I’m Listening..!
October 29, 2009
I listened to 2 different podcasts, both by Dr. Kathy King and Mark Gura in their series of “Teachers’ Podcasts”. I listened to one about “distance learning” and another on “educational change and virtual opportunity”. I’m going to be honest, I really dis-liked having to listen to these two people ramble about these topics. I would have MUCH rather read about these topics than to have listened to them. I tried to be open minded because I didn’t think I would like this, but it just didn’t work out in the end.
First, I didn’t like it because I felt like I was listening in on a conversation that I wasn’t involved in. One thing I really like about written text is the ability of the writer to engage ME into what he/she is saying (or writing). When I was listening to this Podcast, I felt like the conversation was just between these two people with random comments being said back and forth. I’ll be brutally honest, I found it really annoying. They kept interrupting each other and frantically trying to prove their point. They may have known what they were talking about, but it seemed unorganized and chaotic to me. I like to have things written clearly in front of me so I can interpret it in my own way to relate to my own life. Just give me the information needed, don’t ramble on about who knows what that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
If a class or exam was given via podcast, I would have no idea where to begin to study for it. To be honest, I would probably try to find an article or paper WRITTEN about the podcast to refer to. I would listen to the podcast again and take down notes throughout it so I have something of my own to refer to as well. I would then compare the notes I took and what I got out of the podcast and compare/relate them to what I was able to find through my research on the particular podcast or something relating to the same topic. I need something written in front of me to best prepare for a class or an exam. I may be listening and understanding to the podcast, but I don’t fully retain something until I see it written in front me. THEN i can embed it into my mind.
In regards to changing the way we evaluate students, I think you’re both right and wrong. For me, I don’t think there is anything wrong with the way students are evaluated today. It works for me, and it has clearly worked for others before me. BUT, I realize that this is a rapidly changing society therefore maybe evaluations should be changing along with it. I don’t think it’s so much about CHANGING the way we evaluate students, but to add to it. Information and the way information is transferred has been added to and updated a lot recently. We shouldn’t necessarily take away the way we were evaluating, but just to add to it. What I mean is, we should take advantage of ALL resources we have and evaluate accordingly. I think the more perspectives you have the better and we should have students who are well-rounded in every area.
