Podcasts are audio or video recordings posted to the web with an RSS feed attached. The RSS feed will allow others to subscribe to your podcasts so that they will be notified in the event of new episodes and be able to place that feed into their webpages.
We use Audacity as a program to record the audio needed for a podcast. It is a grea t program for students of any age because of its ease of use. Audacity, much like other recording software, allows the user to record in tracks. Each track can then be modified seperately if necessary to assemble the finished recording. Mistakes and miscues can simply be cut out of the track and effects can easily be added to any portion of the recording without being more difficult than bolding a word in Word. The one caveat to Audacity is that it requires an additional download to save the finished product as an MP3. Once that file is downloaded and Audacity is made aware of its location, no other problems should occur. Directions can be found on the right. Currently, we are using Podcast Machine at www.podcastmachine.com to host our podcasts. It offers 1 GB of free storage and 1 GB of monthly bandwidth. It is ridiculously easy to use and a tutorial is on the right. Edublogs and our teacher websites created in Sharepoint, in the future, have built-in RSS feeds as well as the capability of storing files. Uploading or attaching the finished MP3 to these sites is an easy way to achieve the RSS feed necessary for a podcast. Otherwise, uploading the finished audio file is just that, posting a recording online. The creative process for the students is no different.
Educational UsesTeacher-created
- Assist auditory learners no matter the content
- Differentiate instruction allowing students to listen to and/or create audio based on their needs and interests
- Record feedback for student presentations
- Record your own lecture and classroom discussions for absent students and reflection
- Extend access to content i.e. speeches, songs and foreign language exemplars.
- Support difficult topics with recorded vocabulary or answers to frequent questions
Student-created
- Increase student engagement and interest allowing for greater creativity
- Record observations during science experiments, field trips and group assignments
- Interview guest speakers or peers for book talks, mock talk shows
- Create or listen to audiobooks or book reports
- Create a mock news program or radio show to make a roleplay
- Record narration of a book or essay
- Add narration to a video in Movie Maker, Photostory, or Voicethread
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