Objects of Interest

Podcasts can be created from original material by students and teachers or existing audio files can be downloaded or linked to for classroom use. Creating a podcast allows students to share learning experiences. It provides them with a world-wide audience that makes learning meaningful and assessment authentic. Teachers can use the technology to provide additional and revision material to students to download and review at a time that suits them. The flexibility that such time-shifting offers makes podcasting a valuable educational tool. (Lemelson Center)

There are also many excellent podcast resources that are available on the web for instructors to include in lessons.  I was recently looking for examples of podcasts to use in a lesson plan for students and came across the perfect example. Last year I had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by Liz Lerman founder of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, a professional company of dance artists that creates, performs, teaches, and engages people in making art. My Ph.D. is from an interdisciplinary humanities program, and Liz was invited to speak in a series of lectures sponsored by the program.

While doing my podcast research, I came across a lesson idea and a podcast resource utilizing “Prototype Online: Inventive Voices,” which is a podcast series from the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center that reveals the stories behind inventions. These podcasts can help students gain a broader understanding of invention and inventors, and can lead to a greater understanding of invention’s important role in American history and culture. While this listening guide was designed to accompany the four podcasts listed below, it can also provide a starting point for using and discussing any podcast in the Prototype Online series.

The podcast feed can be found online here: feed://invention.smithsonian.org/podcasts/prototype.rss

There are many episodes to choose from and one of them was by Liz Lerman. For me, that was an easy integration into a lesson that I could use with students, and one that I knew would work because I had a personal connection to the topic and with the material. The episode with Liz Lerman “compares the invention process with her own creative process, driven by improvisation, testing, collaboration, and questioning. This multi-generational company debuts its newest piece, “The Matter of Origins,” on September 10th and 12th, 2010, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.”

By utilizing the voices of the people, themselves, you bring a while different dimension to student learning, tapping into multiple learning styles. There is even a free guide provided to teachers with ideas for using the podcasts in lesson plans. What could be better a free resource and a lesson plan! Teachers take note, a great resource with a built in lesson plan – a keeper for sure, IMO!

The lesson plan can be found online here: http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/lemelsonpodguide.pdf

Students are given prompts to help guide them in listening to the podcasts before, during and after. Students can then engage in dialogue in wikis, blogs, discussion boards, or journals after listening to the content extending the learning beyond just the podcast, itself. Extending the learning beyond just listening to the podcast is a way to encourage critical thinking and writing skills on the part of students. Both skills are important beyond the classroom and appear as Higher Order Thinking Skills in many different learning models and paradigms. Just one post on the value of audio in teaching and learning. I have a feeling there will be more...