Blog Assignment 12

In this weeks blog assignment we were instructed to come up with our own assignment for the  EDM310 class and then do it.  We have talked a lot about podcasts and podcasting in EDM310, we have also been told about iTunes U.  But basically we were just told that it exists and we did not have an assignment that dealt directly with iTunes U.  I have found that it is one of the best things I have found to obtain more and new information.  iTunes U is a place where there are a multitude of strictly educational podcasts. Colleges from all over the world post lectures and podcasts to iTunes U.  Schools like Yale and Harvard post to iTunes U.  

The assignment I propose is to find a podcast that is relevant to you.  I.e. about one of the classes you are currently taking, or dealing with your specification. Like for me English, or education in general.  I am currently taking a sociology class(Dr. Marshall) that I am very interested in, it would be acceptable in the assignment for me to look up a podcast about sociology.  After finding said podcast subscribe and listen to the most recent submission from that podcast.  Then write a post about why you chose that particular podcast and what the most recent episode was about.

    

Instructions:

In order to use this you must first, if you don't already have it, download iTunes.  Very easy to do, just go to apple.com/itunes  and simply follow the downloading instructions.  You will also have to make an apple account, also very simple the instructions for that will be provided in iTunes.  All of Apple's interfaces and products are exceptionally user friendly.  

After this task is accomplished open iTunes and go to the iTunes store located along the left had side of the window.  Then once in the iTunes store follow the link along the top of the screen titled "iTunes U" then have fun searching around the store and finding a podcast relevant to you.  Now, you may be thinking, "Store?!? Am I going to have to buy something?" The answer is no, all of the podcasts I know of are totally free. 

After listening to the most recent episode of the podcast you selected write a post about why you selected that particular podcast and what the episode was about.

My take on the assignment:

For this assignment the podcast I chose was "60-Second Adventures in Thought."  I thought this would be a good podcast to use in my future classroom as some type of bell-ringer type activity where the students would watch an episode(only 60 seconds right?) and then write a paragraph of reflection about the ideas in the video.  

The episode I watched was called "The Grandfather Paradox" which was about time travel.  It suggests that if a man were to go back in time before his parents were born and kill his grandfather what would happen?  If he did kill his grandfather then one of his parents would have never come into existence thus he wouldn't come into existence.  It was very fun to watch and also thought provoking.  Great podcast, lots of fun! Check it out!