Journal #2: Using Podcasts to Develop a Global Perspective, NETS-T # II, V

Maguth, B.M, & Elliott, J. (2010). Using Podcasts to develop a global perspective. Learning and Leading with
  Technology, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?
 Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25244&DirectListCom
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This article was very interesting as I want to be a history/social studies teacher, and it was under this subject category. I liked the assignment that this school gave to their students about researching a current problem, as through this students can practice researching and lean about a contemporary issue while also looking at its place in history. This keeps the learning material relevant and practical. The students in the article had the opportunity to work with software that is technologically advanced and can give them skills that they can take into the job force and for themselves personally (such as editing and adding music to their podcasts). The end of the project was rewarding as well, because the students had their works put online. This gave them more motivation to work hard (which is always a good thing for teachers). The article sums it up great when the author writes,  "The assignment was an authentic learning experience in that it allowed students to showcase a degree of depth on an important global issue, led them to be well informed on multiple perspectives, and gave them a chance to discuss current global issues." This is something to strive for as a teacher, and it is great to have good examples of projects that I could incorporate into my lessons.
How can I incorporate technology into my teaching if I am not that technologically savvy?
I think that there are seminars for teachers to instruct them in new technological equipment and programs. I am not personally familiar with podcasting, and I would definitely need assistance and a tutorial in order to understand this program. I would hope that maybe there would be sort of an IT guy at the school who could help me out and maybe do a lecture for my class on using the software. If there was no one to do this, I would just have to become very familiar with the program to be able to teach it, and this would take some time on my part, as well as me actually making one of my own as an example.
Besides researching current issues, what other type of assignment would be creative and useful for a social studies class?
I think a good project besides current issues would be to have each student take a subject that they are interested in, based on a group of broad categories such as art/music, sports, history, a country, etc and research their specific subject and create a podcast. This would be a project to fit their interests, but show them that social studies can cover broad subjects within it which are relevant to their lives. There would be more specifics for the project, so that they can get a multicultural experience and go deep into a subject. This would hopefully be fun and engaging for them, and be a unique project that is different from just writing a paper or creating a poster board.