Grammar Girl Podcast Use

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx
As you can see from my blog, I do see some value in using podcasts to present information to students. Sending out a podcast is a little more personal than an email, and I think that gives the information a little more personality, especially for an online class. However, in this podcast, I'd like to focus on Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

A few years ago I had heard Mary Verbout talking about this podcast. Then a few months later, I was participating in the National Institute for Literacy listserv and heard other instructors talking about podcasts for our GED students. I then started wondering why I didn't make these available to my students. I emailed the link out to the class and encouraged them to save the link and to begin listening to these as a way to study for the GED exam. I have no data to prove how many of the students actually watched the videos or how much they improved their Writing score on the GED exam, but I did feel good about making these avaiable.

Now as I am teaching English classes for Yavapai College, I do put the Grammar Girl RSS feed link into all of my Composition classes under the External Link button in Blackboard. I let the students know it is there at the beginning of the semester and encourage them to listen to these on a regular basis. I still haven't assigned them, but I do think that is the next step I should take. We could have a brief quiz on one of these assigned podcasts when students return to class, or I could assign the one that goes along with the chapter they are reading for homework.

I could even take the last ten minutes of class each week to have students listen to the Grammar Girl podcast of their choice. My challenge for this is in getting headphones for all of the students. Perhaps that is something the college can do. Or perhaps I should take the students to the Learning Center for this activity. I believe they may have headphones. Amy and Lori? What do you think??