Review of Book

Although at first glance this book is packed with information in a short book, the information is extremely beneficial for novice to intermediate learners. Personally I feel I am a novice to these terms and types of software so reading this book was very beneficial as I developed a far better understanding to blogs, wiki’s, podcasts, screencasts and much more. In this book Richardson divides sections by categories to make it easier for the reader. He goes into detail of what each section, such as blogging, works, the purpose of it, and gives you examples of how others have put it to use or how they can put it to use. Richardson does a great job in explaining the basics of blogs, wiki’s, and podcasts and taking it further into how to apply it in the classroom settings.

Personally I focused on the podcast section toward the end of the book, Chapter 8, as I wasn’t too familiar with podcasting. Just by the name, I knew iPod’s has something to do with it and with reading the chapter MAC is in love with the fact that it was indeed named podcasting where it could have easily been named screencasting, etc such a variety of other names it could have been assigned. Richardson goes into what podcasting is, as well as what is needed to begin practicing podcasting. I have iTunes at home and never realized that I could listen to podcasts so easily as well as subscribe to some that are automatically downloaded to the hard drive or iPod if connected directly. He then goes into how it can be used in a school setting with students being involved and continue to make their own wiki’s and podcasts. He finally touches on the subject of screencasting which in essence is a ‘tutorial’ of sorts. He also discussed what is needed to complete a screencast, where to download software, and finally how to publish your work for others to see and/or use.