These days many students have MP3 players or cell phones which play audio and we should be taking advantage of these commodities in education. Audiobooks and podcasts are an ideal way to absorb information in the car on the school run or on the bus and there is nothing uncool about listening to your iPod.
Audiobooks are available from Audible.com and cost less than a paperback especially when bought as part of a subscription service. Audible has thousands of books with many unabridged versions in all genres and as an adult listener I have found this an excellent way to broaden my reading habits, particularly with a 1.5 hour commute each day.
Podcasts are a free source of audio material. Download iTunes and go to the iTunes store (no need to spend any money) and search podcasts. As with all free content available on the internet the listener has to be picky and I recommend you have a broadband connection. Of particular interest is iTunesU where US universities post lecture notes, ideal for the dedicated academic. I personally enjoy the BBC radio 4 comedy podcast and TWIT technology podcasts, but I am a bit of a geek. If you listen to the Jumping Monkeys podcast on the TWIT network you get a code for a free audiobook from Audible.com.
Another interesting website for parents, I particularly enjoyed their review on nappy disposal systems.
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Headquartered in Austin, Texas, DadLabs is an information and entertainment company that fosters the father/child relationship through media, instructional and retail products. The mission of the company is to strengthen families and benefit children by empowering today’s fathers. The company provides resources to expecting, new and veteran fathers that will launch them into a more active and creative role in the lives of their children.
DadLabs speaks to the corporate executive and the delivery driver with a voice that is authentic and genuinely male, with wisdom and self-deprecating humor of experience. The products and services offered are honest, informative, sometimes off-color, but always dedicated to the spirit of fatherhood. DadLabs speaks guy and presents information through guy-colored lenses. Founded in 2004 by Troy Lanier, Clay Nichols and Brad Powell, DadLabs aims to be the voice of the new fatherhood. The company was founded on the core value that parents must be the primary movers in the lives of their children and fathers must play a leading role in this journey.
The team at DadLabs is committed to assisting the busy father by providing him with accessible and digestible information and parenting ideas. DadLabs will not only inform and entertain fathers, but will also foster creative father/child activities through retail products. The trio bring more than 30 years of teaching and hands on fatherhood experience, as well as professional film making and writing experience. Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols are accomplished authors and were named to the Austin Chronicle Best of 2005 for their book “Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling off Your Shorts.”
The company’s first DVD, DueDads: The Man’s Survival Guide to Pregnancy scheduled for release in the summer of 2006 recently won a 27th annual Bronze Telly Award All three founders have been long time teachers at Austin’s St. Stephen’s School and combined have seven small children.
Join Megan Morrone, mother of three toddlers, and Leo Laporte, father of two teens, as they talk about parenting in the digital age, featuring lots of helpful links and advice, plus interviews. Click here to visit the site at http://www.jumpingmonkeys.com/
Nearly half of all teenagers did NOT buy a compact disc in 2007, according to a research study done by the NPD Group.Online music sales continue to climb confirmed by a report earlier in the week that Apples iTunes has become the #2 music seller behind Walmart, and analysts predict that iTunes will eclipse Walmart later this year.And finally, in January the debate behind HD-DVD and Blue-Ray high definition compact disc formats (echoes from the VHS-Betamax mess of the 1980s) was finally settled when major movie companies picked Blue-Ray over HD-DVD. Toshiba, the maker of the HD-DVD drives, put it to rest when they stopped production on the units.But who cares? Downloading movies is upon us. Only two days after the beginning of the end of the high-def debate started, Apple announced their iTunes Movie Rental service and updated Apple TV device.The times they are a changing Courtesy of http://www.ptatechcorner.com/
Common Craft, produces these really awesome introductions to different technologies - but in plain english (and really cute paper cutouts). Interested in what RSS is? Twitter? Or just social networking? They’ve got some really neat short videos to help.
These days many students have MP3 players or cell phones which play audio and we should be taking advantage of these commodities in education. Audiobooks and podcasts are an ideal way to absorb information in the car on the school run or on the bus and there is nothing uncool about listening to your iPod.
