Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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.

3 comments:

Jamie G said...

I too wasn’t sure of what pod casting meant, but I felt the book and your review were helpful to people who do not know much about Web 2.0. Like you said, iTunes makes it easy for one to listen to pod casts. The technology is very reachable, I just do not think people know the correct terms.

I love the idea of students making their own wiki’s and pod casts. I feel once students feel that they have the power to publish, they will enjoy what they are doing in school more. Jamie Gross

G. Medina said...

I didn't review this part of the book but I found it useful as well when reading the podcasting/videocasting section. I still found the discussion on audiocasting stronger than the videocasting.

Ms. V's Room said...

I enjoyed your review. i personally felt that the book was explaining each topic using realistic classroom examples and appropriate language for our academic level.