- Implementing projects like this can be a real challenge for teachers. Based on your experience creating a group podcast, what do you perceive are the greatest challenges to successfully completing a project like this with students?
- What are some things a teacher could do ahead of time, during the project and after the students have recorded to make this process more efficient in class?
- If doing a podcast in class is not an option, what are some other ways you could give interested students the experience of making a podcast in school?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Podcasting
Please briefly address the following areas.
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In creating the podcast, I think the students would struggle most with the fine technological details of recording/editing the podcast. I can see how within the group set-up one person might take control and end up doing all the work. Or, the students could learn effectively from one another. Either situation is possible.
Ahead of time, the teacher have the students read/listen to the instructions and familiarize themselves with the steps. That way, the students have a sense of their task.
Schools could host after-school classes on how to create podcasts. You could have a club dedicated to compiling school news, for example, so that the group still relates to the school. Then they could present a weekly podcast to the student body.
# The tough part about doing the podcast project with elementary school students is that not all students are knowledgeable about computers as others are. There are some students who have never even used one and others who have limited use compared to others. With that said, it is hard as a teacher to get the project done in a timely manner with so many different levels of computer efficiency since some students will be done with the project while others will be struggling to move along.
# Ahead of time, a teacher could look for any errors that the students might run into during the project to make the process more smoother. During the project, the teacher should be monitoring the students to see if everything is going as planned. After the project, an evaluation should be done to see how the students felt about the project and if they enjoyed doing it or not.
# A great way to get students involved in podcast projects is by doing them during indoor recess time. For instance, when the weather is not good outside and the students need to be themselves, why not allow them to have a little autonomy and think of a podcast topic and go from there. As the teacher, one can guide the students through the process and not all of it has to be done during one recess period but the rest of the project can be saved for another indoor recess time.
I think podcasts require a lot of organization. Questions arise like who gets to record what? Who gets to write the script? Who edits? etc. Depending on the age of the student, questions of fairness may or may not get in the way of actually learning the content. So, with this in mind, the teacher can prepare for these problems ahead of time, including the students in that process. During the podcast, the teacher can guide the students, and after the podcast maybe the teacher can take care of some of the technical issues (so that the students don't get stuck on them). I think it would be interesting for kids if there were a couple after-school clubs for podcasts. They could have podcast competitions!
After completing our podcast last Tuesday, I believe students would have difficulties with the technical/computer aspects of the podcast. Our group had trouble finding songs that were compatible with the audacity program. In addition, I feel elementary students would have difficulty formating the dialogue so it flowed together. Therefore, when doing podcasts with younger students, I feel the teacher would be left to do all the technical aspects. In order for the podcast to come together successfully, the teacher would have to work with groups individually to record their topic and then spend his or her own time putting it together on the computer. I think kids would be very excited about the idea of a podcast and hearing their voice teaching a lesson. However, I feel the teacher would be doing the majority of the process as elementary students don't have the fine computer skills. If I was to do a podcast in my classroom, I would have to be very organized and divide the class into groups and assign a specific topic to each group to discuss. However, once each segment was recorded, I feel the rest would be up to me.
I agree with others in the class, that an after-school club focusing on technology would be helpful. Therefore, kids who were interested in learning more about creating podcasts and videos could learn in detail about all aspects including audio, visual, and technical components.
A&B) There are a lot of organizational and classroom management types of challenges with podcasting. I think the key would be distributing that organizational responsibility to the students. For example, having students write their scripts, peer-editing the scripts, then submit them for teacher comment. Also, you need to have a system to assign everyone some time to work on editing. Otherwise, you are not likely to have equitable distribution of the editing task. Also, podcasting brings with it the same complications you face with any form of “group work.” Effective group work can lead to meaningful learning, but there are plenty of pitfalls with group work. Consulting a site on group work such as www.kaganonline.com would have some useful tips.
C) You could have an after-school program for podcasting. You could assign students to submit oral presentations by podcast to you (the teacher) for your comments before they can give their oral presentation to the class.
To complete a podcast with students, I think it would be difficult to make sure they were all on task and being productive and efficient. I found myself playing with the sound and music options more than was necessary, and was often just listening to my own voice because it sounded so different from what I thought it would. In addition, it would be hard to make sure students are spending equal amounts of time on the project, without one or two doing most of the work, as is often the case. To make the process more efficient, teachers could ask each student to have their scripts and sounds prepared before they began the podcast. Instructors also would have to display clear and concise directions for all students to adhere to. If podcasting is not an option, teachers can always ask students to create videos of their projects with background music. Instructors could also use instant messaging options to enhance presentations with dialogue. These alternatives do not provide as many options as podcasting programs, but still use similar technological components.
While my group was working on our podcast we worked really well together, but we talked about how disastrous the entire process could have been in we didn't agree or get along well, which could very well be the case for students. I think students could get frustrated with the technological aspect of the podcast really easily especially if they are worried about perfection. Just like the Powerpoint, it would be easy for students to spend more time on sound effects and recording than worrying about their content.
As a teacher I would have all the music and sound effects that kids needed already downloaded so that they didn't waste time searching for them. I'd try to separate my groups of students so they weren't distracted by what the others were doing and to make the actual recording process easier I might try to have groups stay for lunch/recess and record and edit during that time(I'd try to make it sound fun so they would be excited to stay!)
I think podcasts could be really useful as a student newspaper type of things. My school had an online newspaper and podcasts could easily have been added to it. Sports teams or other clubs could also make their own podcasts to keep the rest of the school updated.
After working with a group in class to create a podcast, I think organization and editing would be the greatest challenges that both teachers and students would face to successfully complete a project like this. Teachers would have to organize the students' efforts, making sure that they are interested and engaged in each of their portions of the project. Teachers could use several class periods so that students are prepared with their speeches ahead of time, and they do not feel rushed throughout the actual process of creating their podcast. If doing a podcast in class is not an option, you could allow interested students to work on their scripts at home as an alternative assignment and the record their projects during after-school time. They could then present what they've been working on in class.
With young students especially, Podcasts could be difficult because some children like to be in the spotlight and some don't. Someone might demand that they have a certain part, and someone might not want to participate at all. Fairness could be a huge issue and could start a lot of fights. In addition, the technology required to make a Podcast is pretty advanced. It might be hard to teach children how to use it efficiently, especially if some have more experience with technology than others.
To avoid these problems, teachers could assign parts in advance. They could talk to the kids and see what they're comfortable doing and what their interests are, then assign parts based on that. For kids who aren't as technologically advanced, the teacher could try and set up an after school session or session during recess to help get them caught up.
If Podcasts aren't an option but you want the kids to experience something similar, you could start up a news show within your school. For example, at my elementary school, there was a daily morning news show that was broadcasted to every classroom. Kids took turns working the camera, being anchors, etc.
I think that in order for teachers to implement a project, like the one we completed in class, they must provide their students with an introduction to podcasts, as well as the technology used to create them, days in advance. The teacher should make sure the students are familiar and comfortable with the material they will be working with (such as audacity, headphones, talking slowly etc.). Also, just as we did, the teacher should have the students spend time working on their scripts, practice reading them aloud for errors, and have a final, readable copy so that mistakes in recording will be minimized. If doing a podcast in class is not an option, I think it would be cool if students had the ability to participate in an afterschool program that used podcasts. Students could be on different committees, such as announcements, sports, school news, weather etc., to alert students, parents and teachers to the events happening at school.
1. After creating a podcast, I think elementary students would have the most trouble with the technological aspects of making a podcast. Not all students, especially elementary age students, have a lot of knowledge about computers and I think that this could cause problems when the students are learning how to record and edit the podcast.
2. I think the teacher should explain the steps of how to make a podcast ahead of time. I also think the teacher should have the students practice with the program before they actually record their podcast. They should practice recording and editing small segments. Afterwards, the teachers should ask for feedback from the students to help the teacher understand what to change if they want to do it again.
3. If doing a podcast is not an option in class, I think it would be a good idea to start an after-school program. It could be a tecnology club where the students did more than just podcasts, or it could be like the radio willow web we listened to and the students could do school or local news.
In creating our podcast, our group discussed how we were lucky that we got along well from the beginning. We agreed that creating podcasts could be difficult when you put students together who either do not know each other very well and/or do not get along. I also could see how kids would get caught up in the process of creating the podcast, rather than the content. It was a lot of fun to play with the podcast program, and it could be very easy for kids to fall into the same trap, as we discussed with powerpoints, that would keep them from creating a podcast rich in content.
I think that teachers would benefit by putting kids in groups ahead of time so that the students can spend time getting to know each other and so that they have plenty of time to work out how they would like to do the podcast and what they would like to include before they actually get started on the technical aspect.
I think that teachers should introduce podcasts within the classroom in order to spark interest in them (i.e. a podcast done by students their age on a topic they are currently studying). Then the schools can offer either extra-curricular options for students or even include podcasts in the resource periods. For example, in my elementary school, we had art, gym, library, music, and computer which rotated on a daily basis. Podcasts could be included into the computer component of resources.
This is the type of project that it is particularly necessary to have everyone there. One of my partners and I both happened to be sick that day, leaving only the other one to do the intro and outro by herself. If a child is absent when certain steps of making a podcast are being taught, it would take a significant amount of time to catch them up. If they are absent on a day that the group is working on the project that leaves a lot more work for the other members to do.
It would also be important for a teacher to pay particularly close attention to what his or her students are doing on their computers, because it is very easy to get distracted playing around with what you can do to your voice.
If doing a podcast is not an option in school, a teacher could give multiple options for how a particular project could be presented, including using podcast. They could use the in-class time to write the script for the podcast, and then do the podcast itself during the time when they would be working on the project at home. If there home computer doesn't have a microphone or if they don't have a home computer, they could schedule a time during recess or after school.
I think it will be challenging because there are many processes to create a podcast. Also there are many technologies involved and it is very likely that the teacher would have to teach how to use them. It could be time-consuming too. In order to make the process more efficient, teachers can provide specific guidelines so that students can follow the guidelines to be able to discern and develop the quality of the work. If there are some students who are interested, teachers could sponsor an extracurricular activity and run a
podcast club.
At first I really thought that making podcasts were way too time consuming to implement into an elementary classroom. However, after actually experiencing it, I realized that wit ha little practice it can be really fast. The biggest challenge I see is finding enough time to put all the parts together from the students and adding music, sound effects, and whatnot. I could see this being really really time consuming. Instead of doing a podcast you maybe could do a pretend radio show. This would be easier and you wouldn't necessarily need a computer to do it. I'm still not fully convinced that I will ever use podcasting in my classroom though.
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