I've many friends that regularly listen to podcasts for pleasure,
they'll say to me
"you should listen to this, you should listen to this", usually I reply
"O.k, I definitely will", knowing full well I probably won't. It's not
that I dislike podcasts, it's just I don't know
when I'll actually
listen to them. I guess they're similar to the radio, I rarely listen to that, when I do it's usually something to fall asleep to so I don't care if I miss anything. With a podcast I want to 'see (or hear) what happens'. I was unemployed for a bit a few years back, during
this time I went through a period of listening to cartooning based
podcasts. I had a lot
of time on my hands then, don't now... On my commute I like to read .
No headphones at work, students to monitor. If I'm drawing or working
at my desk (at home) music is my preferred companion. When relaxing
indoors I watch TV (or film etc). I don't drive...
This course is
about trying things and putting them into practice, so from
now on I will make an effort to listen to podcasts more frequently for
pleasure, it's likely I will come across something that our students
will benefit from. Also I've noticed in past posts that I may sound a bit stuck in my ways.
I attempted to listen to some podcasts on 'circulating ideas' as suggested, but the links weren't working, maybe it was my computer.... So I decided to do a search for library based podcasts. I came across a set of
instructional podcasts produced by
SOAS library. I listened to some and feel the information presented would be better digested if read, watched on video or presented in the flesh. The podcasts came across kind of boring... I can't see myself using podcasts this way at work.
Next I decided to listen a literature podcast, I came across one by
The New Yorker of Richard Ford reading his favorite John Cheever story 'Reunion', followed by a brief conversation with Deborah Treisman. It was great! (and not just because Cheever is my favourite) I am not really a fan of audio books, but feel a short story works as a podcast, especially when it is discussed afterwards. This particular story is very short which is perfect as my mind does tends to wander, hence not being a fan of audio books.
I also listened to
Gary Shteyngart read Lorrie Moore and
David Means reads Raymond Carver. Both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I feel the format of having a short story followed by a discussion works well, I will definitely being promoting short story podcasts to our students.
I have also began to gather together some educational podcasts that I feel our students will find useful, sourcing them from places like
BBC, Examstutor and
Podology. I will display links to these on the LRC resource site.
So my second go at podcasts has been a success, guess that's one more reason for me to learn to drive.
