Preparing to Podcast-Listening: Step Two

I am not an MP3 owner, nor an iTunes user although I have purchased many iTunes cards for consumption by my nieces. 

There are many podcast hosting sites online. Most can be searched and podcasts selected for immediate listening, downloading or can be subscribed to using an RSS feed.
PodcastAlley.com, Education Podcast Network, Fairy Tale Corner, Podomatic.com, and Podbean.com are some sites where a variety of podcasts can be accessed.


Richardson (2009) wrote of the ease of `locating and subscribing to recent educational podcasts using iTunes. Simply put, ``Once you have it up and running, just go...and click.`` (p. 112)

Through iTunes I began by subscribing to:

• Two Tech Chicks       
• Writers and Company from CBC Radio       
• The Clever Sheep       
• Teachers Teaching Teachers #267                  
• EdTechTalk    
• Book Review  Podcast                      
• TEDTalks Education                         
• Storynory - Stories For Kids                         
• TVO Big Ideas (Video) and (Audio)                        
• K-12 Greatest Hits: The Best Ideas in Education 
• Teachers Teaching Teachers

Some of the podcasts are interesting, educational and will draw me back to listen again. Others I find are not very professional and lacking in content. Selective listening for  professional development, personal learning and entertainment will limit my use to easily accessible, clearly described podcasts.

A Google search for podcasts lead me to PodCast Awards.com and I identified interesting podcast sites amoung the Education, People's Choice, Best Video, Best Produced and Technology nominees which I subscribed to using Google Reader.

• Caustic Soda
• Kid Friday
• Quirks and Quarks 
• Tekzilla
• This Week in Tech
• The Audacity to Podcast 

Because podcasts can be created by anyone, evaluation is important. Criteria for website evaluation should be extended to podcasts. In addition to authenticity, credibility, and currency podcast evaluation should include "technical qualities, subscription availability and availability of additional support materials."(Berger, 2010,p.133)