NY Times: Blogs, Podcasts and Virtual Classrooms

This article from the NY Times looks at how a range of free online tools are being used in the classroom, including podcasting:

THE ''Room 208'' podcast may just have the youngest production staff in the history of broadcasting. Written, produced and performed entirely by the third and fourth graders in Bob Sprankle's class at the Wells Elementary School in Wells, Me., the podcast -- an online radio show that can be downloaded to an MP3 player -- began in April, has 171 subscribers for its weekly 20- to 30-minute shows and includes regular features like ''Student News,'' ''The Week in Sports'' and ''Word of the Week.''

The May 27 show -- a Memorial Day special -- also included the students' responding to fan mail and ''Bree's Animal Corner,'' a new weekly feature on which one student read descriptions of pets available for adoption at the Kennebunk Animal Center. That week, the school's public relations officer had come to interview the students about their podcast, and the children, thinking it would make good material, recorded the discussion and included it in their show.

They spoke confidently about scripts, intros, outros, editing, audio loops and background music and showed the officer how the iPod worked. The fourth graders, who will be in a different school next year, said they weren't worried about leaving Mr. Sprankle's class because they planned to return daily after school to continue their work.

''In building this product weekly, the kids are incredibly motivated to read, research, write, and they're telling me they can't wait to get to school,'' Mr. Sprankle said in an interview for the June 9 episode of ''Connect Learning,'' another podcast (not affiliated with his school). ''You can't just fake it with this show. You've got to own it.''

I think the reason that children are so motivated is that they are finally being given the opportunity to participate in and contribute to culture, and not just be passive consumers of culture.

When you think about it, young people have always been included in the production of culture - they have been taught the stories and songs of a culture, participated in dances and religious events, been taught how to weave baskets, create pottery etc. It's only in the last century or so - in the era of mass media - that we have been forced to become consumers, with media and culture production only in the hands of the few (and almost always adults).

Podcasting, blogging and other free media-creation tools are exciting because they empower people and give everyone a voice.

Link: The New York Times > Technology> Review> INNOVATION; New Tools: Blogs, Podcasts and Virtual Classrooms - free subscription required, unfortunately, but here's a PDF - http://bobsprankle.com/banners/nytimesarticle.pdf