As an English / Languasge Arts teacher, I intend to use podcasts as a teaching tool. Podcasts, which are audio and/or video productions posted on the web, are fun, inexpensive, easy to do, and allow students to have a hands-on experience with their learning processes. In doing podcasts, students get a chance to control the outcome of their productions, and they get to see the fruits of their labor on the internet and not as just words on a page. They become part of the creative process literally. This adds more meaning for them.
When I attended high school, we had to do group projects. In some cases, we had to perform these projects in front of the class. However, with podcasts, students of the computer age are creating and producing live feeds for the internet wherein their work can be more accessible and real to them. Their podcasts are also made accessible to students in other places by being on the internet. This approach to learning makes learning more relevant to to the English student and the experience more memorable. What were once readers and writers in the classrooms have become listeners and watchers.