Podcasting: The survey says...

Podcasting Survey 2011 using Chartle.net My use of this tool still needs some fine-tuning.
This week Ms Knight and I completed our first collaborative podcasting experience with her grade 8 Science classes. Although we faced a number of challenges the overall engagement of the students and results were spectacular.

When asked what they had learned students responded:

• science can be fun
• I can learn without visuals
• repetition by rerecording helped me learn
• how to use Audacity
• how to make a podcast
• about my water issue and why it is important
• I would make a great reporter

 Suggestions made by students for next time:

• more time to record
• practice more
• should podcast more often
• try video recording
• speak more clearly, more slowly and with more expression
• work faster
• pick a different partner

Although some students chose not to publish their podcasts online Ms Knight and I agree the assignment was worth the time and effort.

Doing the Web 2.0 Quickstep

As the first few months of my Web 2.0 course pass I have begun to dance the Web 2.0 dance just a little quicker. As a new dancer there have been the inevitable missteps.

Image: 'Indian dancer ¬ 9363*'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36699339@N00/3423542026

I have done the Flickr: steps at school without too much stress. I have experimented using Flickr in the library for a few lessons where I showed colour palettes and watercolour paintings. I found a visual of 5 grams of salt for a nutrition lesson and another group used the flickr images on Mashpedia to understand oil spills.

These Thinglink steps are still in rehearsal.  It is a tool I would like to have our students access on their web pages. It remains to be seen whether the thinglink plugin can be activated on Weebly student accounts.

The Podcasting steps are a bit more complicated than we thought but with more attention to the technical we will have this tool ready for performance. In order to accommodate class  podcasting we purchased an upgrade for the PodOmatic site for one year.  Some very enthusiastic grade 8 classes have created scripts to use for podcasting their research about issues related to water. Using Audacity which can be found on the school board computer image was simple although students found trying to transfer from Audacity versions downloaded at home to the school version was impossible due to incompatibly issues. We found microphones to use with our netbook labs and the library has purchased our own microphone/head sets. Unfortunately problems developed when the microphones would not record and when classroom noise levels interfered with recording.
In order to publish student podcasts we needed to contact  PodOmatic support. They instructed us to have students use the same login and password to access and publish their episodes on our podcast channel.
One more thing: we are looking into a school Voicethread Account and a staff learning session in the library to allow more students access to this tool for broadcasting on the internet .

Video Creating is a dance of frustrations. The students in small groups collected video clips for editing to create commercials for Media Studies. Students were given the choice of using Masher.com or Movie Maker. To access Movie Maker using school computers is simple as the software is on our school board computer image. Some of the library netbooks required downloading of the software which revealed that Microsoft Movie Maker is not available for Windows XP (the system our school computers use).
Our first attempt to upload to Movie Maker failed because our flipcamera files are MP4 and movie maker reads avi files.

'Flip Camera
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71018547@N00/2437471860

An email to our Learning Technologies Specialist gave me the link to Free Studio (supported by our board) to use to convert MP4 files to avi. The download and the conversion took forever! And because we were dealing with two classes and six groups in each class and needed to transfer from computer to computer using USB drives and the librarian didn't think to name the files using student names...you can imagine that day.

Thanks to the engagement of technology the students were patient while they waited and enthusiastic once their files were uploaded and the editing began.  Thank you to my colleague who was supportive and had a sense of humour.
I am seriously considering an additional investigation of Animoto for online video editing. Rouleau (2011) writes, "Animoto allows the user a fast and animated video creation tool that automatically adds in special effects with minimal effort." (para.3)

Still practicing these Diigo steps: Although I have had Diigolet added to my library netbook image and suggested to some students they open an account to collect bookmarks for a research assignment there has been little opportunity to teach with Diigo.

Blogging is the dance I most look forward to. Blogger is blocked by our board and Edublogs although recommended  by our board as a substitute for Google Blogger doesn't rank highly amoung staff who have class websites. Weebly though, is very well thought of and a number of staff already have accounts. A request to open a Weebly account put to our principal resulted in the purchase of a campus account for 750 students and 30 teachers with the ability for present account holders to migrate to the new school Pro Campus account.
We have introduced blogging to four classes this week using the Commoncraft videos: Blogs in Plain English., a Brainpop Video about Blogs and the Kist (2010) Snowball activity (p.37) which has been very successful in helping students recognize the need for guidelines when writing blogs.
I have recreated my BBAT boys' reading blog using Weebly and hope to encourage our boys to read and write using this tool. I am also considering using blogging for my Red Maple Reading Program group to discuss the ten fiction titles selected this year.

The dance continues and each day I feel a little more sure-footed about the opportunities for using Web 2.0 tools in my school library with the teachers and students.

Would you care to dance?

Audacity Pros and Cons

Pros:

• free download
• add music, sound effects on different tracks
• easy editing, cut, paste, copy
• adjust volume of tracks
• easy upload to hosting site
• student engagement 

Cons:

• download from internet requires LAME additional download to create MP3
• requires podcast hosting site

Preparing to Podcast-Speaking:Step Three

"Just because you or your students can create a podcast doesn't mean you should." (Williams, 2007. p.12) Consideration of the content for my podcast lead me to try to meet the need for audio texts for our ELL students and to record some of the stories in my repertoire.

Multitrack player option

To create my podcasts, two dual language books were chosen from the school library.  I chose to read the story We're Going on a Bear Hunt and made the recording using the Audacity program . After many attempts including deleting and rerecording sections of the tracks and cutting to correct timing errors,  I was finally satisfied with the results. I added a public domain music prelude and conclusion to the Audacity recording.

In order to provide a host for my Audacity recording I registered for a PodOmatic.com account and was able to upload my mp3 audacity file.
Upon closer inspection I found that I could record directly to PodOmatic with one button recording. Using the site's recording feature I created a podcast of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,  selected a photo for the podcast and promoted my podcasts by tagging, labeling them Education K-12 and embedding the codes in this post.

Note: PodOmatic does not allow access to the tracks for editing. I needed to record the story twice to correct miscues. 

Single-track player option

When I was prepared to add my podcast to the iTunes library I found that I was expected to register a credit card with the site. My hesitation to do so will limit my access to uploading to iTunes. I will depend on the PodOmatic site and this blog for promotion.

I recorded a telling of The Tailor using PodOmatic and was instantly successful completing the process and preparing to embed the podcast in this post.


PodOmatic allows users to select and embed either a multi-track player or single-track player. Listeners are able to scroll through seeing the photo representations and selecting the podcast of their choice.

I have added a page to the school library blog and embedded two of the podcasts for student access. The simplicity of accessing these podcasts does not require a screencast for student instruction. Instead I have created a jing.com screen capture to show how to use PodOmatic.
The jing.com screen cast is limited to five minutes and I found running both PodOmatic and Jing during the screen capture slowed down the internet connection considerably. Rerecording the jing screencast with all other windows closed allowed me to finish the screencast with time to spare.
I am proud of myself for being able to reduce the size of the jing image in the html embed code in order for the screencast to fit more neatly within the post. I will keep jing.com available on my desktop for future use.

 
In addition to creating podcasts for student projects, books for ELL learners, storytelling and teacher PD, Stodt (2009) suggests librarians can introduce podcasts
of "audio walking tours...to advertise new books and resources or to provide
information and news about the library." (p.104)

Podcasting Possibilities: Step One

Wikipedia defines podcasting as “a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.” I was mistaken in thinking podcasts were audio only and have found after searching Twitter, Diigo groups and Google Reader that video is also a part of podcasting. Casel (2011) writes in 7 Tips for Launching a Successful Podcast ,

          Podcasts are among the oldest types of syndicated content on the web.
          Yet the format remains a popular choice among content producers looking
          to connect with a wide audience. Audio podcasts were the norm for many
          years, but video has taken the podcasting world to new heights. (para 2)

Richardson (2009), Berger and Trexler (2010) explain that podcasting includes audio, screencasting and video. I feel it is important to my inquiry into podcasting to include the creation of screen, video and audio podcasts.

Possibilities:
1. Recording of readings of books in the school library for our English Language Learners (ELL).

2. Storytelling of some of my favourite folktales using both audio and video podcasts to evaluate the impact of each media

3. Screencast showing how to use PodOmatic hosting site to create a podcast.

4."Since many of the most prolific podcasters are educators,"(Williams, 2007) it makes sense to access a variety of audio and video podcasts for professional development as well as entertainment.

5.Why not get the students to create podcasts.."Podcasting provides students with new ways of knowing and problem solving and enables them to demonstrate their newfound understanding in compelling and significant ways." (Ishizuka, 2005, p.57)

Audacity: Third of 6 Web 2.0 Tools

 Audacity is a tool I would like to use to record and edit audio files. I would share these podcasts on the internet and use the iTunes site to select and subscribe to download from a selection of free podcasts in a variety of genres. Not all students appreciate the opportunity to perform their own work in front of the class. This tool will allow an alternate to a face to face oral presentation style for some and an interesting connection to the iPods and MP3 players that most students own. Richardson writes, “These kids are really motivated to write and think and prepare these podcasts because they know they are going to be published, that others will hear them”. (para. 2) In my attempt to engage in more online professional development I would like to explore podcasts for teachers. Berger (2010) lists a number of podcast directories as well as instructions to search using the word podcast as a search term. I will demonstrate the use of podcasting by creating a podcast and a playlist of my favourites. I wonder if our teacher of English Language Learners (ELL) would be interested in posting the recorded books her Book Club produced last year with a link to the podcasts on the library blog. Because I have only once created a Voicethread podcast myself I remain a novice podcaster even though I have worked with a number of classes to use the Audacity program. 

Goals of Steps to Web 2.0

1.  I will endeavour to understand the uses of the tools and improve my ability to use each one, seek sources of support and evaluate each technology as a personal and professional tool. Over time I will continue to add new technologies to my repertoire. Will I be able to increase my comfort level with the selected Web 2.0 technologies.
   
   
2. I will create an expression of my interest in watercolour painting by creating an online gallery using a media sharing tool. In the future I will add these galleries to a blog showcasing my painting and passion for watercolour. How can I make authentic personal use of my web 2.0 learning?
    
3. I will tag, sticky note and highlight my online bookmarks to better access information         about topics of interest. Perhaps my future in social bookmarking will include creating a group to meet some specific personal or professional need. How will I organize my professional development through RSS feeds using Google reader and Diigo?
   
   
4. I will read and respond to blogs as well as contribute weekly to the blogs I have created. I will use a variety of embedded links to content created with Web 2.0 tools to enhance my posts and comments. In the future I will create a blog to showcase my art and to share and teach others about watercolour painting. How can I interact with a larger learning community through blogging?
   
   
5. I will offer training to staff or their classes in the use of media sharing, image interaction tools, podcasting, video editing, social bookmarking, blogging, and web-based aggregators with RSS feeds. I hope to keep up with the changes in Web 2.0 and explore more tools which will enhance the education of my students and my own personal internet experiences. How can my personal learning include sharing Web 2.0 tools with the staff at my school and colleagues in other school libraries? Will there be opportunities to model the use of Web 2.0 tools and provide training for the staff and students at my school?