Using Podcasts

[Lisa]

Please share ways that your school uses podcasts! I am a teacher in south GA and have really fallen in love with this Web 2.0 tool but there are no schools around that use them. I am trying to build a file of ideas!! Also, I have a question about policies...did your school have to add a policy for allowing student work or ideas to be shared over the internet?

[Jacquie Hendrikse]

Hi Lisa....I am new to the podcast world...please tell me what they are in a nutshell and how you intend using them? Any website you think I should visit to learn more? I would appreciate it..thank you!

[Lisa]

Hi Jacquie...I am actually trying to find some experts at podcasting...podcasts are audio files that can be accessed on the internet and are becoming a popular way for schools to allow students to share information, ideas, etc...on like a school or media center web page. I know one of the media specialists I met at a conference here in GA has students do a weekly news podcast on the media center web page. One of best school sites is Willowdale Elementary...check out their site at http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio/ It is awesome! There's lots of information out there on simple set up but I really learn more from feedback of those who have actually done gone through the "trial and error."
Let me know what you think...

[JoAnn Langevin Titus]

have you found podomatic.com it's a site with free podcasting software. The podcasts on this site range from people playing music to a weekly show "teachers teacahing teachers". I found it helpful.

[Dulce Maria]

Hello
I use podcast (www.podomatic.com). It was my first time. My students create podcasts to presents its work about green energy and obesity.
they liked very much.

[Renee Rowcliffe]

Our district has embraced vodcasting (podcasting with video), thanks to the leadership of two chemistry teachers who record their classes and put them on iTunes for students who miss their classes or who want to review a concept. It is great for the kids. We've had lots of inservice training and staff development to help us understand it and find ways to use it, so teachers are getting comfortable with it. The librarians in the district are collaborating on a book talk project, focusing first on on the nominees for the Colorado Blue Spruce awards. We hope students will want to make their own vodcasts as one option for book reports. I hadn't thought about whether the acceptable use policy covers the uploading of student podcasts or vodcasts on the Internet. It's a good question. As far as I know, we haven't posted any student work yet, but I'm sure it will be an option starting next school year.

[Stephanie Eda]

I am new to podcasting as well. I took a workshop this summer on podcasting and the instructor recommended, Podcasting at School, by Kristin Fontichiaro, as a resource book. (ISBN #978-1-59158-587-9, Libraries Unlimited publisher). I have found it to be very helpful. The information is presented clearly and logically in simple steps. It also contains many ideas for ways to use podcasts in a school setting. The book addresses many of the concerns that have been brought up by the librarians below. I am hoping to use podcasts and vidcasts this year at our school, but I am very much a novice right now.

[Sherri Foreman]

I love the idea that teachers are finding ways to use podcasting in the classrooms. I'm sure that students appreciate the assignments much more. I do think the parents/guardians need to be aware that students will be using technology in this way. This can be a way for the students to share with others the work they are accomplishing. It can also be an opportunity to show what the school and teachers are doing to make learning relevant and important to the students and how they are building 21st century skills into the curriculum requirements.

[Susan Martin]

A Social Studies junior high teacher in our district uses podcasting and blogging in his classroom. Check out his website! (There's a reason he was voted Missouri Teacher of the Year!)
Eric Langhorst's Speaking of History Podcast and Web Classroom:
http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/

http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/

[Susan Hennessey]

I'm currently working on creating a library orientation vodcast (audio broadcast accompanied by video) to add to my library webpage. I have a small group of students willing to work with me to create a walk through of the space. My hope is that parents and community members will get a window into what we offer through kids' eyes and voices. I also find that many of the teachers in my Vermont 7-12 school are unaware of the teaching potential of podcasts or are at a loss as to where to find them. If any of you have access to the Opposing Viewpoints database, search results come in a variety of formats, one being multimedia with a focus on radio broadcasts (from NPR programs) which become podcasts when you play them on the computer to students in a class. Check out this link to an amazing wiki all about podcasting in the library media center: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Audio+%26+Podcasting

[JoAnn Langevin Titus]

Thanks for the link, great stuff and plenty of "food for thought". Like everyone else, I'm trying to get informed so I can teach my teachers and students. Maybe the students can teach me too.

[Amy King]

I am a new LMS in NJ. In my media class, I was given this link on how others are using podcasts in their classrooms and libraries. I make a story time podcast each month on my school's website. I tie an activity to the podcast that kids can bring to the media center to be displayed. I would like to start a "booktalk" podcast also.

http://adonnell.podomatic.com/

Hope that helps. Love to hear any other ideas too. Amy

[Linda Picceri]

I have started a podcasting series on iSkills. This is how it all started. I am a Middle School Library Teacher whose library generally runs on a flex schedule. However, three days before school started I found out that I would be teaching a regularly scheduled class of 7th graders because they had nowhere else to put them in the schedule. This has happened to me several times over the years. In response I have designed an information literacy curriculum over the years that I can adjust according to each grade level depending on what they give me. This year I decided to try incorporating more Web 2.0 tools in the class. It has become apparent to me over the years that teachers do not know enough about information skills so I decided to bring my class to them by having my students record podcasts that they could listen to. We have several in the series already. Please visit our blog. There you will find a link to our podcast page. We would appreciate your comments. http://iskills.blogspot.com/

Regarding our policy. We have just developed a parent permission form for student publication on the Internet. We have just started using it this year.