Podcasts - What Role Do They Play In The Learning Plan?

I branched out this weekend and enjoyed a new podcast (while doing  a bit of landscaping).  I spent some time listening to Leo Laporte, The Tech Guy.  This podcast is really a broadcast of his weekly radio/video show so it was a little bit different experience.   His focus is anything techy, bringing his audience up to speed on hew software and hardware, trends within the industry and answering caller questions.

First of all, it was much more commercial which was a reminder of how “free” is actually marketable and can generate revenue.  He talked a lot about the wisdom of the crowd.  In fact, he uses a wiki for his show notes and encourages his listeners to create them.  I found this to be interesting and a great time saver for him.  He did admit that they are certainly not comprehensive!

Secondly, I found the format to be enjoyable.  I liked the fact that he took listener questions as it made me feel very comfortable, some folks have some of the same questions I have.  What I found myself enjoying the most was that I could consume this information on my time table when it was important to me.  I’ve always listened to talk radio, but now I have the opportunity to catch the program when I have the time or the patience to really listen to it (albeit when I’m planning numerous, I say again, numerous shrubs).  So it’s my learning, my way, when I demand it or maybe better said, when I may be in the right state to learn.

In terms of learning and technology, that seems to be the piece that is resonating with me the most as of late.   The advances in technology have increased opportunities for us to utilize it within the design of the intervention.  This makes our content more interesting and user friendly, which is great. It has also increased the opportunity to build a better developed learning plan rather than an event based plan, regardless of what your event is.  We also have the opportunity to incorporate other schools of thought, or not just our own voices, but applications from the real world or examples of others working with the same content.  Podcasts allow just that, what are other people saying about some of the ideas we are discussing?  Learners and designers can now search for it, find it, listen to it on their terms and apply as necessary to their own situation.