Introduction+--Jingzhu

Introduction
====The ever connected and intertwined world is challenging our understanding of the roles of teachers and students, and the principles of delivering and obtaining knowledge. The new generation of students are surrounded by emerging technologies in their personal lives. How they search for the information they are interested in and how they enjoy entertainment and relaxation are shifting the definition and pedagogy of teaching and learning. Richardson (2009) observed, “obviously, these changes create all sorts of challenges for educators, challenges to the educational system as a whole, and challenges to the traditional roles of teachers in the classroom” (p. 136).====

==== As teachers, we question the traditional confinement of teacher-student-classroom setting. For students, they start challenging teachers’ authorities by demonstrating their short-attention spans and less engagement in classroom activities. The big shifts summon us to reflect on our teaching methods and the integration of technologies. Content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge are not the only elements of a successful and effective teaching model, technological knowledge becomes the third and unavoidable component. TPCK (Technological pedagogical content knowledge) is the new framework for teacher knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).====

====Since 2004, among the various instructional and educational technologies, podcasting is popular and well-used in K-12 education and post-secondary education (Gribbins, 2007). According to Wikipedia, a podcast is “a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication”. The phenomenon started with teachers posting their lectures as podcasts, so students could download and listen to repeatedly at their disposal. It evolved later into students’ creativity domain. Students became the major force of producing podcasts on what they learned and what they were exploring. The advantages of this reality appear to promote student-centered learning and collaborative learning (Huann & Thong, 2006).====