Kathleen Jerome

Guidelines

ISTE Technical Facilitator Standards

Appendix F-Podcasting Instructions and Guidelines
Creating Your Podcast

BENEFITS

Podcasting is particularly beneficial for those students who need encouragement to speak or voice their opinions.

1. Parents can hear their children and understand the work they are doing.
2. Students show more interest and willingly read and write their scripts.
3. Students gain peripheral knowledge of technology and its capabilities.
4. Students understand better when they hear and do a lesson.

PERMISSIONS

Getting necessary permissions:

1. School permission
2. Internet access permission
3. Speak to webmaster about putting MP3 files on website
4. Parental permissions - I do /do not want my child's voice on the internet. (Depending upon the age of the child, and the school's internet policy, more or less relaxed permissions may be permitted. Just make sure you are within your school's guidelines.)If this is new to the school, or might be an issue, there are steps you can take to secure approvals. To make this easier, avoid using student names in you podcasting sessions, and be prepared to show your permission slips and explain what you want to do with these podcasts.

TECHNICAL

1. If you do not have access to free recording software such as GarageBand, download the free recording application Audacity and the necessary library (LAME) from www.sourceforge.net
2. Buy and connect a microphone ($10 at Radio Shack is fine)
3. Do a quick tutorial on your recording software. For Audacity, two of the better ones are http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/create.html and http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/podcasting/pod.cfm .
4. Record your podcast. Remember to discuss copyright with students, especially if they want to use background music, or other copyrighted materials.
5. Edit your podcast Know how to edit and save as MP3. For Audacity,
   1. Record all bits and save as Audacity project file (if need to edit)
   2. Edit individual project files by deleting unwanted segments, cutting and splicing if necessary.
   3. Bring in all files
   4. Place them in the order you wish to hear them
   5. To export as MP3, choose export as MP3 under the FILE menu. (This will merge all the tracks together into one track which will be in an MP3 file.) Choose type of file and kind of audio (there is a podcast option.) It will then merge the tracks together as one MP3 file.
6. Publication on a web page

   There are more and more options becoming available on the web. I am reviewing here, a few of the possibilities.

   • School webpage- simply upload or insert the file into your webpage or ask the webmaster for help.
   • RSS feed blogspace - There are now free services for blogging on the internet. Some of them, like Tumblr (http://www.tumbr.com), allow you to upload varied media, including audio files, and create an automatic RSS feed at the push of a button.
   • Creating uploaded file and RSS feed if this is going to be frequently updated. Most podcasting tutorials have information about doing this. Simple instructions are:
     1. Upload the MP3 file, either to a webpage you have or to a blog space such as Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.com) or Blogger (http://www.blogger.com)
     2. On a different blog (you can set up two), list the URL where the MP3 file resides.
     3. Then burn the RSS feed using Feedburner (www.feedburner.com). You can also hand code the RSS feed as shown in the podcasting tutorials, which gives you more control, but is more technical, so can be time consuming.

TEACHING

After permissions and technical set-up are completed, teaching can begin. First, choose a curricular framework. Below is the table from Chapter V, listing some possibilities and the NJCCCS supported by those possibilities.

These are by no means the only suitable subjects. There are many inventive ways to use this medium.

Next introduce the subject and basics to students by showing other student podcasts and explaining that they podcasts help them record their ideas. Review copyright laws as they apply to the information being recorded. Then, give the students a quick overview of Audacity or whatever recording software is used.

Give the students the assignment, complete with rubric so that they know how they will be graded and what to strive for.

Divide them into groups, using the same grouping principles you would ordinarily use. It works best to group students with different strengths together, so that they can help one another.

Students create scripts. Even if they are doing a book talk, it is best for students to write down what they are going to say, so that they will be more confident.

Record group by group. It is helpful to intersperse other assignments, maybe desk assignments, so that groups who are not recording have another assignment to work on. If there are many computers and work spaces, this is not an issue.

Edit.

Upload and listen, with class review. Assessment Below is a sample rubric you might use

Activity	Excellent	Adequate	Inadequate	Points
Program document	Writing is clear and concise. There are minimum spelling and grammatical errors. Script is at least 2 pages	There are no more than 5 spelling and grammatical errors. There are some sections in need of clarification	Script is unclear, incomplete. There are many grammatical and spelling errors	15
Podcast Presentation	Spoke clearly and loudly. Presentation expressed understanding of the information	Some sections difficult to hear or understand, but understandable as a whole. Could improve with practice.	Presentation unclear and not thought through, or incomplete. Minimal effort expended	15
Podcast Creation	Understood basics or recording uploading and burning to a podcast. Could edit or rerecord podcast as needed.	Understood basics of podcasting. Rerecorded if sound too low.	Podcast unclear or difficult to hear. Not all steps completed. Did not understand what podcasting entailed.	10
Listening	Listened and made comments to other student podcasts. Joined in the discussion.	Listened but made minimal input.	Did not pay attention	10

HINTS

1. No more than 6 sessions covering one curriculum topic. Once they've got the curriculum information, move on.
2. Use informational handouts so the students can look up the information without asking over and over again.
3. Use a rubric to assess student growth-know what you want them to learn and seek measurement that is shown through the medium.
4. Teacher must deal with the creation of RSS feeds etc. to maintain control and free the students to follow the curriculum.