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Podcasts: Why?

By • February 9, 2007 • 28 Comments

I’ve been grappling with that leadership meme that’s floating around (thanks, Christian & Rick, for keeping me up the other night) but until then, can someone tell me what’s the point of podcasting? What’s your game here?

Full disclosure: I’ve listened to maaaaybe a couple of podcasts in my life, so it’s possible I’m simply not the audience. I’m an irregular audience for a photography podcast, NPR’s This American Life, and Slate’s Spoiler Special. Given the comments, I’m not sure what an avid podcast-listener looks like, but I’m pretty sure I ain’t him. Whether this constitutes an informed opinion of podcasting is, as it always has been, up to the discernment of the reader. From my perspective, the medium has offered up a survey of its advantages and disadvantages without much of a struggle.

In return, for the podcasting enthusiasts, here are a few reasons why your podcast isn’t feeding my iTunes jukebox, why I secretly wonder if podcasting is only on the guest list of Educational Tech Initiatives simply Because It’s There, if it’s simply ed-technology for its own sake.

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… and the other thing.

By • February 7, 2007 • 10 Comments

Simultaneously the other day:

  • I reconnected with some old college buddies and realized through our perfunctory catch-up chatting that I won some sort of lottery a few years back, a lottery I didn’t enter, the prize of which was a career and some hobbies I find eminently satisfying. Dodged a bullet there, apparently.
  • I realized this blogging thing has to be more than the exchange of ideas — you and me, me and you — that, for the ideas to really take root, there has to be some personality lubricating the transaction. There is, of course, the concern that a noxious personality might attach itself to worthy ideas, but we’re going to risk that here.

So my alter ego would like to introduce himself now.

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Mindy from the Mailbag

By • February 6, 2007 • Comments Off on Mindy from the Mailbag

Bringing a little tear to my eye is Mindy’s comment from How Math Must Assess:

But the message I want to share with everyone who reads this is, that for the first time, I feel like I’m actually doing things in a meaningful way and that, for the first time, I can fully explain the “why” of what I’m doing. And, in a strange way, I think assessment is easier now and less time consuming because I get the information I need, the students get the information they need, the parents get the information they need and it’s not this big “secret” about what we’re doing and why.

I’ve been at this assessment system long enough to forget sometimes how precise, useful, and satisfying it is — especially compared to where I’ve been.

Thanks for the reminder, Mindy.

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