Podcasting: why are there still tape recorders in our school?

Pushing Podcasting!

It’s September.  I’m visiting each grade level over the first two weeks of school and I’m joining in on their planning meetings.  I ask, “Is anyone interested in exploring podcasting this year?”  Heads go down, papers shuffle and finally a brave soul says, “we really liked the inquiry project that you did with us last year.  Could we just do it again?”  No one in my school is producing podcasts.   It is an unknown tool.

I had set myself the goal this school year of becoming a competent podcaster and using it in some way with each grade level.  I kept hoping that our board would offer some basic professional development, some hands-on training or encouraging support to get me started.  I must confess to not knowing much about podcasts. My only experience is as a listener; to instructions and feedback from instructors of on-line courses.  I’ve somehow pictured it as a cross between Robin Williams in “Good Morning Vietnam”

Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam"

and one of my neighbors growing up, who was always down in the corner of his basement on his ham radio. 

This sure looks like my 1976 neighbor.  We were
fascinated that he was talking with people all over
the world!

 I appreciated de Ramirez’s (2010) explanation “a podcast is like a radio show on your computer.  It can consist of one episode or a series of shows connected by a common theme,” (p.49).    Since no training was forthcoming, it’s time to play!

Playing around with podcasting!

As usual I began searching for an understanding of what a podcast was.  The wikipedia definition, “A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication,”  left me feeling that I had no capacity to understand English.  Crane (2009) uses language I can understand, “the word ‘podcast’ combines two words to make a new word:  (1) POD from the well-known music player iPOD or “playable on demand,” and (2) broadcast.  Podcasts are one-way, non-interactive communications,” (p.41).

 

How to Listen:  Since I have an iPod, I decided to begin by listening to a variety of podcasts.  In hindsight this should have been an easy thing to do.  Honestly, anything that takes most people a few minutes seems to take me hours.  I don’t find that I’m intuitive in any way when it comes to knowing what to do or where to click.  For others like me, here are the instructions:



Use an mp3 player like an iPod!

1.       Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes downloaded on your computer.

2.      From the iTunes toolbar click on podcasts (not the podcast listed under your library)

3.      From the drop-down menu select a category (e.g. I chose ‘education’)

4.      Look at the right side and scroll down until you see the ‘More Education’ box.

Click on your area of interest (e.g. I chose K – 12).

5.      Once the K-12 page opens, look in the top, right-hand corner and choose to view

‘all,’ ‘audio’ or ‘video’ (e.g. I chose ‘audio’).

6.       Browse through the podcasts.  ‘New and Noteworthy’ are across the top, ‘What’s

Hot’ is underneath or ‘Top Chart Episodes’ are down the right side.  Click on the icons

or the titles that interest you for a description of the Podcast as well as a listing of individual episodes including the titles and duration, (e.g. I chose ‘Teachers teaching Teachers’).

7.      You can listen to the podcast on your computer, (e.g. I began listening to ‘Maybe we

Dodged a bullet here, but there are nagging issues.’).

8.      You can also download podcasts to your mp3 player.  Make sure you’ve plugged in your mp3 player and simply click on the word ‘free’.  The podcast will download to your itunes library and then will be loaded to your player when you sync it, (I put ‘simply’ and ‘free’ in bold letters because it took me over ten minutes to figure this out!).

9.      Once you’ve found some podcasts that really interest you and you've found the ‘subscribe free’ button, click it.  You will be asked ‘are you sure…?’  Once you click ‘yes’ the latest episode will be downloaded to your iTunes library.  Every time there is a new episode it will automatically be added to your library. de Ramirez (2010) considers this to be similar in many ways to a magazine subscription. 

Now that I was able to listen to and enjoy podcasts, it was time to create one.

Creating podcasts:  This was a steep learning curve.  I needed to produce a podcast and figure out the technical side of it.  I could come up with many ideas and ‘scripts’ to use for a podcast but the technical bits worried me.  I found a multitude of blogs explaining how to podcast, e.g. how-to sites,

but the videos were what really helped.  I needed a visual demonstration to guide me.  The one that I found simple and straightforward was available through YouTube:  Audacity Tutorial for Podcasting by Rob Whiteus.

 

After listening to this straight-forward tutorial I began.  I stayed at work after school and downloaded audacity,  plugged in my microphone and tried a few “testing, testing” samples.  It was important to rely on the video and the audacity help menu to understand what the different audio control buttons and editing tools would do.  It didn’t work.  I don’t know why, (maybe some issue reading the usb mic?) but after twenty minutes of trying different microphones and rereading expert instructions, I gave up and went home.  I tried again at home.  I downloaded audacity, plugged in a headset, clicked the ‘record’ button and tried another set of “testing, testing” samples.  Success!  I could play this recording back.  I leapt right in and began to record instructions for our grade four students who are working on storytelling for the next few weeks in the library.  (insert podcast) Not only did I like the way it sounded I began to realize that I could do a fair bit of editing if I didn’t like a section, e.g. I can use the selection tool to highlight a section of dead air or ums and use the cut tool to delete that particular section.   I realize there are many more tools I can play with like changing the pitch and the speed.  There's still more to learn.

Podcasts, podcasting and my personal life

In my personal life, listening to podcasts could become a favorite pastime.  Although we all have iPods not one family member has been listening regularly to podcasts.  I knew they would enjoy listening to some so I set about trying to find areas of interest for my immediate family members as well as myself.  While I’m loving listening to BrainStuff (where else would I learn how to make my own carbonated water?)  and The Clever Sheep podcast I couldn't help wondering when I would ever squeeze in a bit of listening like this in my day?  Every minute seems to be spoken for.  Then I realized that while I chopped and stirred, trying to get dinner ready each evening, I could drop my iPod in my pocket, stick in an earbud and listen to my heart’s content.  Then I realized, hockey practice was another place each week that had a bit of down time!  After a week of playing with podcasts I’ve subscribed to a few favorites.  Each night as I go to bed I plug my iPod in to our computer and iTunes automatically downloads the latest installments from the podcasts I’ve subscribed to.  The family is getting into it too!  My partner now has subscriptions to: NHLInsider Darren Dreger, Puck Podcast and Prime Time Sports, while my youngest son has explored quite a few but so far has good things to say about Free Magic Tricks and IGN.com Nintendo Voice Chat.

I’m now thinking about my sister and parents and I’m wondering if iPods, preloaded with some favorite music and a couple of podcast subscriptions might be the way to go for Christmas gifts.  There truly is something for everyone:  Market Watch Morning Stock Talk and The Wood Whisperer for Dad, Knitmoregirls and The New York Times Literature podcast for Mom, and a wide variety of music podcasts like Classiscal Performances for my sister.

While I see us becoming great listeners of podcasts, I’m unsure whether we would produce podcasts outside the workplace.  On the other hand, my Dad loves to talk and may find this a new hobby.



Pushing podcasting in my professional life

There are two things I feel I can do to promote the use of podcasts at my school.  “There is likely to be a podcast that relates to almost any topic that is taught in school,” de Ramirez, (2010), p. 50.   One of the easiest ways to introduce colleagues, students and parents in my school community to podcasts is to suggest some to listen to.  For the Kindergarten and primary teachers there are many story-telling podcasts, e.g. Story Nory and The Story Home.  For all grades there are some fun math podcasts, e.g. Mental Math Secrets and The Math Dude:  Quick and Dirty Tips.  In the library I’ll be sure to suggest podcasts like MuggleCast.  For our community SikhNet Stories for Children would be a fantastic recommendation.

Once staff are comfortable with podcasts that can be used as classroom tools, I can then suggest some for professional development, e.g. Literacy 2.0 and Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

Encouraging staff to listen to podcasts will be fairly simple.  Pushing them to produce podcasts with their students has been met with little interest.  In my role as teacher-librarian I will need to be the one to train students and teachers, to show the curriculum links and to develop some way of sharing our work.

Training students:

It's also time to begin creating podcasts with students.  During nutrition break this week my library helpers crowded around the computers recording nonsense using audacity.  Very few books were shelved and I realized that they will figure out the special effects far quicker than I will.  In order to train a school this size, I've decided to use a train the trainer approach.  Each class will choose two students to come in and learn how to create podcasts.  These two will then go back to class and teach two more and so on until everyone has had some training.  There is one problem I'm encountering.  Where do we save our podcasts?  While we can save them to be played from a memory stick the entire concept of conectivity is lost.  deRamirez (2010) points out that "sharing with family" what has been recorded at school is a huge motivator, p. 53.  Our board does not promote the use of blogs however, in an attempt to see how the process would work, I joined Podbean and tried using this as a hosting service.  We picked one student's announcement to play with.  At the same time I posted the questions, "Is your school creating podcasts?  If so, what site are you using to host your podcasts?" on both our library discussion page and the network manager discussion page.  So far I've had no response.   I need to figure out not just where to host them but how to manage the volume that will be created.

 

Powered by Podbean.com

Training teachers:  The first place to start with my colleagues will be to point out how invaluable oral language skills are and the many curriculum expectations that involve oral language skills or presentation skills, e.g.
Gr. 1 oral language :  1.9 begin to identify some of the presentation strategies used in oral texts and explain how they influence the audience (e.g., the use of differences in tone and pitch for different characters in a story);  Gr. 3 media- 3.4 - produce media texts for specific purposes and audiences, using a few simple media forms and appropriate conventions and techniques (e.g. a tape-recorded (should now read podcast) interview with a classmate about a favourite show, toy or game);  Gr. 5 social studies - use media works, oral presentations, written notes and descriptions, drawings, tables, charts, maps and graphs to communicate information about early communities.  Along with specific expectations, any topic can be used for a podcast.

“A podcast can be created on any topic – it is limited only to your imagination,”  (de Ramirez, 2010, p. 51).

Podcasts can also take many forms, e.g. choral reading, chants, poems, songs, presentations, debates, interviews, diaries...  If teachers are stuck for ideas there are many books, e.g. Using Web 2.0 Tools in the K-12 Classroom;   websites about podcasting  and wikis about podcasting  to help them out.

In anticipation of people buying into podcasting our technology committee has purchased 40 microphones as well as one 'EasyspeakPro' microphone which is cordless and can be passed among a classroom.  I need to provide in-service during lunch hours and model the use of podcasts during lessons in the library.  A few simple tools like a podcast of instructions on how to record a podcast and some 'how-to' posters will also help.
Finally, I need to highlight the benefits for our English Language Learners, nearly 70% of our school population.  de Ramirez (2010) states that podcasts are "excellent, authentic listening resources for English language learners,"  (p. 52).  Imagine being able to hear yourself speak as you learn a new language.  Podcasts “provide students with information, aural practice and accent training” (de Ramirez, 2010, p.52).

Videocasts and Webcasts:  Of course it doesn't end with podcasts.  I now need to look into what equipment is needed at our school in order to create videocasts and webcasts.  What sites are open for us to use at school?   Who will our audience be?  Will we only be sharing within a classroom or within our school?  Will we share our work with the world?  If so, how will we promote our podcasts?  I see the possibilities as endless.

Duh!  Of course this post was about podcasting so maybe you'd rather hear me talk about it instead of reading:  Podcast of Podcast Post

And duh again!  Just when I think it's finished and it's looking okay I realize that my cute little headphones from Podbean are not working as I'd hoped and you can't hear our podcasts!  Back to the drawing board.  Here are the Gr.4StorytellingInstructions now saved on archive.org.  The student announcement on bus appreciation may be lost forever.  I need to track down this student and see if the audacity file is saved under her student number.  If it is there's hope.  If not, we begin again!

References

Crane, B. E. (2009).  Using web 2.0 tools in the K-12 classroom.  New York, NY:  Neal

Schuman Publishers.

de Ramirez, L. L. (2010).  Empower English language learners with tools from the web.   Thousand Oakes, CA:  Corwin.

 

Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin.