Blog #4: Podcasting

Introduction

In our house, my husband does it all. I'm not talking about the dishes and the vacuuming, I'm talking about all the downloading. He has completely enabled me be co-dependent on him for all my podcasting needs. If I have a request, he makes it happen. Until now I've never had to worry my pretty little head about how to subscribe to podcasts and sync them up to my iPod. It all just magically happened - and it's all about to change. Thanks a lot, school!

Reflections on the process of learning about podcasting

To start, I had my husband walk me through subscribing to a podcast and syncing with my iPod. Since it was in this week's Trailfire, I started with www.justonemorebook.com. Next, without prompting, I subscribed to CBC's Spark because I find the show interesting, but am always busy working or running around town when it's on. This learning process was relatively simple, and something I probably would have learned to do years ago if not for having such a stellar partner.

Where my challenge in learning happened this week was in the creation, hosting, and incorporation of a podcast in this blog. Although I had read about podcasting, hosted a radio show in university, and assembled all the required recording equipment, I was not prepared for the affective roller coaster of learning that was about to transpire.

My first step was to determine what I wanted to create a podcast about, and what kind of content would be in it. Music? Spoken words? Interviews? Educational? Or purely for fun? I kicked around a few ideas, such as a discussion about the proposed skateboard park in town mixed together with songs about skateboarding and interviews with city councillors, or something simple like a happy birthday message for my friend Jean, or reading aloud one of my previous blogs: boring! I wanted to force myself to use some of the podcast editing tools, and not just record a steady stream of narrative. I also decided that if I were creating a podcast for a classroom - modeling the process for students - or having students create their own podcasts, I would avoid the use of licensed music. Towards the end of the week when I still hadn't settled on what kind of podcast to make and was starting to panic, I decided to approach the process differently. What kind of podcast might I encourage students to make?

I might have them read aloud some of their writing, or the work of a studied author as Monica Edinger did with her students on her teaching blog. Or, I might have students "record weekly recitals or special events" (Richardson, 115). And I would probably encourage them to do their best and not worry about making everything perfect. With these three thoughts swirling around, I stumbled on the idea of making a "Disney Read-Along," a recording of myself reading a storybook aloud. This decision took the pressure off of what I was going to say and how I was going say it, and spurred me into action.

The closest storybook at hand was "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. My husband and I went to see the movie on the weekend, and he had never read the book. Can you believe it? I couldn't, and marched straight to the library to pick up a copy and read it to him before we went to the film. The length of the story was perfect: long enough to demand some editing, and short enough to still seem fun.

Richardson's book, and the article by Dan Schmit, pointed me in the direction of Audacity, which I easily downloaded onto my computer. Ready to roll! Wasn't I? Uh-oh. I had no idea how to use Audacity, and Richardson, Schmit, even Eash, were of little help: "Record the podcast. Use software that generates an MP3 audio file. Following instructions that came with the software, add and mix test, music, and sound elements" (Eash, 19). Instructions? Add? Mix? Whaaaa? I was in Audacity but boggled on how to get started as the program looked totally beyond me.

After some deep breaths, I calmed myself down enough to make some practise recordings by hitting the Record button, then pressing Pause or Stop, then Undo. At this point, I was also trying out two different microphones: the one built into my laptop and one on a headset. Playing back my short snippets of recording, I couldn't tell which microphone was working, or if I had even plugged in the headset correctly. Also, any sounds created near the laptop mic were ridiculously loud, such as clicking the mouse, while my voice was too soft. I recorded and deleted some rather unprofessional, colourful language while playing with the sound input settings on my computer control panel until I had sorted things out.

After this point, my brain started to make connections between Audacity and Cool Edit, the program I had used in university to make pre-recorded radio shows for CFUV. I played around until I was comfortable enough to read the storybook in one take, knowing I could edit out any major boo-boos later on. Because I was attempting a Read-Along, I was trying to juggle page-turning and ringing a bell. This led to some pauses in the story, but I figured these pauses would let readers/listeners appreciate the illustrations.

Just for kicks, I decided to record myself playing the piano too to see how it would sound. Surprise! When I went to play back my piano recording, it played at the same time as my book reading. All the pieces fell together and I was able to record multi-track ambient music to accompany my Read-Along. If I had know this at the beginning of the recording process, I wouldn't have been juggling reading, page turning and bell ringing all at the same time, I would have recorded one perfect bell ringing and edited the sound in at the right moments afterwards. Now I know better for next time. Hurray, learning!

The production quality on my podcast is far from perfect. My husband had music playing in another room and the mic picked up some of his music as well. I was able to edit out some of this interference by cutting out the most obvious bits and pasting in some "silence." However, I figured this interference was probably similar to recording situations in schools where there are usually other people in the room, doors opening and closing, and bells ringing. If I would tell my students not to get hung up on making the perfect recording, then I shouldn't knock myself out either.

With the podcast complete and exported to my desktop as an mp3 file, I was ready to find a server to host my creation so that I could place it in this blog. Richardson recommended Ourmedia.org but the site wouldn't open for me and I had no idea on where to find an online hosting service. Luckily, I found this video which recommended four different hosting services.






I went with www.box.net as the hosting service is free for small users such as myself and uploaded my file. This created a URL for my podcast, which I have linked to the title of this blog. I also created an "enclosure link" for the blog, but am not sure how this will show up when I publish this post as when I go to "Preview" I cannot see the mp3 anywhere. Hopefully, this will all work the first time, but as a safety measure, here is the address for my podcast: www.box.net/shared/qakgl00dg4  


Discussion of podcasting for my own personal learning

I like how listening to podcasts means I don't have to organize my life around when favourite programs are live on air. Further, I am able to subscribe to programming that happens around the world, night and day, in incompatible time zones. I can load shows onto my iPod and listen on my walk to work or at other self-convenient times. Podcasts also connect me with the larger world in shorter sound bites than streaming radio. Regular radio variety is limited in our rural area, and podcasts let me be selective and portable with my loyalties. Even better, the majority of podcasts are free and don't subject me to incessant advertising.

As a listener, I have found that podcasts consisting of mostly spoken word require a greater amount of attention than shows blending music and discussion. Because I am only listening to podcasts that I am actually interested in, and not just passively listening to the radio in the car, I have a vested interest in catching all the material; my attention has to stay tuned in to what I'm hearing and can't wander off when an ad or song comes on as there may not be any ads or songs. Usually I'm great at multi-tasking, but the active listening required of spoken word podcasts forces me to engage in a heightened state of Listening.

Personally, I prefer podcasts made by average, random people with similar eclectic musical tastes as myself. The problem with these podcasts is that most are considered illegal because the makers are using the music without paying royalties to the artists or the artists' companies. "Copyright laws are supposed to protect property and income and are particularly important in making sure that those who create ideas, designs or works of art are remunerated for their efforts" (Davies & Merchant, p.71). The home-based basement podcaster is not creating podcasts to make a profit, they are creating out of their own response to the music. I'm not sure I see too much of a copyright difference between making a podcast to share with the world, and opening up all the windows in my house and sharing my musical tastes with passers-by outside by turning up the stereo. Cranky neighbours aside, both approaches act as free marketing for the artists, thereby increasing their likelihood of receiving financial support for their work.

However, as a professional educator, I feel that I should respect copyright law in the creation of my own podcasts. That is why I specifically chose to create a podcast using only my own sound recordings. Initially, I had intended to explore Creative Commons licensing and incorporate some music the way that CBC's Spark program does, but I had too many irons in the fire this week and knew that surfing for music would be a black hole for time.      

Discussion of podcasting in terms of teaching and learning

Now that I am more familiar with the ins and outs of creating and sharing podcasts, some potential uses for teaching and learning I have brainstormed include:

      Professional Development   Busy teachers with a lack of time and/or resources can stay in touch with new materials, best practices, and learning strategies by subscribing to educational podcasts. Teachers can listen at their convenience, from any location they chose.

      Listening Centre   Whether in an primary classroom during structured "free time" activities, or in a school library, students can listen to podcasts they, their teacher, or their schoolmates created. Teachers could also preview (pre-listen?) to suitable educational podcasts and download these for students to listen to.

      Assessing Reading Levels   In a busy classroom environment, pulling students aside for one-to-one reading assessments can be a challenge. It's hard to focus on Sam's reading when Alice is swinging from the rafters. Assessments where the teacher makes notes on paper while the student reads can be an unsettling process and distract the reader from their task. Creating a podcast to record the reading session with the student would allow the teacher to maintain order in the classroom, get an accurate snapshot of the student's reading ability, and limit the possible stress of assessment. Further, a collection of podcasts over the year would serve to document the student's progress and be another resource for discussing learning with families during parent-teacher interviews.

      Read It Like The Teacher   Students often say they are "done" reading a storybook after having read it through once. Teachers sometimes encourage students to Read It Like The Teacher, an activity where they gain fluency by practicing the text many times, then hold the book up while facing a buddy and read aloud, just as the teacher does during storytime. Making a podcast of the reading would be another way for students to Read It Like The Teacher. They could stop and re-record as many times as they wanted until they had achieved mastery of the text, thereby gaining fluency and confidence.

      Readers Theatre   Scripted readings of plays often require many class members as actors, limiting the number of audience members in the room. Also, because they usually happen during school hours, these events aren't accessible for working parents. Creating a podcast of a Readers Theatre event would extend the audience beyond the classroom, to the wider school community and to the parents of the young stars.

      Drama   One of the learning outcomes in Drama 5 in British Columbia is to "express ideas and emotions using verbal and non-verbal communication." Students could create short podcasts to explore their use of tone, voice, pitch, and character. The beauty of the podcast is real-time recording and playback so the students can focus on mastering their communications through sound.

      School Announcements   Were you late for school and missed the morning announcements? Was there too much noise cleaning up before lunch to hear who was called to the office for a telephone call? Or did you miss a day of school altogether and don't know where the new location for soccer practice is? School announcements could very easily be podcast and archived, allowing students, parents, and staff to access any missed announcements.

      Musical performances   Concerts and musical performance tests can be nerve wracking, especially when you haven't practised your instrument quite enough. Students could create podcasts of their playing instead of having to sit through individual music performance tests. The podcast format would allow the students to erase and re-record until they had perfected the selection, or felt it was their best possible achievement. This erasing and re-recording is another way to get students to practise their instruments more, and also reflects the real-world situation of being a recording artist. While they may not practise every day, for the podcast they would repeat a passage many times until they 'got it,' the whole goal of practise anyways. Whole ensemble podcasts could be created for special performances, or on a regular basis. Special performances could be accessed by friends and family who could not physically be at the performance, and regular podcasts would reveal the group's progress over time.

      Classroom Newsletter   Some classroom teachers send home a weekly newsletter. This format was always beyond me as I took too much time to write and layout copy. A weekly classroom podcast, on the other hand, could be a quick and easy way to communicate information and progress to parents. Unlike the paper newsletters that went missing, got soggy with snow, or were tossed in the trash unread, the podcasts would be accessible to parents 24/7 and archived for future reference.

      Reinforcing Lessons   For auditory learners, podcasts are the cat's pajamas. "The podcast is a viable alternative for delivering research content or lessons to students who need remedial or extended support" (Eash, p.17). Unlike a teacher's once-off delivery, podcasts can be listened to over and over, helping auditory learners and those who require extra support to attain success.


Summary

"As long as there are issues of legality surrounding music sharing, education has a key role in highlighting these and alerting pupils to the issues and possible dangers" (Davies & Merchant, p.72). Both teachers and students need to be aware of the legalities of using the creative works of others, even in non-commercial applications. Podcasts have many potential uses in the classroom, and a variety of positive aspects.

From my own experience I have learned that podcasts can require the audience to hone their listening skills and focus on the verbal messages. For auditory learners, podcasts play to their modality and provide a fast, easy, repeatable method for alternative delivery of instruction. And finally, in comparison to other sharing methods such as photosharing and videocasting, podcasts better protect the identity of the students as only audio tracks are available.

The process of learning how to podcast re-connected me with the affective domains of learning, and the panic and frustration that learners can experience. On the positive side, my success also reminded me how cool it feels to be creative and finish a challenging project. This is definitely a tool and learning process which lends itself to classroom practice.  

Eash, Kreider. (2006, April). PODCASTING 101 FOR K-12 LIBRARIANS. Computers in Libraries, 26 (4), 16-20. Retrieved September 9, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1024232971).

Schmit, Dan. (2007, January). Creating a Broadcasting Empire . . . From the Corner of Your Classroom! Multimedia & Internet @ Schools, 14 (1), 13-16. Retrieved September 9, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1193755271).