Podcasts and education

Podcasting started around 2005 and soon became a rage.

Is tumbled upon the concept sometime in 2006 and was immediately bought over.

For me, the internet had suddenly become live and rocking. Prior to podcasts there existed information
and a lot of it. But a few bothered to really go and read that information.

Podcasts changed the way people could now have access to this information. Listening somehow is more interesting than reading.

Podcasts exploited this fact and so a lot of information which was earlier
in the form of text was now converted into speech by many amateurs passionate about their topics.

So a range of podcasts sprouted on the internet map.

Like everything, some were interesting. I specially liked the ones which were related to education.

Thus, now I could listen to podcasts which would teach

1. How English was spoken by the native speakers

2. How to make use of idioms and phrases

3. How to improve vocabulary

4. How to speak English professionally.

I could have never looked at English education that way before. Podcasts suddenly brought to me a new perspective.

What happened with English, happened with other subjects as well.

I got access to some of the very interesting podcasts on the web. There were some which talked about Military history and then there were some which talked about space,geography,new technologies etc.

A whole new world of knowledge opened before my eyes(err ears)

I converted and became a podcasts evangelist so to say.I got a chance to present the topic in a gathering of college professors in Hyderabad(Vivekwardhini college) and even the teachers there liked the topic.

I explained to them how one could easily create podcasts with a PC and the free software “Audacity”.

I also created a video on ‘how to podcast’ and posted it on Google Video.

I feel podcasting has a huge potential to change the way we learn about anything.We now have almost free access to rich material created by experts in their fields.How could we have done that in the conventional way of colleges and classrooms.

I can now listen to a podcast even when I am on vacation sitting on the top of an obscure hill.I just need some simple device like a MP3 player which is now affordable to the masses even in developing countries like India.NGOs can sponsor these devices for rural areas and help bring quality education to the masses.

There is a catch though.Most of the material is created in English and we need to translate that in the local languages.Volunteers interested in the educational field in India need to come forward and do this.

I have tried to do that in my own way and have succeeded to an extent.But a lot more needs to be done.

Here is a link to my podcasts.