Podcast PD

The many inexpensive tools for media production have opened up opportunities for professional development. Gone are the days of having someone visit your school for a day or two, teach you something in a concentrated dose, and then leaving. I was one of those people driving from small school to small school in North Dakota for these two day workshops. I started with the introduction of the Apple IIs and would usually haul four computers along in addition to demonstration software because this was necessary to offer educators some opportunities to actually try out the software and methods I was describing. This method is now shunned with good reason, but it was better than nothing at the time. Times have changed.

I think we are still struggling to find effective approaches to professional development. Maybe the problem is we assume that a given method must be determined to be the best and perhaps more accurately an approach that schools will spend money for. I have written about this many times but I want my own learning opportunities to come at me straight on from an expert. I don’t want time to discuss the person sitting next to me. I am perfectly happy listening, watching, and perhaps exploring along on a device in front of me. Others despise this approach and come up with derogatory descriptions – e.g., sit and git, sage on the stage. Maybe the lesson is we have different needs, interests, and tolerances.

Technology offers multiple ways to meet individual needs. It offers an alternative to the cost and time of congregating in a given location – now also a health advantage. It allows for time shifting. The easy digitization of presentations – audio and video – allows content to be stored and examined in the sized chunks that suit the needs and opportunities of learners. It is easy enough to use and inexpensive enough that it allows the sharing of experiences and expertise from a wider variety of individuals and it breaks down the barriers between expert and practitioner.

OK – I have been a critic of some forms of PD for educators. I don’t find much value in peer Twitter chats even though some seem to find them enjoyable and perhaps useful. I don’t find the density of what I consider information to be very time efficient. I have tried to offer some suggestions that would improve my own experience but at a basic level I just find the experience to be very inefficient.

I see great promise in video conferencing (translate that as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams). One of the long-term residuals of our pandemic teaching experiences is likely to be heavier and hopefully more flexible use of such tools.

Podcasts offer another great option. I have listened to podcasts (TWIT.tv) for many years as a way to follow technology developments when immediate access to others with similar interests was just not possible. I have added podcasts relevant to education (EdTech Situation Room, Check this Out), and current events (The Daily, Pod Save America). I had not really thought much about the potential of podcasts for professional development for those not involved with technology.

Our daughter, Lynn Tanner, was involved as a guest on a podcast today and this caused some reflection on the topic of podcast PD. Lynn is a physical therapist and has done ground-breaking work focused on combating the physical damage done by long-term chemotherapy to children. This is a kind of speciality (the unique damage done to individuals whose bodies are still changing) within a speciality (physical therapy for cancer patients). She does focused work on a type of patient many other physical therapists may encounter on occasion and very likely did not learn about in their graduate training. This is a perfect example of the reason for professional development. You can read the journal articles if you are so inclined, but this tends to be relatively rare among practitioners. The most common opportunity for practitioners to pick up this type of background previously was probably the professional meeting/conference.

I think we are at the point that podcast PD (perhaps with video) should be promoted by more professional organizations. I like the format of the podcast series Lynn was a part of. I assume there is person or a couple of persons who host from week to week and then there are guests who contribute through interaction with these hosts. The ins and outs of various podcasts would be interesting to try to study and categorize. I have never been involved in podcasting. I have spent many hours teaching online, but podcasting is a little different so I will stick to writing. Teaching in this format could be a new skill to develop within many professions.