Increasing Membership through Podcasting

Cycle Two Report

Statement of the Problem

The first project that Tech Club worked on this year proved to be exciting and engaging for a group of girls and boys, including a student on the Autism Spectrum. I modified the way the Club met to provide students with maximized exposure to digital cameras and laptop computers. Students created a large body of work that showed refinement of personal style and growth of knowledge in their use of a digital camera. The students' work was shared at an exhibit during recess and an evening principal's forum that focused on my Action Research and my literature review. Additionally, the students' photos were displayed on the digital picture frame hanging in a hallway at the school, so others may see the students' work. Students who built web pages of their images received a CD of their work, along with the work of the other students. The CD also contained a link to the presentation on the digital photography project that I prepared for the parents so they could access the information when it was convenient for them.

During Cycle One of my Action Research my actions affected girls' participation in Tech Club. Additionally, I was able to provoke and hold the interest of a student on the Autism Spectrum and get him to work with his peers on a project in which everyone was interested. As I moved into the next Tech Club project, podcasting, I recognized that not all projects were suited to all individual students. I emphasized at the beginning of the school year that students were welcome to come and go from Tech Club as their interests dictated. As I transitioned into the next project I realized that I would lose some students who had participated during the digital photography project. However, I also recognized that I stood to increase participation in Tech Club by other students who had seen our work on the digital photography project and who had expressed interest in joining Tech Club when they learned we were not studying technology but creating by using technology.

At my principal forum presentation to parents about the digital photography project, the disappointing turnout prompted me to include a link to the documentation on the CDs that the students took home. This allowed parents access to the information on their time and also promoted the work that we did as Tech Club. I hoped to leverage similar technologies that allowed people to access the content that Tech Club was creating according to their schedule, and to work with a technology that facilitated the retrieval of the work for the end-user. For that reason podcasting and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds were ideal technologies to explore our community and its members and to promote the work that Tech Club was engaged in this year.

The problem I addressed in Cycle Two of my Action Research was how to promote Tech Club's work and to encourage new students to participate in Tech Club. I want to keep participation by girls in Tech Club a focus in my efforts, and to include additional students on the Autism Spectrum in our projects. By using the "push" technology offered by RSS feeds I hoped to get the podcasts onto many community members' computers and mp3 players. I hoped to create projects that engaged both girls and boys. They learned more about themselves, their peers, and their community through the podcast segments that they created.

Cycle Two Question

My research question for this cycle of my Action Research was whether I could promote Tech Club's work through podcasts and RSS technologies. Would this project inspire new student participation in Tech Club and inform parents about the benefits of constructivist, collaborative technology? By leveraging RSS technologies could I get the podcasts onto people's computers? Once they subscribed to the podcast, the aggregator used to capture the RSS feed downloaded new episodes as they became available. The process was effortless for the end user once she or he subscribed, potentially increasing Tech Club's audience.

My Actions, Cycle Two

The beginning of the podcasting project coincided with the conclusion of the digital photography project that was the focus of my Cycle One Action Research. This gave me the opportunity to present the students' digital photographs as well as to further promote our podcasting project. The exhibit of the students' photographs, held in the library during recess, attracted many students who were not in Tech Club and exposed them to the constructivist, hands-on work that we were engaged in this year in Tech Club. Many girls attended the exhibit. Friends of girls who participated came to see the student-produced work. Students were interested in the work that the Tech Club produced, and I hoped that the girls and boys who attended the exhibit recognized that the emphasis in Tech Club was to produce artistic and fun work, not to study computers. Many boys who participated in the photo-taking part of the project but who had not completed their web pages came to the exhibit to see the photos. This type of promotion aimed to increase the awareness about Tech Club this year and to make accessing Tech Club's work as simple as possible.

As I started the podcasting unit in Tech Club I asked some of the Club members to help me promote the unit and get students interested in creating segments for the podcast. Since podcasting is a relatively new media form, I felt it appropriate and necessary to inform people what podcasting was. I used a diagram, published in "Make Magazine," that explained the process of recording, editing, and producing a podcast, all in a single page and informatively illustrated. I created a laminated poster and hung it on the computer lab door, which is near the front entrance of the school. I hoped to inspire some curiosity about the project within the larger community and to inform the Tech Club members about the project that we would be working on by informing people about this new media.

In the lead up to the podcasting unit I informally polled the classes who came to the computer lab. I talked with third, fourth, and fifth grade classes about podcasting. I showed the students an iPod and asked them how many of their parents owned an iPod. In each class nearly all of the students' parents owned an iPod. Additionally, many of the students owned an iPod. I told them that one thing that was more exciting than listening to an iPod was to create content to put on an iPod, which they could do by podcasting. This generated some interest and questions. I assured students that they would not need an iPod to listen to the podcasts but that they could listen to them on their computers at home or on any device that played an mp3.

Next, I created a handbill that could be photocopied two to a page. This flyer contained a photograph of an iPod since iPods are very popular among these students. Additionally, the flyer invited students to create podcast segments. I included information about possible topics: story telling, reading poetry, telling jokes, or interviewing people at our school. These flyers were posted around school and handed them out to students as they came to lunch. Additionally, as we recorded podcast segments I repurposed the flyers. When a student had a meeting time scheduled to record her or his segment, I woite down the time and location on the flyer and gave them a copy as a reminder.

In addition to the flyer a student designed a poster that we displayed outside of the lunch room as students came to lunch. A mockup of an iPod, this poster again tried to build interest in the project through the appeal of the iPod. I hoped this purposefully low-tech approach to promotion might get additional students involved, as they might see that Tech Club was not necessarily all about computers. We used crayons to draw and color in the iPod, and in the place of the menu items displayed on the iPod's "screen" we wrote an invitation for student to join Tech Club, record podcasts, meet new people, represent one's school, tell stories, read poems, or tell jokes, make music, and have fun. The student who worked on the poster recruited some of her friends to assist her. Some of these students had not previously participated in Tech Club, so it was an opportunity for them to participate in a project that helped Tech Club spread information about the podcasting project.

I also downloaded eight episodes of Radio WillowWeb podcasts. These high-quality podcasts were created by students at an elementary school in Kansas and demonstrated how podcasting refined students' literacy and communicate skills. Tech Club had access to four iBook laptop computers. Henry copied the episodes to each computer and loaded them into iTunes. As I promoted Tech Club and the podcasting unit this allowed students an opportunity to sit down with one of the laptops and to listen to episodes to familiarize themselves with the podcast format. I hoped that the topics would be interesting to the students and might inspire them as they worked to create their own podcasts.

I held a series of meetings in the library for students who were interested in creating podcasting segments. I used a template developed by the San Antonio Independent School District's "Scribe" project. However, students were also allowed to generate their own topics. The SAISD templates demand pre-writing, rehearsal, and performance, important objectives of the writing skills that these students developed in the classroom. The templates provided ready-made topics for students to choose and fill out the appropriate information. I liked the templates because they were varied, they emphasized the need for the student to read out loud their segment multiple times to practice for the recording, and there was plenty of room for adaptation as well. I met with the groups of students who chose podcasting segments, even taking time outside of Tech Club's normal meeting time to accommodate each group or individual.

As we finished recording the segments and producing our first episode, I created a flyer that could be emailed or photocopied two-up to explain how to use iTunes on a PC or Mac to subscribe to our podcast. This flyer was photocopied onto color paper. When I needed more copies, I photocopied them onto a different color paper to facilitate tracking how many flyers were being taken. Everyone who worked on the podcast or who was recorded for one of the segments was given one of these. The principal also received a hard copy, and copies were posted prominently around the school. The teachers were all emailed the document as an email attachment. Additionally, I emailed the superintendent to notify her of our achievement. Two of the teachers at the alternative high school where I taught a podcasting class in the fall also received the attachment so they could hear our work and share it with the high school students. Additionally, a stack of the photocopies were placed on the sign-in desk, which every parent who comes to the school signs in and picks up a badge, so they too could be informed. Additionally, I coordinated with the school's web master to post the information about the podcast, as well as a link to the RSS feed and the documentation described above, so anyone visiting the school's web site could also download and subscribe to the podcast.

The release of the first episode of Tech Club's podcast generated interest among the Club members and allowed existing members to incorporate their friends into the project. Most of the new participation came from Tech Club members' friends who they involved in podcast segments. However, participation by members who worked on the digital photography project also remained strong. In order to promote the first episode and build interest for creating additional episodes, I stood outside the lunch room while the students lined up for lunch. The first class in line was a fifth grade class that included one of the performers from the operetta who students interviewed in the first podcast. I brought with me a Juice Box media player with an mp3 of the podcast on it. The Juice Box has a speaker on its back. I played the assembled crowd some of the interview, but I found that the crowd noise drowned out the audio. I invited the students to the library to listen to the podcast during lunch recess. Although this plan failed to attract any new students, it re-engaged a number of Tech Club members who completed the digital photography unit but who stalled trying to create a podcast segment. These students came and listened to the first episode on the Juice Boxes. Interestingly, since I was occupied working with students editing their podcast segments, I was unable to explain to the students how the Juice Boxes play the mp3s. Fortunately, it was quite intuitive. The students were curious why I had a collection of Juice Boxes with headphones plugged into them, and they turned them on. When mp3s are present on the SD cards, the Juice Box gives the user an option to use it as an mp3 player. The students listened to the first podcast episode. Afterwards, some came to me recommitted to create a segment.

As we released podcast episodes I tracked the statistics for the number of times the RSS feed used to subscribe to the podcast had been accessed. In the first week and a half that episode one was available there were 76 "hits" on the RSS feed, indicating that potentially 76 people had subscribed to the podcast. I continued tracking these statistics throughout March and into April. By March 14, 475 people had accessed the RSS feed. By March 26 the number of hits on the RSS feed had climbed to 1363. Two days later, on the 28th, that number had grown to 1496. By March 29th 1559 people had accessed and potentially subscribed to the podcast. While the statistics are reset at the beginning of each month, people's interest in the podcast did not seem to flag. By April 2 another 29 people had accessed the RSS feed. During March I also edited the rss.xml file used by the RSS feed to better interface with iTunes by describing the content, episode release date, and episode length.

At the end of March I also created a new flyer that revised the directions on how to subscribe to the podcast. I wanted to make certain that people were receiving all the episodes that we had released since the original directions did not specify this configuration. These directions instructed people again on how to subscribe to the podcast, but also how to configure iTunes to download all the episodes. I photocopied a stack of these sheets and put a stack at the volunteer sign-in table, as well as posting them around school.

I took any chance that I had to promote the podcasts. Visiting School Board members received the instruction sheets, and I assisted faculty and staff in subscribing to the podcast. Parents who attended the kindergarten open house also received directions how to subscribe to the podcast. Additionally, as mentioned before, the flyers posted around school prompted parents to call for assistance. I was able to help these parents through either a phone call or by email. Students who contributed segments received copies of the fliers to give to their friends and to bring home so their families could subscribe to the podcasts.

I welcomed two more students who are on the Autism Spectrum into Tech Club by recording them singing songs for podcasting segments. One student, who composed and sang his own song, worked with a friend who accompanied on keyboards to record his song. The experience was very transformative because it revealed this student's personality and intelligence in a new way. I hoped his peers and teachers heard him sing in full sentences and reconsidered him as an individual. Additionally, I hoped his teachers provided him with additional opportunities to craft songs and to share this talent. I also recorded a third grade student who is on the Autism Spectrum as he sang a song that a paraprofessional helped him to learn. The paraprofessional spent time rehearsing the song with the student, reinforcing communication skills. This work showcased both of these students' talents and provided them with an alternative means of communicating with their school community.

The Reactions

The podcasting unit was a great success. It drew on the talents of many different students and increased student participation. My actions in Cycle Two built on the successes of Cycle One and allowed for refinement of my construction of Tech Club projects and how I collaborated with students. Students were engaged and entertained by Tech Club's projects that reinforced skills the students developed concurrently in the classroom. The inclusive nature of Tech Club encouraged more girls to join during this project and contribute to the podcasts and involved two additional students on the Autism Spectrum. Additionally, students who were not strong readers felt the confidence and support that allowed them to contribute segments. As in the digital photography unit students were allowed room for choice and opportunities for aesthetic refinement of their product. Statistics also indicate that the pull technology offered by the podcasts' RSS feed has made my efforts at publicizing Tech Club's work successful. I believe that my actions continue to affect positive change in Tech Club.

Cycle Two of my Action Research and the Tech Club podcasting project continued the transition from projects that emphasized technology to projects that allowed students to create by using technology. While students used technology that included laptop computers, a mini-disc recorder, microphones, and audio editing software to produce the podcasts, the technology was fairly transparent in the process. Typically one student was the audio engineer and used the technology while the others focused on the performance aspect of the podcast. The students used technology to produce their podcast segments, but for the majority of participants the technology was not the focus of their activities. Rather, they wrote, revised, performed, and revised by editing the recorded audio to create a final segment incorporated into a larger episode.

Instead of focusing on technology, more emphasis was placed on writing during the podcast project. The SAISD Podcasting Workshop template emphasized the importance of the writing process to produce interesting and engaging podcast segments. Students brainstormed and wrote drafts to develop their work. I emphasized performance in the podcasts. Students practiced reading out loud to rehearse their segments. For students on the Autism Spectrum, and for Henry in particular, who hosted episode three, this emphasis on communication was particularly enriching. Henry was extremely conscious of his tone and enunciation, and took special care to make his voice sound excited so people listening would be excited, too. He revised his recordings multiple times to get a particular word or phrase to sound correct, and he noted when a particular line sounded strange and was able to revise the wording so it was easier to say or sounded more clear to the listener. Building communication skills is very important in educational intervention strategies involving students on the Autism Spectrum. "Expressive verbal language, receptive language," as well as "[s]ocial skills to enhance participation in family, school, and community activities" are educational interventions recommended for children on the Autism Spectrum (Lord & McGee, 2003). This podcasting project offered such opportunities for these students.

The success of the podcast project was also evident by student participation. By repurposing the flyers that I designed to encourage students to help create podcasts, and by using them as invitations reminding students to arrive at their scheduled recording session, I affected the consistency of student attendance. The podcasting project also encouraged girls to participate in Tech Club and fulfilled an Action Research goal. For example, many girls took the podcasting project as an opportunity to collaborate on segments with their friends. Girls oftentimes chose to work in small groups to produce their podcast segments and took turns asking questions in an interview. Girls who had not previously participated in Tech Club attended and produced segments in these groups. Collaboration on podcast segments tended to be within grade levels. However, a group of third grade girls chose to interview two teachers and three fifth graders about their roles in the fifth grade operetta, so the project also allowed for cross-grade collaboration and communication.

Thirty students participated in the podcasting project, either by recording a segment or being interviewed as part of a segment. Seventeen of the students were girls, which made podcasting more popular for girls in this particular Tech Club and proved more popular for girls than the digital photography assignment. Eighteen of the thirty students participated in Tech Club for the first time during this project and joined after the digital photography project. Participation was typically limited to a single episode, but there were notable exceptions. One girl and one boy both participated in each of the five episodes, either by recording a segment, hosting the show, or as an editor, music composer, or recording engineer. Seven students participated in more than one episode, while the rest recorded only one segment. The podcasting project was particularly popular with third grade students in the Club: nineteen of the thirty students were third graders. I believe the participation by eighteen new students served the important purpose of including students in Tech Club projects and promoting Tech Club's work as well.

This project also included more students on the Autism Spectrum in Tech Club. Two students sang songs. One of the students wrote the song he sang. Allowing these students an opportunity to perform and showcase their talents and interests was extremely rewarding for me. I hoped these students felt successful with their performance, too. Henry's abilities with GarageBand, the application with which we produced the podcasts, proved to be very beneficial. He helped to record, edit, and produce the episodes. Furthermore, this student helped other students to gain skills with the software that he understood. Henry was more willing to let others work with the software without taking over the computer and offered suggestions as to how they might better utilize the computer application. Henry advanced his social skills and refined his peer interactions, another intent of my work with this student. As an audio recording, the podcast proved to be an ideal medium in which to work with students on the Autism Spectrum who enjoyed singing and composing music and lyrics. This project capitalized on these particular students' strengths and allowed them opportunities to demonstrate their proficiencies and talents. Henry also benefited from the social and communication skills he refined in this project. He was very conscious of the way his voice sounded on the recording and took multiple takes to make sure his enthusiasm came through in the recording, that his voice was clear and easy to understand, and that the pauses in his speech were not too long or short. Each of these skills is very important to develop in a student on the Autism Spectrum and his work shows the refinement of his social skills and his conscious effort to improve his communication skills. These students shared their abilities and communicated with their peers and the larger community in ways that many might not have realized possible.

An interesting pattern emerged during the production of the second podcast episode. Despite several students' difficulties with reading, they continued to participate and created podcast segments. I worked with two boys who had difficulty reading. One student used an SAISD template to present facts about lions, our school mascot. Starting at school with me, we used the internet to research lions. The student completed additional research at home and found a different web page that contained information that interested him. He printed the web page and selected the facts that he wanted to share. He was supposed to rehearse reading the facts out loud so we could record him. While he did an excellent job in his recording, I think he might have benefited from having structured time with me or with a peer to read out loud and to practice some of the more difficult words that were in the sentences that he chose. We read through the script twice prior to recording and as I said, he did a great job. However, to improve my actions I would provide him with more of my time to listen to him read and rehearse his performance.

The other student had an equally difficult time reading but remained committed to producing a podcast segment. He used an SAISD interview template and questioned his teacher to find six facts about her that he used to develop questions for an interview. With the lessons in mind from the first student, I approached the student's teacher and asked if there was some time during the day when he could rehearse reading his questions to me. When I explained the plan to the student he became a little defensive. He explained that he had taken the questions home and had rehearsed them. I suggested it might be a good idea to rehearse a little more, but this made him anxious. I asked if he had already rehearsed and he said he had. Perhaps I over-compensated. Instead of pressuring the student and causing more anxiety, before we recorded I asked him whether he thought he could benefit from more practice. He decided that he wanted to rehearse it with me. He read through his list of questions once and did an admirable job. I played the role of his teacher and supplied answers. One suggestion I had for him was to try to draw out his teacher's answers: if he found something interesting, like the fact that his teacher went skydiving, he should try to get her to talk about it more as in-depth coverage makes for good podcasts. This particular student became one of the best interviewers in Tech Club. He listened carefully to the person who he interviewed and asked clarifying questions based on the person's responses. Podcasting helped strengthen this student's reading skills and developed in him interview skills. He also created a second interview segment for a later episode.

Tech Club projects continued to offer students choice in the work they produced. The project also provided students opportunities for aesthetic refinement While the podcasting project was built around the use of the SAISD Podcasting Workshop templates, students were allowed to create segments of their own. For the first episode two third grade girls produced a segment about the Haida artist who worked with the third grade classes to carve canoe models. Their classmates asked the artist the questions that the two girls wrote. Another group of three third grade girls created a podcast segment about the fifth grade operetta and interviewed two teachers as well as three of the fifth grade actors. Henry chose to create a music composition in GarageBand that he shared in an episode. Students were not committed to using the SAISD templates and were afforded opportunities to produce segments on subjects that interested them, such as the Jump Rope for Heart segment produced by a group of third grade girls.

Interviews proved to be the most popular podcast segment. Students enjoyed asking questions of one another, of faculty and staff at their school, and of visitors to their school. I believed that the interest in interviewing members of the community built relationships between students and the community. Students in different classes worked together to record and produce their segments. Other students like Henry and his friend who sang interacted and worked together on their communication and social skills.

The podcast segments allowed students an aesthetic outlet for their creativity by enabling them to develop segments on topics that related to classwork, interests, or hobbies. Whether it was composing a song, interviewing a teacher, or hosting a podcast episode, each student put her or his personality into the recordings.

Tracking the statistics on access to the podcasts' RSS feed confirmed the emails I sent, flyers I posted and distributed, and the podcasts themselves successfully promoted the work of Tech Club. During a four-day period at the beginning of April the feed was accessed 102 times. During the month of March, when the majority of the episodes were released, there were nearly 1600 requests for the feed. With a school population of around 450 students, clearly the word about our work spread among the community. I did not list the RSS feed with any services, such as feedburner.com; instead I promoted Tech Club's work to the local community, to members of other schools in the district and to people at the administration building. Therefore, the number of requests for the RSS feed is quite important because it proves that I successfully promoted Tech Club's work to the local community as well as to the extended community when students shared their work with parents and grandparents.

Answering my Cycle Two Question

Would the Tech Club podcasting project inspire new student participation in Club and inform parents about the benefits of constructionist, collaborative technology use? My actions during this Action Research Cycle increased participation in Tech Club from twenty five students to thirty. The inclusion of eighteen new students in Tech Club exposed more students to the constructionist projects in which Tech Club was engaged this year. While I was not able to retain all the students who participated in the digital photography project, other students new to Tech Club replaced them. This turnover was acceptable. I anticipated at the beginning of the school year that not all Tech Club projects would engage every student. Students did not need to participate in every project but instead were allowed to attend as their interests dictated. The podcast project also afforded me the opportunity to invite two more students on the Autism Spectrum to record a segment. Their work showcased their singing and song writing talents and hopefully exposed their classmates to a different side of these individuals. Parents were also interested in the podcasts. The flyer prompted a parent to contact me by email about the podcasts, and I was able to explain to him the purpose of the podcasts and the subject matter. Based on our conversation he decided to share the podcast with his first-grade students. Another parent with whom I spoke on the telephones intended to use the podcasts as an example for a media unit she was teaching with first-grade teachers. Parents signing in to the school continued to take copies of my instructions for subscribing to the podcast. Podcasting involved students and interested parents, one goal of my Cycle Two Action Research.

Was I able to get the podcasts onto people's computers by leveraging RSS technologies? Tracking access statistics for the RSS feed that people used to subscribe to the podcast indicated that there were nearly 1600 distinct "hits" on this file during the month of March, with access in April continued at a favorable rate of over 100 hits during the first four days of the month. I continued releasing episodes knowing that people would continue to be exposed to Tech Club's work without any further intervention. Parents, faculty, and students were all excited about the work that Tech Club produced in their podcasts. Many people continue to listen to the podcasts and congratulate Tech Club for their hard work and the informative and entertaining product that they release. Leveraging a technology that allowed the user to subscribe to the RSS feed made this possible.

Reflection

Like the digital photography project, the podcasting project enabled students to share their visions of the world. The opportunity to work with a different group of students on a project where technology was de-emphasized allowed me to continue tailoring Tech Club projects to be inclusive and equitable. Working in small groups to record the segments allowed students who were interested to take on the technical aspects of recording, editing, and producing a podcast, while the actual process of recording a podcast could also be approached by students who were not interested in learning how to operate the application or computer but who wanted to contribute their writing or interview to the podcast. I believe that the success of this project was in part because of my ability to work with the students in small groups or one-on-one to record and produce the segments. While we had full Club meetings, the majority of the work was completed in very small groups. This allowed students equitable use of the computer and software and also allowed each to refine her or his skills. The inclusion of two additional students on the Autism Spectrum was for me a highlight of the podcast project. Sharing the talents and skills of these two students was very important to me.

As the students continued working on Tech Club projects some established themselves as leaders. One girl in particular became very involved with the podcasting project and took on production responsibilities, helped to record other people's segments, edit the audio, and produce completed episodes. Henry continued to be an invaluable contributor to Tech Club because of his prowess with the software and his willingness to work to perfect each segment on which he participated. These two students demonstrated leadership through their technology use. As I moved into Cycle Three of my Action Research I considered how my actions empowered students through their use of technology. The podcasting unit was an excellent primer for these students to further develop their skills with technology, their story telling ability, and the ability to share their work with their peers and the larger community.

As I moved into Cycle Three and worked with students to create movies I took the lessons I learned in Cycles One and Two and applied them to my work. Small groups that worked on hands-on projects were very successful in meeting goals. Giving students choices while they created their work encouraged participation. De-emphasizing the primacy of technology in projects makes the activities more enticing to girls. These lessons guided my actions in Cycle Three as I worked to conclude my Action Research this school year.