and accommodates learners ("6 Benefits," n.d.). Thus, I think that the incorporation of podcasts in the learning process is not only engaging but it helps students delve into the digital audio world at a deeper cognitive level. Children are so used to absorbing information, that they often don't have sufficient opportunities to share the information they learn or express themselves through audio formats. According to Moore (2022), by planning and creating their podcast, students are engaging in higher order thinking processes. They are not only absorbing information, but engaging in critical thinking skills to apply what they learn and then creating a digital product. The creation of products is the highest intellectual attainment in Bloom's Taxonomy. Thus, incorporating podcasts in the learning process pushes students to the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Lastly, the use of podcasts are a great way to accommodate learners with significant learning disabilities such as those with dyslexia who struggle with reading and benefit from auditory learning ("6 Benefits," n.d.). 

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved November 16, 2023 from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Untimely, the incorporation of podcasts in the learning process helps satisfy the technology ISTE standards for both educators and students. Educators can use podcasts to encourage digital technology in the classroom and help students develop digital citizenship skills. Students learn how to engage with a local or global audience socially, respectfully, and ethically. Most importantly, students learn that they can use digital audio technology to express and apply their learning or as a platform to voice what matters to them. Thus, it is not difficult to see how a simple podcast can enrich the learning of our students and help them engage with the digital world. 

I hope this blog post has been insightful and encourages you to use podcasts in your classroom. Please check out my Podbean podcast and happy podcasting!

Sincerely,

Ana

Resources:

[Podbean homepage], (n.d.). Podbean. https://www.podbean.com/

6 Benefits of listening to podcasts for students. (n.d). Commonwealth Charter Academy. Retrieved on November 16, 2023, from https://ccaeducate.me/blog/benefits-of-podcasts-in-education/  

Moore, T. (2022). Pedagogy, podcasts, and politics: What role does podcasting have in planning education? Journal of Planning Education and Research, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X221106327