Podcasts, Webinars, and TedTalk as Educational Tools

As instructors, facilitators, and trainers we are ambitiously trying to find media sources that could assist our students to understand the subject effectively.  For some instructors, it could reduce lecture time and create more time for in-class active learning activities. For others, particularly online education, not only it reduces lecture time but engage students to connect with the courses on computer or tablets.

In today's world, we have a bazaar of media educational sources and I would like to introduce 3 useful educational media tools that could enhance our students learning abilities.

1. Podcasts: This is a new concept for me as a student and a teaching assistant. According to the digital dictionary of Merriam-Webster it defines podcast as "a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format to be downloaded automatically over the Internet". Another way of explaining podcast is that it is a per-recorded talk or video by anyone such as yourself, a businessperson, a subject matter expertise, or a stay-at-home parent, and it can be downloaded and/or broadcasted on the internet. And the listener can play the podcast as often they like or need.
Podcasts are effective for students who learn better by listening. They can listen to podcasts on their smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. Podcasts allow students to replay as often they can to understand the content. Some cases podcasts can provide more examples or analogies which an instructor may not be able to to do during online or in-class because of time management or the amount the of content needs to be executed over the course of the lesson or program. 
There is an increase of podcasts that provide both visual and auditory presentation.  Podcast is great tool to be played at anywhere and anytime: on transit, in the car, at home, at the library, or running on the treadmill.

This link is an example of collaboration of podcasts relating to education.

https://player.fm/featured/education-tech

Webinar: This media tool is fantastic for audiences who like visual, auditory, and active learning. Webinar is abbreviated for web-based seminar and can be used for presentation, lecture, workshops, or training session using video-conferencing software on the Internet. Webinar is often presented at real-time meaning you can participate during a live session over the Internet. Many training sessions or workshops provide webinars for students anywhere on the planet and they can access them from their smartphones, tablets, and computers. Webinar is a great tool for information session and interaction. There may be times an audience member may not be able to attend a webinar, fortunately they can always access to it in the archived section of the website. The downside is they would not be able to participate in real time. I came across this website relating to education and uses many webinars. Hopefully you find it it useful.

http://edtechteacher.org/webinars/
 

TED Talks: This online media tool is making waves! It has a thousands of online videos lasting from 5 to 18 minutes of talks presented by speakers who are experts in their fields or interests. TED began in 1984 and is a non-profit organization whose goal is to share short impactful speeches ranging from business, sciences, health, education and many more to online audiences. This is a superb educational tool because of the diversity of topics. This a perfect media approach if an instructor want to introduce to the students about ideas, concepts, information, or simply topics related to the subject they are learning. Once again, like webinars and podcasts, anyone can access to TED Talks via smartphones, tablets, and computers. Below is the link to the website and browse as many videos that interest you. Some of the speakers may leave you hungry for more!

https://www.ted.com/talks 

References

https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/podcas
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Webinar.html