Reflections

An interesting video shared on YouTube provides insight and encouragement for teachers that wish to experiment with pdocasting in the classroom.  The point I wish to comment on is raised at about 1:23 in the video.   The author states “today’s students are already publishing material on the Web”.  I absolutely agree, and this is a motivating factor for teachers to incorporate ideas such as podcasting into their classrooms.

However, the other side of the coin is that I believe whilst exploring with podcasting in the classroom we as teachers should be taking this opportunity to teach some netiquette and Internet safety.  Publishing information on the web can give the false impression of anonymity and security.  Students need to be taught to be careful what they publish on the Internet, and not just on social networking sites, but on homepages, blogs, forums, and any other of a variety of sources.

There are also issues with cyber bullying that could be dealt with too, although it would appear from my experiences on practicum that some schools are already addressing the cyber bullying problem arising from material published using technology.  So perhaps in the classroom it may be legitimate to not comment to a great deal on cyber bullying, but focus on the safety aspects of making personal information available on the Internet.

That said, podcasted classroom material should provide no reason for safety concerns, so lets get recording!!