Tech Lab 4 - Podcasting

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This podcast is me reading off the answers to the homework I assigned to my 8th graders over the weekend.  The assignment was found in their workbooks, Lesson 9-2, #'s 1-51 odd.  I read off the answers to the homework as I believe it would be an assett to any student (even those who were absent for the class).

I personally love the idea of making podcasts like this one (despite very boring to listen to).  The amount of time spent during class reading off the answers from the previous night's homework I've always felt could be better spent on either troubleshooting issues or on presenting new material.  That being said, even if I offered this to my students it would heavily rely on them to do 2 things.  First, I would have to make sure that my students are not embarassed/ashamed when they do not understand a problem from the homework (I am constantly trying to get my students to overcome this fear) and to make sure that they voice their concern in class/extra help or via email.  Secondly, I would also have to trust my students to check my podcasts every night (via subscription) as well as trust that they would LISTEN to them as well.  Maybe it is because I currently work at a small school, or maybe it's because of the grades I teach, but at my school the responsibility is on the teacher to make sure the students check and understand the homework (a task I currently have no objection to).  If I could have a classroom policy stating that since the material is available to the student (i.e. podcasting), it is the students responsibilty to check it on their own time, I would implement podcasting to my classroom immediately.  This would easily save 10-15 minutes of classtime that could be better spent.

Regardless of the concerns, I feel podcasting, (not just homework, but small lectures and reviews) would be a great assett to any classroom in the form of time saved towards learning new materials/troubleshooting problem areas.