Response-Alison Pfeifer

Just like everyone else, I really enjoyed the little boy who interviewed President Obama. He was so cute! I really enjoyed seeing how a student put this to use for everyone else to view. It was a great way for this student to get his point across and get it out there to the public. I would love to have students like this in my classroom. I would use video podcasting, because I feel that it is like poetry, just in video form. It is a great way for students to express their feelings and get their point across to the viewer.

Well, I, too, enjoyed the little boy who interviewed the president. It was very cute and entertaining. However, I think that from an academic perspective, it wasn't particularly successful because it didn't really teach much- although it did make that boy's day! I also thought that capturing the history project was nice because it was a way for a student to publish his work, but it was hard to read the project and take anything away from it. So, I would have to say that the podcast about graffiti was the best because I actually learned a lot from it.

I think that the purpose of a podcast for students should include three things: entertainment, publication of student work, and new information. The graffiti video captured all three. It was easy to follow, entertaining, and taught a lot about a new topic. Also, it was a way for a student to teach about something he knows. He was able to take something from pop culture that is often seen as vandalization, and make it into a professional informative presentation.

Katherine Barr

I really enjoyed the little boy who interviewed president Obama. That was a really nice perspective on how videocasting can help you get your message across and how it can really be a great learning tool. This little boy was asking real questions that matter to everyone. It was not just a mock interview, it was real. I loved how he could get right up and in front with him about all the things that he wanted to address. Imagine what we could do with our students if we implemented this technology and had them interview different people for perspectives on many different subjects.

Giannina Ferraro

Alright, well as much as I truly loved the adorable little boy that interviewed Obama (he's such an intelligent and dignified little kid! :D ), I really appreciated this video on graffiti; I actually could not open the other video. I think the video on graffiti provided great insight on how creative a student can be and different ways people show it, other than the "average" artistic methods.
Students can make videos like this to mainstream their original ideas or to shed a different light; with this video, we see that graffiti-ing isn't only for "bad kids", it's also a way to release creative juices. I actually did a mini-unit on graffiti, having students write poems describing a random picture of graffiti. The kids really enjoyed it and it was something they had never worked with. I think this video can relate; having kids create a reading of a poem with images of graffiti, or another idea without incorporating poetry.
I'm not sure if this student is in Special Education, but I see that the video is listed under this channel. This gives me even more of a reason to like videopodcasting, because as we can see with this student, videos can relate to anyone, whatever their disability may entail. I really enjoyed these videos and how easily they shifted my perspective.

Erin Litvak

It seems as though most of us have reached a consensus - I also enjoyed Damon Weaver's interview with President Obama. Damon Weaver uses video podcasting to score an interview with the president, but also talks about a very important issue. Education was clearly the basis for this interview and Damon Weaver did an excellent job of presenting his questions to the president. This video shows other students, and viewers that schools do have at least some resources to help their students learn. Not only that, but schools are teaching their students about the technologies and how to take advantage of them in an educational setting. I feel as though this video can be an inspiration to all students and educators since it shows how video podcasting can help students learn and achieve their potential.

Kelly Cassidy

My favorite videocast was “Damon Weaver interviews President Barack Obama.” The student was adorable and was very professional in his interview. I was amazed at the opportunity that videocasts presented to this boy. I cannot imagine how unrealistic such a thought would have been to an elementary school student in the 1940’s and 1950’s, actually having the chance to interview the president of the United States in the White House.
Videocasts enable students to explore educational topics, politics in this case, in ways other than the traditional textbook. Education can take place outside the classroom. Students have the equipment (or can be provided the equipment) to collect information from their own sources and edit that information to convey their own ideas. So students are not only learning about a topic from a different approach as they create videocasts, but students are also learning about the vulnerability of information that they receive via the media.

ANNA MARTINEZ

My favorite video was the one where Damon Weaver Interviews President Barrack Obama. I liked it because that little boy was so cute and he did such a good job. This video would be beneficial to his classmates to see, and for practice interviewing. It is pretty informative and it shows how talented that boy is.
All of these videos show different ways students can use podcasting. It allows them to get their work out there. It is another form of publishing. They can communicate with each other in a more personal way, too. There can be so many activities that can be used as well. For example, there could be a writing activity as a follow-up after watching Damon’s interview. Each of those videos are different and show different dynamics. That shows us the many ways we can use this technology.