After going through the podcast project in class last week, I definitely saw how this could work in the classroom, or create a disastrous time waster if not prepared for correctly. One of the greatest challenges I saw happening during class was that the entire group working on the podcast could not possibly be involved at the same time when it came to recording and editing. There could only be one (and sometimes two) people maximum actively working on making the podcast at once. The rest of the group members would have nothing to do until it was their turn. If particular group roles are not handed out, a project like this has the potential to become a one student project where all the other group members are not involved at all.
Along with having assigned group roles for a podcast project, it may be helpful if the teacher prepared the recording materials ahead of time in such a way that all the students would have to do is click and record. This would be a big time saver. In elementary classrooms especially, it may also be helpful if the instructor takes on the responsibility of editing to prevent deleting disasters.
If podcasts are not an option in a particular school situation, the same skills that could be practiced in a podcast project (presentation skills, group work, writing, editing, itc.) could also be implemented in a mock radio show or in a play format. Students have other ways of sharing their voice in the school setting that do not involve podcasts. Instead, maybe they can read and share their work over the PA system, or making a film.
