Reading Week 10

Simplifying Podcasting by Prachi Parashar Panday

This piece is dedicated to outlining the basics of podcasting. That is, what they are, how they are used, where they can and should be adopted into every day life and answers to common “questions, queries and apprehensions”. Prachi Parashar Panday speaks a lot about the benefits of educational and corporate arenas using podcasting in their operations and even backs this up by appealing to the psychology of podcasting and other audio-related activities. The explanation for why podcasts should be used more widely include: Audio plays a very important role in the learning process. Audio has a few characteristics that text lack. Audio can have a significant impact on understanding of some information. Often, we understand better in a face-to-face lecture than when we read the same content on our own. According to Clark and Walsh, “listening is instinctual, [whereas] reading and writing are not”. Although, further into the article Panday suggests that “everyone is a different type of learner” and therefore, although podcasts may be a good learning tool for some, they may not be for others.

Panday’s ideas for podcasting allowing for multiple different students who are studying different subjects collaborating and creating a podcast is quite viable. Because it is a fairly new technology, many young people would be interested in experimenting with the idea. The essay also explains the multitude of purposes that people can use podcasts, some of which I hadn’t personally considered before reading the piece. For example documenting a holiday, recording assignments for university or school and weekly newsletters were some of the ideas that I hadn’t considered prior to reading the article. Although this piece was relatively straight forward and explained a lot of background information which I already knew, there was some great information about podcasts which I hadn’t considered before.

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