Podcasting

A fitting end to the Digital Citizenship unit!

Have you ever heard of a podcast before? Wikipedia says that podcasts are:

"...an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices."

In other words, a podcast is like an episode of television for your ears! It's got hosts, segments, and information about a certain subject.

You're going to be creating a podcast all about your experience in learning about digital citizenship. Remember, digital citizenship includes plagiarism, personal and private information sharing, online identity, and cyberbullying. In general, podcasts can be scripted or unscripted; however, I'd like your podcast to be constructed beforehand and not simply improvised.

Here's what your podcast will consist of:

  1. Three separate segments

    • Segment 1: A quick introduction to the podcast and you, the host.

    • Segment 2: Give a tip for two of the different digital citizenship sections. For example, give a tip for avoiding cyberbullying or give a tip explaining what you should or shouldn't share online.

    • Segment 3: Sign off!

  2. A piece of music to introduce the podcast and separate each section (remember the Envelope tool!). A good place to find music is the student music drive. Fade the music in at the very beginning and out at the very end.

  3. Normalization of volume (making sure that one song or segment is not overly loud or soft)

  4. WAV exporting

You can check out how to use Audacity with my tutorial.

Stray Observations:

  • If you finish the project after our in-class time, please send Mr. Alexander the .wav file and not the .aup file. (File -> Export Audio)

  • There's no need to fade in/out your voice, just music.

  • Music should really not exceed 10-15 seconds maximum per break. Move things along and be snappy!

  • Please be sure to use the STOP button and not the PAUSE button. The PAUSE button does not allow you to use any other function until you unpause!

  • Remember, every time you record, you must change the microphone input back to USB Audio Device!

  • Once you save your file and give it a name, do NOT manually rename or move your file! The project will have difficulty finding its components and open incorrectly.

  • As a reminder, here are the papers/videos we checked out for the Digital Citizenship unit:

My example is available at this link, but there are plenty of fantastic podcasts in the world that can get you started on the idea of what a podcast should sound like. Here are just a few of them!:

  • This American Life - A podcast exploring a different niche of America each week. The show always follows a theme, which can be as simple as "Frenemies" or as complex as "The One Thing You're Not Supposed To Do."

  • Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! - A panel of comedians and pundits take a humorous look back at the week's news in a game-show sort of format.

      • Recommended episodes: whatever the current week is! Old news isn't fun!

  • The Truth - A fiction podcast wherein authors write stories and have them fully voice-acted with sound effects and music!