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A podcast can be very difficult for students because they have to use their voice to describe the concept. Students have to be very descriptive of their thoughts in a podcast. It takes good communication skills and critical thinking to get their ideas out to the public.

See my guest blog post on Ditch That Textbook- 3 Way To Incorporate The 4C's Into Any Class.

We currently only have 1 podcast that is connected to iTunes (PLSD Middle School Chats)

-I have multiple teachers use that podcast if they want their students to record publicly. I publish the audio once they are completely finished. (It takes me maybe 5 minutes)

Here are the steps

1. Students have to have show notes first.

-After the show notes are completed they have to get the notes checked by a teacher, me, or some other adult before recording. They take the feedback and make corrections or they are ready to record depending on the topic and group of students

2. We use WeVideo to record- We use the audio feature in WeVideo

-I wanted to use other websites but kept running into the 13 and older issue so WeVideo works great.

-I normally have to train the students and teachers one time then they are good to go after that

3. Students send the audio recording and show notes to me when they finish if they want it to be public

4. I then upload the audio file to podbean and copy and paste the show notes

5. Once it has been published on Podbean I then go to iTune connect and refresh our station

-This takes about 24 hours but once I click the button it is open to the public.

*At first Podbean and iTunes were super confusing to me because I did not know what an RSS Feed was. The reason you need Podbean is to get that RSS field (there are other websites) if I was to do it again I think I would use anchor but since it is set up no point in going back. Once you have your RSS feed you insert the link to itunes it takes 24-48 hours to get approved by itunes. You need a sample audio for itunes this is apart of their approval process. Once its approved you can begin podcasting!

The artwork was annoying because it had to be a certain pixel. But I had my students create the artwork for our podcast.

We currently podcast at the 5th and 6th-grade level. However, anyone can podcast!

My goal is to get a podcast crew and these students would be in charge of scheduling interviews, coming up with questions, topics, and editing the audio but that's been on pause right now due to other things that have come up.