Podcasting is something that I have been reluctant to do since I became familiar with MP3 players, such as iPods. I own an iPod and only use it to listen to music. If I wanted to hear someone banter on, I just turn on the radio. Podcast.com described podcasting as a "buzzword". It seems that technology creates numerous buzzwords. Once, "internet" was a buzzword and now it is part of our everyday vernacular.
One thing I found interesting is that PODcasting is actually an acronym. Personally, I thought the word podcasting originated from the shortened form of iPod. Now I realise that the POD in IPod is actually an acronym itself. According to the website, POD is actually short for:
Portable
On-Demand
While, 'cast' is just short for a form of broadcasting, the same way that a radio or TV show is broadcast to your set. WOW, you learn something new everyday.
Again, the Plain English Series helped explain Podcasting in an excellent way. Podcasting In Plain English listed three reasons why PodCasting is excellent. The great thing about it is that you can take it where ever you want.
Vodcasting is something I 'sortof' did with my kids last term for my grade partner and I's Multimodal Project. We didn't upload them to any podcasting site like iTunes but uploaded them onto the blog to share with the school in Korea that we were communicating with. The kids really enjoyed the project. We didn't need to buy any fancy equipment for it either - we just used digital video cameras and Microsoft Movie Maker. The school had some Apple Macs however there are only a few. We are planning to use the Macs this term to create Claymations instead.
I explored the site Podcasts in Education and was reminded about a staff development afternoon I attended last year. The session was on Audacity, a free audio editor and recorder. This is great for making podcasts with. The gentleman who ran the workshop mentioned the value of students recording essays, stories, etc - in fact anything that could normally be written. This is excellent for those students who find verbalising their ideas easily but find writing quite difficult. Why not allow them to speak their thoughts rather than write? Writing does not need to be completely obliterated from the curriculum with these new technologies. For the videos my students created last term, they needed to research by writing questions and taking notes. Once they had completed the research, they were required to write a script for their video using their information. From the script, cue cards were written to assist those students who had difficulty recalling and memorising the information. Students had more confidence talking in front of the camera than they would have speaking in front of their peers. Best of all - they stayed on task throughout the entire project!
I decided to do the Optional Challenge as I already have iTunes installed on my computer and I use my iPod regularly. One thing I tell EVERYONE to do is to disable automatic syncing. Automatic syncing automatically makes your iPod identical to your iTunes library. Some people may like this, but if you are like me and have some songs at a different location to your iPod then it isn't a good idea to have automatic syncing on.
I explored the ABC Online website and decided to download a podcast from Dr Karl about aliens, thinking that I could use it in class as we are basing our narrative unit on Science Fiction. I downloaded the mp3 to my computer and opened iTunes ready to add it to my iPod. I didn't count on my iPod suddenly dying, resulting in a full system reset and software update! So I decided to just listen to the podcast while slow downloading 6 gigs of music occurred.
Dr Karl in the background, I explored the websites on Activity 3. I already have a YouTube channel, AlethiaSuntainia, and I have uploaded some of my own videos of ridiculous behaviour with family and friends, and of concerts. Some of the other links are educational institution's YouTube channels. I have been aware of TeacherTube for some time, however find more valuable resources on YouTube. I find Google Video also excellent, as it consolidates many video sharing sites.
(OK, Dr Karl has sent me to sleep right about now, so on comes the music again. Ciao Dr Karl!)
The Literacies for a New Age video is a wonderful fable. It makes me wonder how, once books replaced slates, the teachers of 100 years ago would have coped with such rapid changes in technology. Changes in educational technologies are very quick. Just as educational institutions are providing professional development for Technology A, Technology B comes in and Technology A is now obselete. I remember trying to encourage my siblings, who are four years younger than me, to go to the local library to do research rather than rely on the Internet. Teachers must be prepared to embrace change rather tahn shun it in order to keep students motivated in the classroom.
Hopefully by the end of the term I'll post up some of my students' claymations to help demonstrate how wonderful digital storytelling is. On a final note, to create a video like the Literacies for a New Age video, you just need Microsoft Movie Maker or Photostory 3 and a microphone. Kids can even do this at home!
Happy Podcasting!
A
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