podcasting & classroom basics

since my experience with podcasting is limited, i found the following site helpful:

poducateme.com

there is a podcasting user guide, links to different hardware and software. and get this, there is even a blog:)
the site also offers some great links to articles that try to link podcasting in classrooms with attendance. a study at Duke and the University of Washington found that while some educators would like to believe that podcasted lectures would deter students from coming to class, they actually found that students were less likely to drop podcasted courses because the recordings helped the students keep up with the material. they also cited an increase in enthusiasm and stronger student evals of the course.
there is also a great link that discusses technology and class attendance.
while these discussions are more geared to examining the post-secondary habits of students, i think there is relevance to the enthusiasm that we could see in our students from k-12 with have some podcasted lessons.it would be impossible for a teacher to deny the importance and need to keep things fresh, new and interesting in our lessons to captivate and motivate our students to learn and succeed. podcasting could allow for those "at-risk" students to finally find the interest they've been looking for!