Podcasting in the Classroom Andrew Alfano Kevin L. Fowler Ryan Wernquist Tara Vander Wielen

What is a Podcast This is a form of audio blogging created by Adam Curry, a former MTV Host, and Dave Winer, the founder of Userland Software It is a digital media file that is distributed over the internet using RSS feeds Podcast files can contain audio or video but also images, texts, PDF, or any file The word Podcast is linked to the iPod because people download podcasts to listen on their iPod Even though podcast is linked to the iPod, podcast can be downloaded to any PC as long as you have some way to listen to music or the audio files

Educational Uses for Teachers Teachers have the ability to communicate the curriculum, assignments and other information to the community or parents Podcasts are extremely helpful for teachers because they can record book discussions, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters, music performance, interviews, and debates

Teacher Uses Teachers are using podcasts to be more interactive in the homes of their students. The parents are able to listen to the podcasts that their children are listening to and understand what they are learning in school Another use that teachers have been using podcasts on teachers.tv teachers.tv is a website were teachers are recorded with audio and a video feed and these episodes are made available for students that are unable to make it to class for what ever reason.

Will Richardson Will Richardson is well-known in the world of blogging and podcasting. He is the author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He also has created a website available for discussions and reflections of the use of podcasts in the k-12 educational realm

Educational Uses for Podcasts How they are helpful for both students and teachers.

Advantages for the Student If the student is: Sick Involved in a school function Absent because of bad weather The teacher can record the lesson and upload it as a podcast so that the student can hear the lesson they missed and no longer worry about falling behind because of an absence.

Podcasts can help ESL Students Many students learning in our school systems today speak English as a second language. Sometimes it can be difficult for an ESL student to fully understand the lesson they are being taught after only hearing it one time.

Welcome to Speedwriting 101 Many students feel the strain of the “speedwriting” competition that a simple classroom lecture can often turn out to be. When a student is trying to write down information while the teacher continues to lecture, it is extremely easy for the student to miss something. A podcast of a lesson would most likely eliminate this problem.

Resources

Creating a Podcast Steps to creating the audio component of your podcast

What you will need…. A computer with internet access Windows 98 or later or Mac OS 9 or X An audio input device (microphone) Audio recording software such as Audacity or GarageBand

Podcast Vocabulary Audio File--a computer file that contains sound Mp3--a type of audio file that is required for podcasting Input device--a way to get information into the computer Software--a computer program File extension--where a file is specifically located on your computer

Recording an Audio File Open a software program for recording audio files (GarageBand, Audacity) For GarageBand, select New Podcast Episode and name your file. Select Male Voice or Female Voice recording by clicking on the icon on the left of the screen Begin recording by clicking the button with the red recording circle in it. Stop recording by clicking the button again.

Recording Tips Speak clearly and enunciate each word. Project clearly into your microphone while being careful not to max it out. Break longer podcasts into multiple recordings to decrease file size.

Saving Your Audio File Click Share, Send Podcast to iTunes Click Advanced, Convert Selection to Mp3. If you do not have Mp3 as an option, you will need to adjust your preferences.

Other Recording Options PC users may prefer to download Audacity audio recorder. Open the program and click File, New Track. Click the red record button to begin recording and click the square stop button to end recording. Save the file as an Mp3 (this will require the download of an additional piece of software the first time.

Publishing Why publish? Server space and how to find it

Step 1 Create a blog for your class –Make sure it supports embeddable xml

Step 2 Sign up for an account on –Free storage space –Limited bandwidth and storage –Terrific publishing options Uploading file – Click My podcast –Then, Post new episode –Import

Step 3—Putting it on your blog In Podomatic’s My Podcast page, click Embedded player and badge. Copy and paste the blog code onto your blog’s html/java script area. From now on, any new episode goes directly to your site!

FYI To see this presentation again and hear the podcast we created while preparing this lesson: Programs used Garage Band