Podcasting - doesn't sound too scary...

Over three years ago I was a part of a summer program at the UofM - a BestPractice technology seminar. At this seminar there were several teachers that spoke about PodCasting. The teachers from my school that I went with all agreed that something like PodCasting owuld never be accepted in our school. We went to the session on PadCasting though and there were several good tihngs I got out of it. Forst, I wasn't quite as intimidated by this unknown tool as I was previously. Second, I could, for the first time see some valid uses for PodCasting. Lastly, I realized that though I felt "up" on the current technoligy I was, in fact, not - and by the time I caught up to what I had missed, there would be much more to learn. Even with this knowledge, there were no links or places suggested to go to experience podcasting so I pretty much left it there.
This class has reintroduced me to the tool of podcasting. I can see several great instructiinal purposes for podcasting. There seems to be and iPod in the hands of nearly all students so you would think that schools woudl want to utilize this as a tool for education - but mine has not.
On a personal note - what is my experience with podcasting...I started by listening to some podcasts on teachers teaching teachers. To be honest I was a little bored - only becasue I was choosing topics that I wasn't that interested in listening to and there was nothing for me to look at while I was listening> I tried to think like a student during this time and quickly realized that the idea of teaching this way would be difficult. Though the information would be there - it would be terribly hard to keep the students engaged unless images were incorporated. I think I could use podcasting of my lectures and for class discussions so that if students want to go back or if a student is absent - everything that was said is recorded. This could be posted on a class wiki so students and parents could have access. I would include images or diagrams otherwise the podcasts could be tuned out even more easily than a classroom lecture. Just because you hear something doesn't mean you absorb or really listen...
After awhile I found some more interesting podcasts. For some reason I enjoy the semi-personal ones and I definitely prefer those with accompanying images (should I state this some more - I like pictures). I began finding so many I really liked that after over an hour and a half of listening to podcasts I realized I got swept into it. One problem - I didn't listen to a single podcast all the way through. We are used to things happening so quickly that some of them just seemed so long...even the ones I enjoyed - I wanted the to go faster.
Production quality-perhaps I do not have the greatest ear, but I really didn't notice a huge difference in the sound. Some people spoke so monotone I couldn't listen for more than 30 seconds or so. also, other speakers did this breathing thing that really threw off my concentration on what was being said. It was like listening to a speech when your students says "umm" or "like" every few words - after awhile that is all you heard. I felt (here I go again) that those with images were better. Now I know that most people would actually listen to these on their iPods, but I was listening to them on my computer so I had this big screen in front of me that did nothing. Our brains (or at least mine) likes to multitask so if I am listening but there is nothing stimulating to watch while I am listening - I get lost. I think my students would run into this as well. If I could listen while I drove my car or went for a run on my elliptical or folded laundry I would like the podcasts more. The way I listened made the listening difficult and I was easily distracted.
How could I use podcasts in my classroom - I already mentioned recording lectures or discussions and making them available to absent students or students that needed to hear things another time (or two). Another option I like is having students read their own writing or someone else's writing. hearing what they wrote, I feel, could greatly improve their writing. Many of my students think they wrote one thing but really wrote something quite different and then try to explain by, "What I meant to say..." would perhaps get them to write what they thought they were writing. I think in this case I would have students read work other than their own for the writer to listen to at a later time.
Other than these ideas and possibly a guided "tour" of a place, interviews for my media course, or some other secluded activity - I don't see other uses. I liked reading Jen's blog about the student who was showing their work to everyone who would look. If a podcast can bring that much enthusiasm and pride about an educational creation then I am all fore finding ways of implementing podcasts in my classroom.