Podcasting

What is a podcast?
The word podcast is a blend of the word "broadcast" with the word "iPod" (one of the most popular portable MP3 players).

Broadcast + iPod = Podcast

   Anyone can create a podcast. All over the world, people are creating podcasts on subjects ranging from movies, to technology, to music, to politics and whatever else you can think of. This is new original content made by passionate people who want to share their creativity with the world.

Types of Podcasts:

Audio Podcasts

Video Podcasts

Enhanced Podcasts

Screencasts

Examples of Podcasts:

   Podcasts can be accessed through multiple mediums. By far, the most popular of these are:

—iTunes University  (via open culture)

—(http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/university_podc.html)

—Learnoutloud

—(http://www.learnoutloud.com/)

These sites comprise a compilation or directory of podcasts that can be easily accessed, downloaded and used in your courses.

Online Learning Management Systems

An online learning management system (LMS) is one of the most modern and resourceful mediums through which education has been revolutionized. It is a platform that is frequently used by a plethora of learning institutions such as university/colleges and school districts (elementary, secondary, high schools).

Not only does it significantly enhance the teaching and learning process, it also assists in the reception and management of information/content in diverse training programs, online courses and programs. Information is a lot more organized and can therefore be easier for the teacher/instructor to teach (incrementally) and easier for the students to learn/comprehend. Additionally, I've found that it even makes the content that was taught and learnt easier for the student to ultimately apply.

As an E-Learning Support Specialist, I encounter LMS's and other forms of educational/instructional technology quite frequently. Some LMS's a free (as freeware), which can then be used by a range of institutions (without any user fees etc) and adapted for their use. A very popular example of this is MOODLE. This is the LMS that is used in my institution and is extremely user-friendly. At my institution, this learning platform has totally changed the way teaching and learning is done.

Another LMS is BlackBoard. However, Blackboard (as far as I know) unlike Moodle, is not free. Nevertheless, there are many institutions that have paid the required user fees and once it's set up, Blackboard is extremely easy to use and navigate.

These LMS's provide a powerful, convenient platform though which other website links, software, programs and applications can be used and incorporated into any teaching and learning curriculum. These programs include:

Camtasia Studio
Turnitin
Youtube
Audacity

....and a hole lot more...feel free to post up anything else you know about E-Learning, LMS's, Instructional/Educational Technology and general trends in Education/teaching and learning. I'm open and willing to learn so much more about this phenomenon.

Regards,
Justin Zephyrine.