Woodhill Primary provide persuasive proof of the power of podcasting and pupil publishing

Woodhill Primary School, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow in conjunction with Learning and Teaching Scotland launched a weblogging and podcasting project in October 2005. The aim of the project was to support the learning of French in two P6 (Yr6) classes. The school started the project by setting up a blog designed to keep a diary of ongoing developments. For the first few months, the French teacher, Jennifer Derrick published posts about the current topic the pupils were studying along with supplementary worksheets and podcasts she made with her teaching assistant, Fiona Cunningham. Thanks to the blog, pupils were able to download the supporting material at home as well as at school. This meant that they could listen to the podcasts on their personal mp3 players or through iTunes and assess their understanding of the given topics with help from their parents if necessary.

The second phase of the project involved pupils publishing blog posts themselves in which they described their learning experiences. These posts were further supported with encouraging comments from teachers and parents alike. It is clear from reading the posts that the pupils greatly enjoyed their French lessons and using technology to enhance their learning.

One pupils writes:

'In French it is fun using the iPods. We get to listen to the French from the computer and do worksheets.This is more fun than doing work in class. French is my best thing at school.'

Susan Buchanan, Principal Teacher at Woodhill Primary School, Fiona Cunningham and Fiona Andrew, from LT Scotland will be describing the project at the Scottish Learning Festival SETT 2006 on 21st September. The title of their session is To Blog Or Not To blog?

It seems to me that this project provides convincing evidence on the value of blogging and podcasting for engaging pupils and making language learning a very positive experience. Comments welcome as always.