Podcasting

= ﻿PodCasting =

What is It? How do I Use it?
A Podcast is a very simple concept – an audio or video file that is available on the internet to watch or listen to. You can listen to these on your computer or on an MP3 player. Creating a podcast is fairly easy and inexpensive. All you need is an internet connection and audio recording equipment. This is what makes them a great educational tool! Once your content is recorded, you only need to place it on a website and instruct listeners to “click here to listen”. There are three stages to creating a podcast: 1. **Recording:** You will need a microphones and recording software, such as Audacity(cross-platform) or GarageBand(Apple) to record your sound file. 2. **Publishing**: Once you have created your audio file and saved it, usually in mp3 format you need to upload it to a webserver. 3. **Publicizing:** Having created your podcast and uploaded it to make it available to potential users you need to provide a way for users to access your files. This may be as simple as providing a link from an existing webpage or more complex, such as creating an rss feed document which will allow users to subscribe to your podcast.

**Uses for Podcasts in Education**

 * provide students and parents with information on school events special happenings, such as closings.
 * a teacher, you can use them to provide absent students with the content of the day’s lessons.
 * Teachers can also find episodes on relevant topics for students to listen to or watch. Laptops, MP3’s, netbooks, or other devices can be used at a student’s desk, on a fieldtrip, or at home. Imagine you are studying the Amazon, a teacher could find a podcast offering important, educational information on the topic, such as this story from [|NPR]. This way, students are not just reading a textbook, they are experiencing a subject.
 * Incorporating current events and commentary into lessons
 * Curriculum/Lesson for students - because podcasts are fairly easy to create, these can become a way for students to express themselves. Maybe they decide to create a reoccurring podcast on school events or news. The students themselves can write a script, produce, record, and publish the podcast.
 * Students are able to create a product to share with a potentially world-wide audience. Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product. The process of putting together an audio recording is extremely valuable and is certainly a cross-curricular experience.

Replacement Ideas and creating more engaging Learning Experiences
v Regarding podcasts as a convenient form that allows educators to deliver multiple types of media represents a better conception of the technology than simply thinking of it as an archival tool for recorded lectures. In other words, podcasts should be recognized for their ability to provide supplemental, additive content to the educational process, not just for serving a replicative function.
 * Podcasts can replace the traditional CD or cassette tapes for listening activities.
 * Provides students with “real world” experiences without having to leave the classroom.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Creating podcasts gives students meaningful purpose and motivation since their product has a real-world audience.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ELL students can listen and read along to books/stories – can help with pronunciation, listening, and reading skills.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Creates an interactive learning environment by providing an authentic and public audience for the product
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Supplements textbooks – brings the subject to life for students!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students can be engaged in lecture/content acquisition on their own timetable.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Resources **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">This article from the [|New York Times]illustrates just how IPods/Podcasts can create an entirely new learning environment. A district in New Jersey, with a large English language learner population, decided to hand out IPods to ELL students to increase their vocabulary and grammar by listening to English music. Other schools are using them in language classes, preloaded with French/Spanish-English dictionaries. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Teachers and administrators are finding that using new technology is a way to connect to the students. It creates a more interactive learning environment, which keeps kids more engaged and active in their learning.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Additional Websites and Resources: **
· <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] (Podcasts in ESL classrooms) · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[]

Replacement Ideas

Some science teachers have been experimenting with the use of podcasts in place of class lectures. By assigning the podcast lecture for homework, these teachers can spend most of their class time applying the concepts and practicing the skills introduced at home by the podcasts. //*this is anecdotal, find and link this group or research//

If there aren't podcasts created by educators about news in education, there should be //*search for these//