Eco-podcasting

Professional Podcasts:
Podcasting has become a great way to enhance using the Internet (including using blogs) in classes. Because I'd like to intertext with weblinks that include podcasts, I've linked to some important podcasts below that highlight the focus of using the internet (specifically blogs) in support of ecocomposition. Take a look at http://www.nature.com/nature/
podcast/index.html, Nature's podcast directory, and scroll down to the June 1 podcast. You can then listen (by way of .mp3 file) to recent discussions on "The balmy Arctic, levee lessons, Hobbit origins, dangerous chemistry, Saturn's hot moon, secrets of REM sleep, and lab animal endings" (Nature, 2006). For those students who either do not have the software or the capability to listen to the .mp3 can read the accompanying text file.

Creating our own Podcasts:
For an assignment studying place and sustainability, for example, students in my class could access my blog to listen to the podcasts I create, or find links to podcasts that I've found related to course topics. Linking is especially important in working within blogs, and these links can help promote podcasting as a more interactive tool while working in an online environment. Students can also create their own podcasts, providing neighborhood interviews or taping the street dialogue as it happens.

Podcasts can be used for more than neighborhood studies: One of my colleagues, Melody Wise, actually uses podcasts to discuss student papers. She records her commentary and sends the .mp3 file along with the attached paper, to students in e-mails. This is a novel approach with student learning, especially for students who are auditory learners.

References
Nature. (2006). International Weekly Journal of Science. Podcast, June 1, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index.html, June 26, 2006.