Podcasting 101

Podcasts
Podcasting can be a great way to reach a larger audience and expose your students to new media in their learning experiences. Simply put, podcasting is audio, text, video or any mixture of the three that is created and broadcast via the Web. Generally if a person is going to podcast, they are saying, "here is something I think you should know...so subscribe to me, because I'm going to post more in the future." Here is a video that explains this visually from the Common Craft Show.


Blogs
This week, I learned that podcasting can also be text-centric. An example of this would be a blog. A blog to me means a broadcast log. It's a place to "podcast" ideas that you think others may be interested in.

Uses
There are many classroom uses for podcasting. I have seen podcasts from classrooms around the world. Some examples of uses include:

1. book reviews
2. news reports
3. special event reporting
4. analyzing text
5. movie reviews
6. reflections
7. journal entries
8. storytelling

The list could continue as far as the imagination could take it. It's really up to the creativity of the user. Podcasting has opened up a new arena for creative expression. I know what you are thinking, "So what would it look like in my classroom?"

Here are a couple of links to schools that are using podcasts successfully.

• Mrs. Thornton's 6th grade Podcasts
• http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/wdmontm/Thornton/pod.asp
• Allanah's Appleby Showcase (I embedded their podcast on the sidebar)
• http://allanah.podomatic.com/

Jing Screencast of Voicethread.com

Students have a voice!
Voicethread.com is a great site for educational purposes. According to the Website,

• A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or phone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.
• Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded on web sites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs as archival movies.
• With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install (Voicethread, 2009).

Classroom uses
As you view this screencast, think of ways you could use this Web tool in your classroom. One teacher featured in this voicethread has used it in her Isreali classroom to communicate with a sixth grader in the U.S.

Another teacher used Voicethread.com to display her kindergarten artwork. Her students recorded a poem to go with each piece of art using the audio microphone recording feature.

What are you waiting for?
So set up an account today and begin using this powerful educational tool. It's free, it's easy, and it's happening right now! Click the fullscreen button on the bottom right corner to view in fullscreen mode.

VoiceThreads are still here!

Don't forget that VoiceThreads are still an effective way to share classroom projects and ideas via the Web. There are many great example of classrooms using this Web 2.0 tool if you visit the site. Here is an example of how a kindergarten class used their FREE Voicethreads account to share pictures.

Free software - Week 3 reflections

This week we had a great discussion on how the availability of free software is changing how we teach and learn.

I was surprised at the varied and vast resources teachers are already using. I've picked up a couple of new sites by reading teachers' posts. There are several I am going to put in my tool belt.

FREE!

• zamzar.com - free file conversion up to 100mb. It will convert dang near anything to anything!
• http://school.nettrekker.com - what a great seach engine for teachers. search by grade level, subject, format, media. Every search item has been review and appears to be a quality product.
• Photostory 3 - this has to be my all time favorite software for slideshow production for the elementary level. I comes with basic photo editing, transitions, narration, text captions, and you get to create your own music! It automatically puts in a Ken Burns effect as it renders. The default file format is WMV.
• sourceforge.net - this is your one stop shop for free software online.

I also realize that this is just the beginning of free software availability. I predict that most or all software will someday be free, at least there will be a free version of it for download. Just as a few years ago only those with programming know how could create a website, and now there is software to do it for you, there will be software available to create new software or interactive programs. We will see Joe the Plumber creating interactive videos and content on how to fix the kitchen sink! We are not far from this idea now. It's just going to take a little more time.