I would challenge all teachers to use podcast in the classroom as a reference tool for students. I hear so many students and parents complaining that they forgot what to do on a project, or don't know what is expected of them as far a product or citations go. How awesome would it be if teachers could verbally walk through the entire project on a podcast, this would save so much time for everyone involved. Students could even replay the podcast for a librarian, this would have such an impact on the reference interview that a librarian conducts to identify exactly what a student's needs are.
As a librarian podcast would really come in handy when it comes to promoting literacy. I can enivsion a podcast on reading ladders. How cool would it be to hear a podcast on quest books, and hear about the various books that exist out there that you may not have even heard of. This would definetly help guide students and help out with Readers Advisory. Podcasts would also be a great for book reviews created by the librarian or even students. Who wouldn't like to hear from their peers what they actually thought about a book. The librarian also serves as the go to person for technology in most schools. so it would be awesome if the Tech Tuesdays could be recorded, and turned into a podcast. I know that when I am accessing new technology, it helps to have a guide I can rewind as many times as I want as I am going through the process. This makes learning a lot easier, knowing that you can go through the steps at your own pace.
Below I have reviewed three choices that exist in the podcast world, as well as uploaded the link to a podcast that a teacher could use in her personal classroom.
Podcast Link:
https://soundcloud.com/user-16068941/texas-performance-standards-project-and-double-iim-research-model-and-podcasts
SoundCloud:
This website was very easy to use, and signing up for an account was a breeze. I just logged in with my email, created a name, verified my email, and I was ready to start. I created a podcast and it was very easy to upload. Once uploaded I was guided through the publishing steps, which was awesome. Since this my first podcast using SoundCloud, it was very important that I was guided through the process. With the click of a button I created my podcast, it was very easy. The hardest part of the entire process was deciding what I should talk about on my podcast.
Audioboo:
To start off, I had a hard time finding Audioboo, but after some research I found out that Audioboo had been rebranded as AudioBoom. Right off the bat I was not a fan of this particular site. You can create an account easily, but before you can even create a podcast, it asks you to to give your podcast a title. Hello, I haven't even created one yet, how am I suppose to name it (this was very confusing). So at the same time that you are trying to come up with a title for a podcast that you have not created, they sneak in a disclaimer about your one month free trial. This right here really made me feel like this site was not for me. As an educator, I would not use it in my classroom or library. Audioboo might be a wonderful site when you have a paid subscription, but I believe that SoundCloud and Podomatic can do the same job for free. Audiboo also only allows you to create podcasts that are limited in size. With SoundCloud and Podomatic you can podcast what you need, with out having to worry about squeezing everything into the alotted time frame.
Podomatic:
Below I have is the link to the same podcast that I created above, except this time I did it through Podomatice instead of SoundCloud. I wanted to you guys to see how the same podcast is presented when you use different sites.
SoundCloud:
This website was very easy to use, and signing up for an account was a breeze. I just logged in with my email, created a name, verified my email, and I was ready to start. I created a podcast and it was very easy to upload. Once uploaded I was guided through the publishing steps, which was awesome. Since this my first podcast using SoundCloud, it was very important that I was guided through the process. With the click of a button I created my podcast, it was very easy. The hardest part of the entire process was deciding what I should talk about on my podcast.
Audioboo:
To start off, I had a hard time finding Audioboo, but after some research I found out that Audioboo had been rebranded as AudioBoom. Right off the bat I was not a fan of this particular site. You can create an account easily, but before you can even create a podcast, it asks you to to give your podcast a title. Hello, I haven't even created one yet, how am I suppose to name it (this was very confusing). So at the same time that you are trying to come up with a title for a podcast that you have not created, they sneak in a disclaimer about your one month free trial. This right here really made me feel like this site was not for me. As an educator, I would not use it in my classroom or library. Audioboo might be a wonderful site when you have a paid subscription, but I believe that SoundCloud and Podomatic can do the same job for free. Audiboo also only allows you to create podcasts that are limited in size. With SoundCloud and Podomatic you can podcast what you need, with out having to worry about squeezing everything into the alotted time frame.
Podomatic:
Below I have is the link to the same podcast that I created above, except this time I did it through Podomatice instead of SoundCloud. I wanted to you guys to see how the same podcast is presented when you use different sites.
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/mrsdeleon/episodes/2017-07-21T22_50_49-07_00
Podomatic was very easy to use, just like SoundCLoud the set up was very easy. I did like though that on Podomatic I was able to choose what I wanted my URL to say. I chose MrsDeLeon.podomatic.com, but you can choose whatever you want for the bolded part of the URL. This makes it very usefule when you are using the website in an educational setting. I think people can relate to a site or remember it better if the URL has something familiar to it. In my case, it would be very easy for mystudents to remember my url because it is tied to their teacher's name. I really like how user friendly this site was, and how comments would pop up through out he entire process to help guide me. The site was also very visually appealing to the user, aesthetically I think students will realate to this site because of how it is organized. I really liked that every time you are going to upload a new podcast, it walks you through the five steps and lets you know when have successfully completed publishing. I would recomment this site to be used in classrooms and libraries everywhere.
Podomatic was very easy to use, just like SoundCLoud the set up was very easy. I did like though that on Podomatic I was able to choose what I wanted my URL to say. I chose MrsDeLeon.podomatic.com, but you can choose whatever you want for the bolded part of the URL. This makes it very usefule when you are using the website in an educational setting. I think people can relate to a site or remember it better if the URL has something familiar to it. In my case, it would be very easy for mystudents to remember my url because it is tied to their teacher's name. I really like how user friendly this site was, and how comments would pop up through out he entire process to help guide me. The site was also very visually appealing to the user, aesthetically I think students will realate to this site because of how it is organized. I really liked that every time you are going to upload a new podcast, it walks you through the five steps and lets you know when have successfully completed publishing. I would recomment this site to be used in classrooms and libraries everywhere.
I had trouble finding AudioBoo. AudioBoom came up in my search. But I went with PodBean as one of my three podcasting tools. The ideas you shared as to how to incorporate podcasts in to classroom and library are great advise. I did not think about using it as directions for assignments and projects so students and parents could review it as needed. That would be very helpful. I know as parent I have asked my child to help explain what needs to be done and he can not remember everything.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea on giving instructions that can be replayed in a podcast! Now that I think about it - what a great way to get information across to teachers too. I attend monthly technology meetings where I am supposed to relay the high points of the meeting. Sometimes my principal wants me to do it in a staff meeting that might we weeks away but other time I could easily do this...I don't think they read my emails. :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Kanie... podcasts are definitely underutilized at school. As librarians, we can use podcast for sharing all kinds of information and posts them on our websites for easy access. They certainly make multi-tasking easy since all you have to do is press play and listen... while you work.
ReplyDelete