I posted a few weeks ago about my views on the benefits to teachers found in podcasting and downloadable media. These benefits reach both the teachers and the students.

This week, I thought I would focus on the benefits specifically for teachers at all levels of education in using downloadable media. First, though, let’s go back in time to the old way of presenting multimedia lesson segments.

I’m probably dating myself but, do you remember watching filmstrips in school? The teacher would load the film strip into the projector and then play a cassette tape or vinyl record to provide audio content.

The narrator would speak and then a chime or beep would sound that signaled the person running the projector to advance the filmstrip one frame. Then came the video tape, DVD, powerpoint, etc. You get the picture.

The thing is, I’m sure that there were technophobes back in the day who didn’t like that filmstrip thing. They said that the students didn’t need it, that if the old method of lecture, repetition, and rote memory were sufficient.

>> fast forward to 2008 >>

Today, teaching the classic “Three R’s” just isn’t enough. One of those wise old sayings (cliches) I’ve heard bantered about is, “There are no bad students, just bad teachers.”

Today, students (young and old) need to use a variety of technology tools to complete their course work. Effective teachers are passing along huge amounts of broad based information via any method within their power.

Does this mean that teachers who don’t use downloadable content to supplement their teaching styles are bad teachers? Of course not. My sister, mother, two grandparents and a couple of aunts are all teachers. Believe me when I say I know that teachers are the hardest working, poorest paid, and least appreciated profession.

What I am saying is that I want all teachers to have at their fingertips all of the tools to help them in their difficult jobs. Video and audio downloadable media is right there to fill that void. It can be that all important “other side of the picture.”

You know what I mean. You can sit all day in a classroom and at the end of the day, sit there and scratch your head because you just don’t get it. Later, you ask another instructor or classmate to explain it to you and <bing!> the light bulb comes on.

Why?

Because a different person explained the concepts to you in a different way. The first teacher wasn’t wrong or a bad instructor but their explanation didn’t mesh well with your experiences and understanding. Bring that explanation in from a different direction and it’s a completely different story.

This is the real value of the gigabytes of high quality educational content available in downloadable form. Look over the sites beforehand for appropriateness. Point the students to the other content audio and video and let them get that “other viewpoint.”

Downloadable media is the ultimate educational “win - win.” Students get all of the extra instruction they need to succeed while teachers become the great educators they were destined to become when they first decided to become — TEACHER.