Journal 4

"From Toy to Tool" by Liz Kolb

Audioblog is one of the more unique features of the internet, and I fear one of the least utilized. How incredible is it to talk into your cell phone and have all your dialougue appear online? Or a picutre you take one second, and have appear for all to see then next? It's absolutely incredible. One of the middle school teachers that I've observed used them to great effect. For people that are absent, he records the lesson, and when "quests" come around (that's a quiz/test), he has the kids come in for a roundtable, and they go over test questions that he records so that it can be used as a study guide. He's been having great success, as parents can kind of hear what's going on in the classroom, and students can take the audioblog and use in on their computer, transfer it to their ipod, and numerous other devices. This of course, leads to some great questions... HOW WOULD I USE AUDIOBLOG IN THE CLASSROOM? Well, for starters, I'd love to set something similar up, especially the test reviews that they could find online. I mean, I'd much rather they use their ipods for something educational rather than ignoring everything I say. That said, I hope it wouldn't replace in class discussion. So, DO I THINK AUDIOBLOG WILL REPLACE IN-CLASS DISCUSSION? No, absolutely not. I think it's much more of a great tool than a required force. Not all students have the technological ability to access such material, and as such I would not make anything of that sort mandatory. But for those that can, I'd love to provide the option to help further their studies and interest, inside and outside the classroom.