"What Did I Miss?" Podcasting in the Classroom

A common theme that many educators face this time of year is the fact that time is working against them. I was recently in a staff meeting where concerns were voiced over missed instructional time because of snowdays. I ran into a similar concern when I taught AP US History. Any time taken away from my instruction placed more stress on my students to uncover the stated objectives of the course. My colleauge at the time and I looked to technology to address this concern. The result was students taking responsiblity for their learning, with the help of the classroom teacher as a facilitator, and the perfect blending of technology and sound pedagogical techniques.
    We utilized podcasts of our political seminars to address curricular goals. To simply create a podcast of content would be an ineffective use of technology. Instead, we did record our content, but also had times throughout the podcast were students were asked to interact or apply with what was just presented. An example of this can be seen when discusing the Federalists appliation of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Content was deleivered, then students were to analyze docuemnts that were uploaded to our class website. Students were to have downloaded the documents at the same time they accessed the podcast. Within the Podcast we addressed not only content, but also reviewed our expectations for each activity. This way students had a learning experience that they could complete on their own time (we gave a set date that they had to have the activites completed by).  Students appreceiated the fact that they could learn at their own pace, and we as teachers were excited that we were able to spend classtime on other topics or address the topics more in-depth.

How do I Utilize Podcasting Effectively in My Classroom?:

There are a variety of different ways you or your studetns can utilize podcasting. You could make your own, have your students make their own as a performance assessment (imagine not devoting time to presentations, but rather have students upload a podcast that their peers must listen to and reflect on), or utilize premade podcasts. Below you can find my advice when attempting to implement podcasting in your classroom.

1. If you want to create your own Podcast:
            A. Many free tools used to exist such as mypodcast.com; however, many of these sites are now charging for usage, so I suggest using Microsoft Movie Maker. All you need is the software, a script addressing your curricular objectives, and a headset/microphone. While Audacity is popular

do not necessarily like using Audacity because as surprisingly complete Audacity is, it lacks a MP3 encoder allowing you to export your podcast as an MP3. This is important because MP3 is currently the standard format used for podcasts. A developer has made a plug-in that adds LAME MP3 encoding features to Audacity.

          B. Using Window's Movie Maker to Create your own Podcast:

                        i. Open Windows Movie Maker (Start---All Programs---Windows Movie Maker)
                        ii. Connect your headset (if making a videocast, connect your webcam or camera)
                        iii. If simply using audio, click on the microphone at the lower left hand side of your screen (click on Learn More About Narrating the Timeline to learn more)
                        iv. Press Start Narration
                        v. When done with your recording press stop narration vi. You will be prompted to save the audio file. I suggest creating a folder where you store your podcasts.
                        vii. Windows Movie Maker will automatically add your audio to the timeline. You can edit, add text, video, or other media into the storyboard if you would like. At this point you have an MP3 of your Podcast that you can play in Windows Media Player, an MP3 player, or I-Pods.

Keep in Mind When Creating a Podcast/Digital Cast:  Create your Podcast in a quiet area where extracurricular noises will not be recorded  Draft a script of exactly what you will say. This will ensure your cast is well polished and professional.  Ensure you have an opening and closing statement  Test your cast before your post it to your webpage, publish, or distribute.  If students are listening or viewing your cast, you will want to consider supplementary materials. Outlines, guided notes, slides.  Think about making your cast more interactive. Have pauses for students to complete a reflection activity, navigate to the web to find supporting information, or complete a question set. Any well planned out learning activity has students engaged. What are you going to do to engage your students during your cast?

2. Utilize Pre-made Podcasts:

Step 1. Familiarize yourself with evaluation criteria below when looking for Podcasts. The following suggestions should be followed when selecting an effective Podcast for your classroom.
Evaluating Podcasts for Classroom Use :

• As with any resource taken from the web, not all podcasts are created equal. The quality, credibility and applicability to the classroom can vary widely. To assist you in selecting podcasts for classroom use, consider a rating scale that includes five key dimensions. This has been adapted from the Center for Media Literacy's (CML) Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions for Media Literacy.

a. Credibility of Source (e.g., creator is clearly identified, biographical or organizational information and relevant credentials included, time and date stamped)
b. Engagement (e.g., music, humor, images, video)
c. Applicability to Classroom for use with students or as a teacher resource (e.g., appropriate duration, connection to K-12 curriculum, age-appropriate language)
d. Content of Podcast for use with students or as a teacher resource (e.g., accuracy, balanced viewpoint, evidence-based, detailed description of strategies/resources)
e. Functionality of Site (e.g., navigability, transcripts provided, age-appropriate reading level, additional materials)

Step 2: Find a premade Podcast and preview for your own use from sites such as:

•  The Education Podcast Network
• http://epnweb.org/
• The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.
  
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• http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
• Over 50 public radio stations and producers are working with NPR to bring you podcasting 
•  The Gilder Lehrman Institutute of American History


• http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/podcasts/
• A leader in history education, The Gilder Lerhman Institute offers Pod-casts from top academic scholars.
• LearnOutLout.com 


•  http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory
• LearnOutLoud.com hosts over 25,000 educational audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts, and videos
National Public Radio Podcast Collection

Step 3: Create any needed documents needed to implement this Podcast. If you use a Podcast in your classroom, what do you want your students to know and be able to do after they listen to or view the Podcast? You will more than likely need to create supplemental documents (this may include graphic organizers, worksheets, direction sheets, assessments- in short plan your unit/lesson/activity)