Thursday, November 27, 2008

Another podcast... and an explanation

There are some courses that I enjoy teaching, and the BEd 4 Computers, Creativity and Education class is one that I really enjoy. We talk about a whole bucket load of interesting stuff, for example: Telling Tales with Flickr.


Podcast Bear
Originally uploaded by blogefl
The classes tend to follow the same basic pattern. First we'll introduce the technology/tool and talk about it's value to education. In the podcasting class we talked about:
  • telling stories
  • giving children a voice
  • using the technology pupils use
  • giving children a (worldwide) audience
  • encouraging co-operation
  • supporting diverse learning styles
  • allowing pupils to receive feedback from a variety of sources
  • children staying on task and setting themselves high expectations
Then we let them hear some of the Radio Sandaig podcasts. {I think it's important to let theme hear pupil voices and pupil produced podcasts. In Higher Education, it seems people are pleased with themselves when they podcast an hour long lecture! I want students to see the pupils as creators, not just consumers of podcasts.} We also share my podcast related delicious links. {I think I need to categorise or prune that list. Too much stuff all mixed up together!}

This was followed by a brief demonstration of Garageband (about ten minutes) which left just over half an hour for them to produce their own podcast. They were divided into groups of two or three and assigned a topic at random from things we had already studied. {I used the Random Name Picker tool to assign topics - thanks to Ewan and TeachMeet for introducing me to this brilliant tool.}

I've already posted Cheryl and Gill's podcast in Podcast from BEd class. Here's another one, this time by Amy Linzi and Ailie. It is about delicious and the usefulness of online bookmarks:

Online Bookmarks

I especially like the sung version of the delicious URL at the end! What do you think? What advice should I give the students to help them improve their podcasts? What other podcasts should they listen to? Can you suggest ways they can use podcasts in their classes?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 27, 2008 8:12 pm

    Hi David,
    I've always though that podcasting is rather under exploited in the classroom. It seems to me to fit into any curricular area while ticking a whole pile of AFL and CFE boxes as well as being a ton of fun. Your students will obviously see how easy it is to create a podcast, 10 minute demo and half and hour to produce! I think an important factor for primary pupils is to try and keep up regular publishing so that the tech becomes transparent and the collaboration, content and presentation comes to the fore.
    For professional development you cannot beat Booruch imo.

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  2. DavidNovember 27, 2008 10:34 pm

    Thanks John. I told them to keep an eye on Sandaig. Is there someone there who has taken up the producer reins?

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