Podcasts

I love listening to podcasts!  I have, for quite some time.  But let me just tell you that the idea of making an actual podcast makes me a little sweaty, just like when I had to make a screencast.  I don't know why I just really don't like having to do voice recordings.  But I had to conquer this monster in a different grad school class, an slowly but surely, I'm getting more and more comfortable with creating my own podcasts.  That being said, this past week, I got to look into some different ways that podcasts can be used in the classroom/library, and I'm realizing how important it could be for me to really get over my anxiety when it comes to podcast making.

There are so many ways that podcasts can be used in the classroom!  I think taking some of those ideas and using them in the library is a great idea too.  I visited the site, http://podcasting-in-education.wikispaces.com/#x-Finding%20Podcasts , to get a better idea of some ways that podcasts might be used for teaching.  Some of the ideas this site discussed included things like:

• publishing student work
• student projects
• distributing school assignments
• peer teaching
• archive lectures
• interview guest experts
• create oral history
• audoio tours
• public safety message
• school happenings
• and professional development

I loved all of these ideas!  A few things that I think could translate over to the library would be things like having students publish book talks about different books.  They could also "interview" characters from books.  Podcasts could also be used to discuss library happenings.  In addition, librarians could use podcasts to update teachers and staff on resources they might find useful in the library, if there isn't time to actually have a school-wide meeting.  

Now, I also visited the site, http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/teaching-with-podcasts-30109.html , which had some good things to say as far as how to prepare for using podcasts in the school.  I feel like this site listed some drawbacks that could hinder schools/teachers/librarians from using podcasts.  For one, I do think that podcasts are better suited for an older crowd- I'm not sure how elementary student friendly podcasts might be, unless a teacher or librarian is assisting the student.  The point was brought up that anyone can post to podcasts so there will most likely be inappropriate material out there.  This being said, it's a great opportunity to teach about cyber responsibility, just like when using social media.  This site does bring up the point that in order to create podcasts, one must be pretty well prepared- that goes for teachers/librarians as well as students.  I did like the tips they shared about how to prepare for making your own podcast (as far as gathering the information, creating a script, and recording in short clips so that it's easier to edit).  

All in all, I think that podcasts have the potential to be a great tool, but I think that it's one that, if used with students, will take a lot of time to do.  For a classroom teacher, I feel like this is not as big of a predicament as it might be with a librarian, who only sees students possibly once a week or once every other week.  However, I do see the benefits of a librarian creating his/her own podcasts to share with students and staff.  I think that it would be a quick way to share information with a large amount of people, without having to carve out a specific time during the day/week/month to meet.  It could be worth trying for a monthly podcast that librarians could even email out to teachers, where they explain different topics (resources available, copyright issues, new books available, upcoming events, etc).  

This past week, I explored three different podcast makers- Soundcloud, Auidoboom, and Podomatic.  In the past, I've used GarageBand, but sadly, my Mac died a quick death and I've since been using a PC.  Below are my podcasts, where I discuss the book, Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry.  

Soundcloud:





Of the three podcast sites I used, I like Soundcloud the best.  Soundcloud was easy to navigate.  

Soundcloud has no timelimit for one podcast, but there is a limit on how many free hours you get.  It's also fairly user friendly.

I did not really like Audioboom.  At first it was easy to navigate and complete a podcast, but upon listening to the podcast, it's TERRIBLE.  It sounds like something is broken.  I tried to go back and fix this problem,but could not figure it out.  Here is the recording from Audioboom: (listen at your own risk)



And finally, Podomatic.  This one was my least favorite because you have to upload a file from your computer- you can't just record directly.  I like being able to just hit a button and record from the podcast site.  I felt like Podomatic had too many steps, in order to create something simple. (For some reason, the code to embed would not work, so I've included the link)
http://wseewald13.podomatic.com/entry/2016-04-08T14_21_02-07_00

All in all, I think the podcasts could be used in various ways in the classroom and library.  I think that in order for students to use podcasts in the library, there would have to be some overlap in classroom time, because most librarians probably don't have the amount of time it would take with students, to teach them and then let them create.  I do think that librarians could absolutely use podcasts themselves, for students and staff.