Podcasting and Screen Casting- A Reflection on Chapter 8

First a confession-I may be the only person under 25 in this class, or maybe on this campus, or possibly in the city of Louisville that doesn’t have an Ipod or other MP3 device. They became popular my freshman year of college and I will be the first to say I certainly thought about buying one. After all- those 20 minute walks across campus would be more pleasant if I were able to jam to my favorite tunes, right? At least that is what everybody else thought. What people began to miss out on as they walked “plugged in” to their own little bubble was the opportunity to meet new people, to talk to people outside their major or social circle. I can’t tell you how many times I would be walking the same path with a student and say hello in order to strike up a conversation with them only to be ignored. Then, I would see those little white tubes feeding into their ears.

The same thing has happened on planes (for those of you that don’t like to talk on planes this is your warning never to sit by me) those who are plugged into their Ipods might as well be in a sound proof box- they have no intention of interacting with you even when you are politely asking to get into the aisle to find the lavatory. I am not saying I am opposed to entertainment on a plane- I began and finished a John Irving novel on my way to Thailand. It just seems that those with a book in hand don’t seem to mind talking with you about their career, reason for traveling, etc. while Ipods seem to make people very anti social.

I think we have already established that I have some real issues with people ignoring the world around them wrapped up in technology frenzy. The bottom line is that I don’t think anyone should leave their office where they have sat in front of a computer all day and put their Ipod in for the ride home, then go turn on the television or another computer. I am not implying that this is the intention of the author but it does seem that he probably spends a hefty portion of his day checking his RSS, getting updated, then seeking out the news or blog that has most recently been published.

To give Richardson credit I do think podcasts are an interesting way for students to publish. I have several students that can verbalize answers but cannot or choose not to ever write anything. I think by using a tool such a podcasting we could capitalize on those students’ skills instead of constantly making them struggle to work at their weakness.