This week, largely due to my class assignment, I created my first every podcast. Without going into much detail, as to what a podcast is, I really had a fun time figuring it all out. I began by reading the chapter titled, "Podcasting, Video and Screencasting, Live Streaming: Multimedia Publishing for the Masses," from Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms. In this chapter Richardson made me feel like I could really make a podcast, without much trouble. This proved to be true.
Prior to this week, I had only heard the word "Podcast" from friends, on TV, and through various internet outlets. To be frank, I am not sure that podcasts, prior to now, were of much interest to me, personally. I have really enjoyed learning about blogging and collaborating through wikis, but a podcast...I wasn't too sure of that. While I am not ready to jump into the Podcast radio circle quite yet, I do see them being a valuable tool in the classroom. However, after reading Richardson's chapter on podcasts, I told myself, "You can do it!" So, I downloaded Audacity, along with the LAME MP3 encorder and began recording myself talking about the crumbs on my table, the color of my black running shoes, and other interesting topics. It took little to no time to figure out where the record and stop buttons were in Audacity. The hardest part was probably figuring out how to export my file to MP3 format (which was really not that bad). I had a lot of fun editing the clips I made, learning to take of seconds of awkward pauses, along with "Ums" and "Okays (I could not get rid of all of them)." Upon completion of my first podcast, and successfully turning it into an MP3, I signed up to use the website Podcast Machine, as a host for my show, "B223 Tech Talk."
This week, I came up with a handful of questions about technology, for a portion of my homeroom fifth grade students to fill out. The questions ranged from what types of technology do you have at home to what types of technology do you have at school. I also asked them to tell me what an ideal school, in their eyes, might look like if money were not an issue. Since podcasting is new to both my students and I, I sent the questions home for them and their parents to read through and answer. I asked the parents to sign the questionnaire and return it as soon as possible. I ended up using the first four students who replied, with parent signatures.
Without giving it all away, I would like to present to you, the first episode of "B223 Tech Talk - Episode 1." FYI: Sally is rather quiet, so you may have to listen closely. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment