After searching around extensively this week and browsing through Schrock's podcast lists, I'm still having trouble finding really good quality online multimedia that I'd be happy to use in a classroom or for professional development. I found a lot of videos that were entertaining or cute, but less that I found to be really educational and informative.
I settled on the topic of psychology because my obstetrican happened to mention that she saw some great videos of infant wellness tests on YouTube (yes, YouTube even has that). The further I explored that topic I realized that there are some excellent videos showing examples of developmental psychology theory in action as well as famous psych experiments. I think they'd be a great way to bring these concepts to life for students in a high school psych class - especially since psychology is all about the human experience.
I am having a tough time finding good podcasts about this topic. Most of them are lectures that college psych professors have posted online for their students, ostensibly to help them study or review, or "pop psychology" podcasts that are more like audio self-help books. The college lectures seem high-quality and nicely challenging for a high school pysch class, but likely nothing that their own teacher couldn't tell them. Perhaps they could be used as supplements to lessons or part of homework assignments - or perhaps I'm looking for too many bells and whistles.
I am glad to read your blog entry on this because I encountered some similar issues this week. I chose to select materials for standards on African history to 1800 and had a hard time getting good podcasts, too. Most materials are either on African-American history or more modern South Africa. I stuck with my topic but was not completely satisfied with what I found. I learned a lot from the experience, though.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know it's not just me. I guess there are still not a lot of niche educational podcasts out there, or they're just hard to find. I've concluded that podcasts are perhaps not the educational tool I'd go to most frequently for teaching or professional development, though when a good one pops up it could be a nice supplement to a lecture or workshop.
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