Cool

Saturday afternoon I sat chortling on my couch as Übel Knübel (a teenage boy played by an Evil Knieval figure), flirtatious Gummi-Bears, and a pair of rubber shoes tried to teach me German. This was not the latest in children's progamming on WVIZ, but rather a new podcast from http://www.mygermanclass.com/. The primitive animation and kitsch story lines, were so amusing, and so distinctly German, that I was compelled to watch all 10 episodes at once. Having taken 2 years of German in college (much of which I have since forgotten) I was able to understand most of the plots, and while I am not yet sure if Übel's pet is meant to be a dinosaur, horse or dragon, it was quite clear that he has a freundin named Heidi mit blaue augen—just like me! Those unfamiliar with the language will still be able to follow along, as the "acting" is meant to underscore the meaning of the dialogue.

As I watched Uwe the red Gummi-Bear struggle self-consciously with romance, and young Übel suffer from the bad advice offered by his vater, Übel der Erste (pictured right on my iPod—no wonder he's a bad parent!), it occured to me that, as silly as it was, this was a great example of using podcasting for education. With a clever script, simple props or volunteer actors, and equipment borrowed from the Freedman Center, anyone at Case could create a video podcast. Whether you are teaching a language, demonstrating the use of lab equipment, or reviewing the disastrous results of a particular military strategy, the tools are now available to produce audio-visual aids more easily than ever before. While it might take experience and skill to draw an animation in Flash, almost anyone can talk into a microphone while moving Gummi-Bears around a table. Such videos—produced to achieve specific goals—can offer added value to your website.

Produced by Colorado Online Learning as part of a fee-based German class, the video podcasts are distributed—for free—from http://www.mygermanclass.com/. They are produced in German, with German substitles. Scripts, discussions, self-checks, oral exams, and teacher feedback are available to those who sign up for the course.

For those of you not already familiar with podcasting, I highly recommend Blogs, Wikis, & Podcasts for Beginners, Aaron Schaefer's recent presentation on this subject. Listen to the podcast.