Distance Education Podcasting with Special Education Students Spring 2009 Matt Dockery

Podcasting How can podcasting help students who have learning disabilities? Learning Disability definition – A wide range of learning problems that can affect abilities. Reading (Basic reading, Reading Comprehension). Language (Comprehension, Speaking/Expressive). Writing (Basic, Expressive).

Podcasting - Definition Audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback on a digital music player.

Podcasting - Significance It can be used in many ways to help the student with a learning disability: Directions on assignments. Tutorials. Interviews. Story Telling. Record the student.

Podcasting in the Classroom Reading Disabilities – Hear the word spoken for them, form a visual image. Writing Disability – Physically may not be able to write or poor writing, create an audio recording. Language Disability – Allow them to speak at their own pace.

Podcasting – Example #1 In a primary school, teachers used social stories to improve behavior with Special Education Students. Teachers used software to record and edit. Students felt ownership and responsible. Podcasting provided an innovative and engaging way for students to improve social stories.

Podcasting – Example #2 Coulee Kids, Middle School in Wisconsin. Create podcasts during their writing class on a variety of topics. Take the lesson, put it into their own words. All students are involved. Regular and Special Education students. The use podcasting to integrate technology into the classroom.

Podcasting - Statistic In October 2004, a Google search returned less than 6,000 results for podcasting. Today, the same search has more than 857,000 results.

Podcasting - Future The wide variety of examples that podcasting can provide is limited only by imagination. As technology evolves, so will podcasting. Improved publishing tools, better technology, wider knowledge, better understanding of podcasts will help it to improve.

Podcasting - Conclusion Podcasting is a tool, not the answer to a learning disability. The hard part is using the tool correctly, and having the right training. When a student with a disability understands the information, self- esteem improves, and they enjoy learning process.