Never was I more convinced that a topic would be easier. After tackling media previously in the course that I was unfamiliar with, I believed! YES! This is just like the audio recording of my past. I knew that if I just found an MP3 player, I could do this, just like I did in the 1980’s when I created listening stations. How could I go wrong on this one? I knew it was a useful learning tool; heck, I have dome it all before.
Or so I thought.
Once again, my mind needed expansion. I was back in the analog age but the digital Web 2.0 world is not just about production, but about publishing. I had felt somewhat prepared for digital audio recording as I had created clips for my Glogster presentation, so I had figured out how to use an MP3 player. I’d even figured out how to download the sound bites into the computer and upload them onto Glogster, all helping to build my false sense of competencies.
Chris Kertz in “Podcasting in Libraries”, Library 2.0 and Beyond (2009, Nancy Courtney, ed) quotes the New Oxford American Dictionary, defining podcasting as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player”. Kertz states that it is the RSS feed that defines a podcast.
Kertz notes that podcasting was the word of the year in 2005 (other contenders… bird flu and persistent vegetative state) … a mere five years later, it is still an emerging technology however it has made huge inroads in peoples listening and learning modalities.
Podcasting in Plain English, like all the common craft videos, provided yet another excellent succinct explanation of how podcasts are used.
The trailfires, including, appropriately, podcasts, walked me step by step through many parts of podcasting.
Kertz in Library 2.0 and Beyond was detailed in how podcasts can be utilized in an educational setting. From library instruction to booktalks to professional development, the ways that podcasting can be used spans the range of the tasks we do in school libraries. It is a tool for education, it is a tool to support collaborative learning; these ideas were easy to wrap my head around. The set up description seemed simple enough. Richardson's advice (Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts, 2009) to try it out myself first proved fortuitous. What I imagined as a fairly quick process turned out to have far more challenges than I had imagined.
The technical learning in podcasting was a steep learning curve. Truly I found it was three steps up, two down, and I've not yet reached the peak, if one could find an end in the learning curve that is invovled in the read / write web. I'm in the dark every step of the way. The primary steps that I had done before (recording MP3 files, downloading htem onto the computer, adding them to a Glogster) were all attainable, but allowed me only to start the learning 'climb'. Files in hand. I had two projects in mind when planning to podcast, (Do to learn, my mantra) and I collected the audio I needed for one of them with ease.
I had downloaded Audacity mid February to use to edit the files. I watched YouTube Vidoes on using Audacity.
Finally, frustrated, I used a friend's Cool Edit 2000. Using this program, which eventually became Adobe Audition, I was able to create tracks and build my podcast. You are able to down;oad trail versions of Cool Edit however the versions have limited functionality and links to purchase the software do not work, likely due to Adobe's puchase. Cool Edit, however, would only download a WAV file, and I wanted an MP3.
Once again I returned to Audacity, having found new videos that step by step assisted my understanding of using the program.
I loaded the WAV file, and tried to export to an MP3, learning that I needed a LAME download. Despite numerous sources reporting the ease of that process, I was not successful in loading (or finding?) the needed DLL file. Hours have gone by as I have played with making this software work! Thank you, Zamzar, for successfully converting my WAV to MP3.
The learning curve continued as I then realized that Blogger does not host MP3 files! I am incredulous that video was so much simpler than my audio! I followed the lead from a classmate to go to VoiceThreads, and found t I had already used my three free tries. The web is out to get me, keep me quiet, keep me in the dark. I follow Will Richardson's advice to upload my audio to OurMedia.org as it provides "free storage and bandwidth for your .... audio files..." The site will not allow me to register! Eventually, I recollect that Glogster will hold audio files, and am delighted to learn that there is an embed code so I can put it directly on the blog.
There's a Light: It is Getting Brighter and Clearer: Discussion of Podcasting in Terms of My Own Personal Learning
Despite the frustrations of the technical aspects of audio and podcasting, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding through this week.
I slowly, through reading trailfires, texts, interviewing and articles, am beginning to understand that a podcast is closer to radio than my outdated learning cassettes. It involves having a conversation. It is not the straight dissemination of information (MacQuarrie, 2010) as an essay would be or a CD that is designed to impart knowledge on the listener. It requires voice. It requires one to understand the very unique way that good radio reaches and holds its audience. Andy Barry, on the Feb 25 th episode of Anna Maria Tremonti (Part 2 The Current, 25 o2 Andie Barrie), talks about how the listener perceives radio very differently from television. Television is directed to an audience that is usually more than one, and is distant in its connectivity to the viewer. Radio is heard by singular listeners. The mike is kept about the same distance form the broadcaster as would occur in a natural face to face conversation. The resultant feeling is that the radio announcer is talking directly to the listener. It is a personal conversation.
Good podcasting, as a new form of radio, needs to be personal, make the listener feel directly engaged, and do all the things that good radio does. The listener has the choice to turn you on or off, so care has to be taken to engage the listener personally. I am beginning to understand my own preference when listening to radio (CBC over EasyRock) and my preference in most cases for radio over television as I feel more intellectually engaged.
Podcasting is likely to now have me looking a bit like those teenagers hooked up to their earbuds all the time, something I would not have suspected of myself. I've subscribed to a large number of podcasts that have caught my attention and am anxious to listen to them all. From Just One More Book, Coffee Break French, Tech Chick Tips, David Warlick, Grammar girl, SOS Podcast and Radio WillowWeb, I've only just scratched the surface of the opportunities I want to indulge myself with when I have some time. The Education Podcast Network has so many exciting podcasts I want to explore. It is time to dust of my iPod and actually make some use of it!
David Warlick, particularly, models the intimacy I spoke of earlier when he podcasts. I felt he was directly speaking to me so I am more encouraged to continue to listen to his podcasts. As time is always of the essence in a household where one works and takes courses and parents, the on demand characteristic of podcasting has a great appeal. Richardson (2009) speaks about the ease of consumption and the advantages of on demand as opposed to live streaming, stating that it is the distribution of the media that is the huge advantage. I certainly agree as in this modern busy age, I crave information on my own terms.
Discussion of Podcasting in Terms of Teaching and Learning
I am done with aliens, podcasting here I come!
(Jeff Cobb)
This Podcasting Mini Guide title is apropo of how kids learn. Engagement is a key. The boys I taught 20 years ago were caught up in science ficiton and alien characters; the boys today want to have relevant web based tools to express their ideas with and when engaged in the new read / write web, are as absorbed in generative learning as they were absorbed in their fantasy characters. As a teacher it is our responsibility to provide opportunites for this growth, to better prepare the students for the world they will be part of and to teach them to use tools appropriately and safely.
Silvia Tolisano in the LangWitches Blog writes about the process to prepare, plan and create a podcast:
1. Decide what theme/purpose (Interviews, Documentation, Research)
2. Prepare your students (Sound waves, practice, personal voice, expression, segmented audio)
3. Sound Editing Software- How -To Lesson (Record-pause-play-tracks, volume, highlighting, effects)
4. Record audio footage (Introductions, Segment construction)
5. Segments (Assign to different students)
6. Transitions (background music, sound effects
7.Outro (credits)
There are multiple skills gained when students produce a podcast. Besides reinforcing content that hasbeen taught, podcasting is a tool that develops a broad range of skills that reflect learning outcomes across the curriculum. Our students are eager and ready to use these technologies; it is a steeper learning curve for us as teachers to change our thinking and planning to keep up with new opportunities.
In the process of producing the following podcast, students were actively engaged and excited about producing work that they could share. Since pictures and full names are not used, we are able to share the podcast on the web without any FOIPP issues. A second podcast was also in production with a grade four Social Studies class, talking about Alberta's regions, along with a Grade 6 French class, also talking in French about the regions. We were not able to find the time to complete the audio recordings, I will continue this podcast using the students to learn to use Audacity (keeping my fingers crossed!) Next steps: I will be letting the students participate fully with the recording and production; they are already planning for that exciting event.
To listen to our first podcast, about Martin Luther King and creating a podcast, and click on the Player at the top right side of the page.
Unlinked Resources Used
Blackall, L. (Producer) (Retrieved from the World Wide Web: 2010, February 5). Renaming Del.icio.us tags. Podcast retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7amUaTv-S_U
Kretz, Chris. (2007) "Podcasting in Libraries", from Courtney, Nancy, ED.Libraries 2.0 and Beyond, Westport, Connecticut : Libraries Unlimited
Davies, J. & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools: Learning and social participation. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
DeGroot, Joanne. Podcasting Trailfires.
MacQuarrie, Jim. CBC Producer. Interview, February 24th, 2010
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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