Podcasts in Social Studies

I teach middle School Social Studies and I can see how podcasts can be a great learning tool for students in my class. First, I could see Podcasts being used to help the large number of struggling readers at our school. Many students do poorly at the assignments because they can't read the textbook. I could read the text to the students and they could listen to it to help them do their assignments. These reading as well as my lectures could also be put in the resource room for the students to have access to at anytime. Another way I could use podcasts in social studies would be to give students an alternate way to express themselves on a test. Some students that struggle with writing could be allowed the option of recording their essay answer on a podcast for a grade. Many students that refuse to write may be motivated by this option. Another way would be to record information for absent students that they could listen to and use to catch up when they return to school. Finally, there are endless opportunities for students to use podcasts to do projects. They could do interviews of famous people, newshows, audio almanacs, summaries, test or section study guides, talks over magazine articles or history stories, opinion on current events, debates are just a few of the ideas I have thought of so far. Students would definetly be excited about podcasts.
Here are some links about Podcasts in Education:

The Education Podcast Network
http://epnweb.org/

Resources for teachers using podcast in the classroom
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/gadgets.html

Podcasting Lesson Plans:
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Podcasting+Lesson+Plans