Podcasting in Elementary Schools
From LIS5313
Contents |
[edit] Project Overview
When this project first began, I did not fully appreciate all of the pieces of podcasting and how beneficial it can really be to students. "Podcasting is a powerful tool for educators to get students involved in activities that are meaningful, integrative, value-based and active. It involves planning and organizing, research, writing, editing and the use of technology where necessary and appropriate" (Vincent & van't Hooft, 2007).
It was not until I found the Willowdale site, other school sites and articles on podcasting that I really started to understand what great opportunities there are in this technology.
This report will review what podcasting is, how to put together a simple podcast and how podcasting is integrated and used at Willowdale Elementary School.
[edit] General Overview of Podcasting
In starting the research for this project, locating sites that had podcasts for children's books seemed to be the most frequent find, but finally, sites about other types of podcasts began hitting the del.icio.us site.
In searching the web, I found this site How To Podcast that gives the beginner a great overview and how to guide of podcasting. The definition is:
- The word podcast is a play on the word broadcast combined with the word iPod (one of the most popular portable MP3 players). Apple did not invent the word podcast, although I'm sure they are enjoying the free marketing they are getting from the popularity of podcasting. You do not have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast. You can listen to podcasts on anything that plays MP3s. Once the podcast is downloaded, it's just an MP3 (Orden 2005).
Another quality that makes a podcast different is the fact that you can have them download automatically when new material is added. This is achieved by using what is called a RSS feed. By utilizing this feed, once you subscribe to a particular podcast, you will continue to receive new, updated broadcasts whenever they become available.
[edit] How to Create a Podcast
There are basically four main steps in creating a podcast:
(1). Plan your podcast. In this step you will need to select your topic and your format. This is also the stage in which you research and write your script. This is probably the most critical part of your podcast, if this step is done well, the other steps are a lot easier.
(2). Produce your podcast. This is where you record your podcast. This is also where much of the equipment and software is required.
- Equipment
- (a). Computer
- (b). Internet Connection
- (c). Microphone
- (d). Headphones/Headset
- (e). MP3 player
- Software
- (a). Audio Recorder and Editor (example) Audacity
- (c). Media Player (examples) Windows Media Playeror iTunes
- (d). File Transfer Software (example) SmartFTP
The next two steps can be simple or complex depending on how far you want to take your podcast.
(3). Publish your podcast. The two main things that have to happen here are the creation of your MP3 file and then uploading it to the internet. This is all you have to do in order to get your podcast out there. Now if you want people to know about and find your podcast there are other things you can do as well such as RSS feeds, blog postings, ID3 tags, and writing and posting show notes. Again these are not necessary for posting your podcast, but it will assist those searching for it.
(4). Promote your podcast. This is all about finding an audience for your podcast. One easy idea is "since anything that plays well with RSS can potentially be distributed via a podcast, ... from your web page you can highlight some of your podcasts by including the RSS feed in the HTML, and anyone visiting your page will see and can grab the audio or video they are interest in if you enable downloads" (Griffey 2007). There are books and other resources available on this topic so your research would depend on how far you would want to take your podcast!
[edit] Example of Basic Podcast
Here is a very simple podcast created by my daughter (age 4) and myself. It is a reading of one of her favorite picture books from her toddler years, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (Martin & Carle 1967).
While this is a very basic example, at the age of four she assisted in the selection of the book, helped narrow down the music choices and then participated in the recording of the reading. After we were finished, she was very proud and excited of what she did and could not wait to share it with family and friends.
[edit] Podcasting at Willowdale Elementary
The following is information gathered from an interview with Cathy Greenwald, the current administrator over Radio WillowWeb at Willowdale Elementary, on November 29, 2007.
The podcasting at Willowdale Elementary started out as an internal "news" program for the school. One of the teachers, Tony Vincent, had a vision that these programs could become something more. Because of Willowdale's mission statement, they were able to achieve more.
Because the school already had a good technology infrastructure, they were able to enhance their existing technology to enable the connection to the internet, and that was all they needed to get their podcasting up and running. In the beginning of the podcasting program, there was a full time administrator over the project, however, because of the tremendous support of the teachers in the school, the podcasting project is only half of Cathy's responsibilities. For example, many of the teachers are now familiar enough with the process that they are able to assist the students in the creation and production the podcasts, leaving Cathy to perform the final editing and uploading to the internet.
The podcasts are open to anyone at the school. The participants of the podcasts at Willowdale are either determined by the teachers or by students volunteering. Once the participants are determined, the role the students play in podcast is decided by the students. When the topic of the podcast is defined, the students are responsible for the research on the topic, the writing of the script for the podcast and then the recording of the podcast. Teachers and/or the administrator are just there for support, the students really have the majority of input and control over the podcasts. However, there are exceptions to this if there are additional needs of certain students. An example would be a student who may need to some extra practice in sentence structure or writing may be asked to participate in the script portion of the podcast. In this manner, the podcast is not only teaching the students about the particular topic of the podcast, it is also providing the student with additional instructional value and practice.
While the children enjoy and think of the podcasts as a fun activity, Cathy and the other teachers have noticed the other benefits as well:
(1) Increased self confidence.
(2) Students are learning how to perform research on the internet, what is reliable information and what is not.
(3) Improving writing skills.
(4) Learning how to write for a specific audience and what is appropriate.
(5) Learning about Wiki's and other internet sites that are useful for research and information.
As far as other types of podcasts at Willowdale, there really are not any other "school sponsored" types, however, one of the second grade classrooms is partnering with a school in Georgia on an international project that requires this class to make 1 - 3 minute podcasts that are then sent to the school in Georgia and then these are uploaded to a project site that is shared internationally. This project does not go through Cathy (totally contained in this classroom) so there is not a lot of other information.
Example of Willowdale Podcast on the American Revolution.
[edit] Other Examples of Educational Podcasting
ColeyCast at Tovashal Elementary School Murrieta, California
Mr. Jaffe's 6th Grade at Mills Creek Elementary School Warrington, PA
Radio Cambridge at San Antonio, Texas
Storynory is a site that contains audio stories that are easy to download for elementary students and their parents.
Colonial Williamsburg podcasts that are great for social studies educators
[edit] Summary
There are many benefits to podcasting in an educational setting. One of the most important is how easy it is to get started. "Many students are already creating content or using gadgets and devices like cell phones for communication. Podcasting in school takes this a step further... the teacher can expand on those skills to make learning interesting and exciting" (Stephens 2007).
Another benefit, as demonstrated with the Willowdale example, is the opportunity for collaboration with other schools. Mills Creek Elementary School worked with Willowdale in getting their podcasting project up and running. This type of partnership between a school in Omaha, NE and Warrington, PA probably would not have happened without the Willowdale podcast.
Last, the benefits to the students can't be overlooked. The participation in technology, gaining self confidence, research skills, writing practice, recording, and editing are skills that will be used throughout their education and lives. Not to mention what they learned about the topic while creating the podcast. Podcasting really is a tool that offers a lot of rewards without a lot of capital investment. Hopefully as time moves on, we will see more schools invest in this educational tool and create more innovative and exciting materials.
[edit] Project Reflections
This project was originally selected for somewhat selfish reasons. I have a child who will be entering kindergarten next year, and I am (1) amazed at how comfortable she already is with the computer in our home and (2) curious as to what I can expect and what I should look for in her school.
Podcasting became the specific topic based on Google searches using Elementary Schools and Web 2.0 search criteria. I came across the Willowdale site from these early searches and as soon as I found their site, I knew I wanted to look more at podcasting at the elementary school level.
[edit] References
Griffy, J. (2007, June). Podcast 123. Library Journal 1976 v. 132 no. 11 32-34. Retrieved November 20,2007, from Education Full Text database. [1]
Martin, B. & Carle, E. (1967). Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. ISBN 0-8050-4790-5
Orden, J. (2005). How to podcast. Retrieved, December 6, 2007 from http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/
Stephens, M. (2007 February). All About Podcasting. Library Media Connection. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Library, Literature and Information Full Text Database. [2]
Troutner, J. (2007, February). Best sites for educational podcasts. Teacher Librarian v. 34 no. 3 43-44. Retrieved, November 21, 2007, from Education Full Text database. [3]
Vincent, T. & van't Hooft, M. (2007, April). For kids, by kids: our city podcast. Social Education 71.3, 125-129. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition database. [4]
Music is from Music incompetech titled Doh De OhTitle by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 2.0"
[edit] Additional Web Sites
Willowdale Elementary Web Site
[edit] Interview
I interviewed Cathy Greenwald who is the Technology Leader for Willowdale Elementary on Thursday, November 29, 2007.
