Econocast: The production, consumption and distribution of economic pod casts for the K-12 classrooms

The key personnel on this grant proposal have spent the last year developing and piloting the website Econocast (www.econocast.org). We have designed the site to serve as an evolving clearinghouse for diverse approaches to podcasting in the economics classroom with examples of innovative economics-oriented podcasts, a production process guide to assist with the recording and editing process, and a means to host and share teacher- or student- generated podcasts. With Econocast, economics teachers in any grade level are able to request a free account and generate their own homepages that can include one or more podcasts. Users are able to configure and manage their accounts completely online with little technical skill required. Our goal in developing the Econocast site was to minimize the technical barriers teachers may encounter so they may focus their valuable time and energy on what they do best - engaging their students in meaningful, substantive, and hands-on learning of economics. The purpose of this grant is to support additional development of the Econocast Website (www.econocast.org). We would like to expand initial pilot work by funding 20 economics teachers in Kentucky and Virginia to explore podcasting with their students. These teachers will be provided a stipend to attend a workshop introducing podcasting and how to use the Econocast tools and resources and design and implement a podcasting project in their classrooms. The grant project team will provide our partner teachers with the guidance and support to develop effective podcasting projects that can be shared on the Econocast Website for other teachers nationwide. The project will include an evaluation component that will help to promote economics education in K-12 classrooms. Using an online survey, we will better understand how podcasting can a) facilitate economic thinking b) help students master economics content and c) motivate students in their learning. The final focus for this grant is to identif~' and disseminate "promising practices" for podcasting in economics classrooms. By bringing together the developers of the site and classroom teachers, the Econocast Web site promises to be a tool that is easy to use that helps support richer teaching and learning of important economics content.