Blog Post 4 - Podcasting

I learned a lot about podcasts from reviewing the assigned materials. Before this, I had heard the word “podcast” before but I did not really know what it meant. Most podcasts we looked at for this class were audio, but they can also contain video. They provide a chance for students to work together on collaborative storylines and other assignments. Students can record individual audio segments and put them together into one radio style broadcast. Students get excited about making podcasts and it gives them a chance to be creative.

One of the things about podcasts that really remind me of the old radio shows from the 1930’s and 40’s is the sound effects added for emphasis and engagement of the listeners. There is also a need to use voice acting, like when you read a story to a child. Students get a chance to be engaged in project-based learning and this gives them a greater understanding of the material. They probably take on more personal responsibility for making sure the information is correct and entertaining since they know anyone could listen to it as opposed to it just being graded by the teacher and forgotten.

The fact that you can download a podcast to your computer or a portable listening device makes it wonderfully versatile. I always wonder where they are getting the music from in the background. I know there are copyright issues involved, but they always seem to have good music. I also think it’s wonderful how you can make one with someone anywhere in the world using Skype. It is also interesting podcasts are now used to download study materials, like Cliff notes and ESL classes. And, I had no idea you could subscribe to podcasts like a magazine. The world is really changing and it is an exciting time to be alive!

Below are 4 of the assigned websites I spent more time researching.

Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom

The first thing I wanted to do on this site was find out what ICT and MFL stood for because I was clueless. It took a few minutes, but I finally noticed right under the website title it says MFL is modern foreign languages. But I could not find anything explaining ICT. When I did a Google search, I came up with several websites defining the acronym as, “Information Communication Technologies.” That sounds about right.

The website title is a little misleading because it offers much more than just information about implementing technology into foreign language classes! There are some really great podcasts and videos explaining all the wonderful ways technology can enhance a classroom. One really great idea is to use podcasts to help students who miss a lot of school. Teachers who load their daily lectures on their website allow students who are home sick to access the lesson when they feel up to it. This keeps both the students and teachers on track because trying to update students on everything they missed in a class session can be difficult. And, it provides accountability for both. Parents and administrators can access the lessons to see what’s going on in the classroom. The podcast lessons can also generate discussion within a student’s family on what they are studying, which helps them absorb the information and have great quality time with their family.

I could go on and on about this site, but instead I’ll just point out a couple more useful things I learned exploring it. Joe Dale offers excellent resources to help people learn about podcasting, Audacity, Garageband and other technology tools. He also provides great examples how to use them. When you start podcasting a lot, using headphones can be helpful because you can hear exactly what is being recorded, including background noise. This is a website we should all bookmark!

Practical Principals

This is an interesting website. I have never explored one like this before. It contains podcasts created by an elementary school principal in Missouri and a high school assistant principal in Northern Colorado. They discuss a variety of topics, including workshops they attended. They use Skype to create their podcast and the episodes sound like a radio talk show. One of the best things about it is the way they offer links that outline what they discussed and take you to websites related to the discussion. They also offer a Twitter feed for listeners.

The principals offer access to their podcast episodes through iTunes. You can access all their episodes, download them for future listening, or subscribe to them so you get the new one “delivered” to your account as they come out. I really had no idea all this was going on! They also have a podcast feed available where any podcatcher can access their shows. What’s a podcatcher you might ask? Well, I did. Apparently it is a software program used to download podcasts through RSS or XML feeds. Some can even download video, newsfeeds, text, and pictures. And, some can even be set to automatically transfer received files to a portable media player! I cannot even imagine what future technology will be able to do.

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better

I am definitely one of those people who only use my iPod to listen to music. I did use it once to show my family some digital pictures I put in it, but that is it. This article describes a multitude of fabulous ways it can help students. There are study guides, summaries, flash cards, language guides, and test preparation materials available. You can get and learn about music from around the world. You can even get the King James Bible downloaded to your iPod for free! There are educational games and videos, tutorials on a variety of subjects, user guides, and lesson plans. You could spend your whole life discovering all the wonderful things available. I never knew my iPod could do all that!

There are also applications available to make your iPod do new things. There are ways to make it read your computer documents, like notes and presentations. You can convert DVD’s and other formats to an iPod friendly format. It can even help you find the nearest public Wi-Fi hotspot. I am sure glad I kept my stock in Apple! Handheld devices are definitely the future of education. It may take awhile for public education to take advantage of this technology, but there is no way it won’t find it’s way into our classrooms. Of course, it’s already there. If we can show our students how to make it a useful educational tool there will continue to be endless possibilities. It sounds like the iPod is doing for computers what Wii Fit did for video games…making a product that seemed like nothing but an entertainment device into a fabulous, fun way to improve ourselves.

EPN: The Education Podcast Network

This is definitely another website to bookmark! It contains podcasts created by students and educators from all over the world. It offers a terrific, short explanation of what a podcast is and one of the best quotes I’ve heard in a long time, “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 people” (David Weinberger). I can see now this is a true statement. The Internet and all the technology it inspired have made the world a smaller place and teachers need to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities it offers. On this site, I listened to high school students from Bangladesh debating censorship of the Internet, interviews of 5th grade students by their peers in Australia, and a historical docudrama performed by middle school students in Wisconsin. The podcast seems like a great learning tool for students and I hope I can learn to implement them in my future classroom.

There is also a subject specific podcast section. Listening to these can give you some great ideas on what you can do with your students as well as what you might want to do yourself. You can listen to these podcasts or explore websites that are linked with where you can see video and pictures associated with the podcasts. Some of the podcasts wouldn’t play and I never figured out why, but the ones I listen to were well worth visiting the site. They even offer a place for you to suggest podcasts you think should be on the site.

Curriki Podcast Collection

One of the great things available on this website is a list of things to keep in mind when creating podcasts with students. I will list them here because they are important to point out for us “newbie’s”:

1. Make sure you spend enough time learning Audacity (or the software you use) to feel comfortable with it
2. Give students a choice of topics
3. Let students pick the people they want to work with
4. Include a list of criteria for research
5. Allow plenty of time to complete the project. Everything takes longer than you think it will!
6. Invite the principal, department chairperson, or some other person to come in and see the presentations. Students will be very proud of their work.

This is great advice. I especially relate with the one about how everything will take longer than you think it will! That is the biggest problem I see with implementing technology in the classroom. You have to figure out a way to fit it in and with all the testing requirements it will be hard to do. There is a great timetable for teachers on here, but it shows using 17, 42 minute class periods for creation of the podcasts and it can be difficult to find that sort of time.

The other thing I really love about this website is the rubrics. It can be so hard to come up with a fair grading system when you are just struggling to figure out how to get your class to create their first podcast so it is nice to have someone who knows more about how it works provide this for you. There are even student work examples to share with your class so they get some ideas of what’s expected. This is a perfect website to help you plan your first classroom podcast experience.