Teaching With Technology, Educational Podcasting
New Classroom Technology Tips and Equipment to Upload Podcasts
Aug 25, 2009
More and more new classroom technology integration is incorporating educational podcasting into lessons. Podcasts are being uploaded daily by students of all ages. The podcasts students produce can be anything from a short clip to a polished radio show. Whatever the finished product, students are getting loads of practice expressing themselves in a fun and relevant media.
Equipment for Teaching With Technology Through Educational Podcasting
Classroom technology integration through podcasting doesn’t require technical knowledge or expensive software. To create a podcast, students will need something to record their voices. A microphone made to plug into the computer and some recording software is all it takes to get a podcast online.
Free Recording Software for Educational Podcasting and Classroom Technology
Any store that sells software will have a wide range of recording programs from the most basic to the highly professional. But, why purchase software, when there are so many options costing absolutely nothing?
Gcast.com has free software which teachers can download to record and upload educational podcasts. A web search for “mp3 recording software” will bring up a number of other downloads.
Most of the programs offer a simple to operate, web recorder. All students will need to do is plug in their microphone, click, and talk.
Handheld MP3 Recorders for Educational Podcasts and Classroom Technology
If teachers want something a little more portable than a microphone tethered to the computer for their students' educational podcasts, Sony makes a nice handheld .mp3 recorder. It looks similar to the mini-tape recorders from twenty years ago, and it even operates pretty much the same way. The only difference is, once a recording is created, there is no tape to take out. Instead, a cap comes off the end and the recorder becomes a USB flash drive. It can be plugged into a computer, and the sound files can be downloaded just like a photo or a word processing file.
Some podcast hosting sites allow members to record their podcast over the phone. Gcast.com for example, offers $99 yearly subscriptions to a toll-free number which downloads the phone message directly into a users playlist manager. If the podcast doesn’t need further editing or music, users can actually upload directly from the phone.
Gcast.com will also take audio files recorded with a handheld recorder or a microphone. Any of these options should be fairly easy to figure out. Students can record their podcast, upload it to the computer, then get ready to edit.
Teaching With Technology by Editing Educational Podcasts
Editing software allows students to remove slips of the tongue, rambly portions, or silent gaps with a few clicks of the mouse. Students don’t need to be overly critical in their editing though, a natural and conversational tone is the style most podcasters aim for.
To polish a podcast, students will have fun mixing in jazzy intros and outros as well as well thought-out background music and effects.
Garageband.com has a huge selection of free, podsafe music for students to choose from. Teachers and students using gcast.com to edit and upload their podcasts will have an easy time navigating garage band because the sister sites are fully integrated. Once students make their selection, they click on the “add to playlist” button which transfers the file directly to their playlist manager. When students have all the files they need in their playlist, they combine these to create their first podcast.
New Classroom Technology Integration and Uploading Educational Podcasts
Once the recording is created and saved, it needs to be uploaded to the web in order to make it a real podcast. Many sites such as iTunes and MyPodcast.com will host podcasts for free. Once a podcaster has signed up for a free account, these web-based companies will allow him or her to upload and distribute the podcasts.
Hosting sites will ask students to type a headline and description for their podcast. This is a good time for instructors to teach the craft of concise and targeted writing. The headline and description must be well designed with thoughtful keywords, because these are what will bring listeners to the podcast through internet searches.
Teachers can check out related articles covering creative ideas for educational podcasting in the classroom, tips for making polished podcasts, and more fun ideas for classroom technology integration such as wikis, student blogs, or video podcasts.
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