Powerpoint or Podcasts?

This post is in response to a message by Christine - talking about the benefits of using Powerpoint as a stepping stone for creating podcasts.

Christine - I completely agree. Using Powerpoint as a stepping stone for creating Podcasts is a great idea. Everyone is always saying how teaching your students Powerpoint is useless because of all the new and exciting technologies out there such as podcasts, so why not Powerpoint useFUL instead? In my class the kids have a Powerpoint presentation assignment where they have to make up a children's story in at least 5 slides plus a title page. Most of them think that this is the end of the assignment. But wouldn't the students be surprised to find out that they are only half way there - that there is another component to the assignment; translating that Powerpoint presentation into a podcast?! That's a wonderful idea! And believe me, I am definitely one of those teachers who need to use a software "rough copy" first, before diving head-first into podcasting. It's nice to know that there is a stepping stone on which to base our knowledge of podcasts...great!