Podcasting with your students to address all five ELA standards

Podcasts use MP3 audio and video files as a form of online communication. Like a blog, the podcast is a versatile online way to self-publish. The creator of a podcast makes an audio or video recording and posts it at a web address. This could simply be a class blog that the teacher sets up and monitors for the purpose of listing the students links to their podcasts. The audience listens to or views this “show” by downloading it to a computer or, more commonly, to a portable MP3 player. They can also be listened to directly on the computer itself and the students can post a reponse or reflection right on the blog itself.

Many people are followers of several podcasts and they can easily be downloaded and subscribed to through i-Tunes. This allows for weekly updates automatically.

Students who podcast would be reading and writing texts, speaking and listening to other students’ podcasts and using language regulary. As Educause recently put it, podcasting is “giving educators another way to meet today’s students where they live and learn—on the Internet and on audio players.”

The first step in creating a podcast is to record the audio. You will need an internal or external computer microphone if you plan to create the podcast in the classroom. To record your audio directly onto the computer, you will need a simple audio editing software. Many podcasters choose Audacity (available for MAC or PC), a free, downloadable program that is easy to use. If you are using an Apple computer, you already have a program called GarageBand, which is similar to Audicity.

I am including links to Audacity, Garage Band and an Apple site about podcasting in education.

Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/


Garage Band Showcase
http://www.apple.com/ilife/video-showcase/


Podcasting in Education
http://www.apple.com/education/podcasting/