This Thanksgiving, I'm Especially Grateful - My Podcast Appears to Be Up and Running!

I love it!!! My dad just interrupted dinner with my mom and called to say... "Okay...so what does ‘pod’ stand for in a podcast, anyways?" First of all, I’m so excited that I’ve got my parents thinking about podcasting and blogging! And secondly, (thanks to Lee Lefever at CommonCraft.com) I knew the answer!!!!

Thanks to Lee Lefever, I also understand the benefits of downloading podcasts. ‘Personal on Demand’ casting offers individuals audio/video on particular topics to be downloaded and viewed when and where time permits. (Insert anecdote here of my husband watching National Geographic videos of Bear Attacks on the plane to Cuba. Peculiar, yet, personal and on demand.) What was not immediately clear to me was why I would create podcasts myself, or with my students.

This may be because, as Christine mentioned in her blog (http://crobi-blog.blogspot.com/), the most stressful assignment we have encountered thus far in this course. After reading about the steps in a pdf file that Christine posted, I thought it would be pretty straightforward. However, both the concept and the steps were foreign to me. How to create an mp3 file, how to create a ‘live’ link on a blog, how to record audio, etc. It has been a frustrating week of missteps, faulty links, server errors and awkward links on my blog. Still, it is with fingers crossed that I pick up the old fashioned phone and ask others to try accessing my podcast via my blog ("Does it work?!"). Who knew that this Thanksgiving I would give thanks for a podcast on my blog?!

Throughout the past month of my coursework, I have been most nervous about the podcast content. At first I was terrified to select a topic and create a podcast. I was very uncomfortable about uploading a video of me to the World Wide Web. After my preliminary research I was relieved to realize that I could do an audio-only file (hooray for Stuart McLean who makes this beyond sufficient - an artform! http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts). Then, I was on a roll. I could anonymously pretend to be an expert on a topic (How Do Writers Get Their Ideas?) and post for others to hear. A few panicked web searches and several hand-holding sessions with a patient husband later, and I think I have done it! In the future, I may post a few key lessons or read alouds for my students online. But, I believe the real implications and power of podcasting lies in passing the knowledge and ability on to students (I’m sure they’ll figure it out much faster than I did).

As an elementary teacher, one of the biggest obstacles is seeking out authentic experiences for my students. I know from both research and experience that the most authentic purposes for reading and writing are the most powerful and successful lessons. When students are producing work for a real-world purpose or audience, they are motivated to spend a little extra time to create and revise quality work. In a video posted to YouTube (http://www.podcastingnews.com/2008/02/18/kids-explain-podcasting/) students explain podcasting to a world audience. I was struck by the common thread as the students spoke: many of them referred to sharing their work and ideas with people all over the world, and receiving feedback from their audience. These students had experienced the power of posting their work to the web and hearing back from a wide audience. I can imagine the motivation of my students in such a situation. When asked to edit their writing, for example, most students groan or find an easy and superficial way to improve their work. But if students were aware of a world wide audience that would be viewing/hearing their work, I strongly believe that they would be more motivated to put forth their best work.

On the website ‘Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers’

the author proposes further benefits:
"How do children benefit from making a podcast?
-It gives them a potential audience of thousands for their work.
-It's great for developing literacy skills (writing scripts, setting up interviews etc), allows children to develop and practise their speaking and listening skills, and they also learn some amazing ICT skills.
-Podcasts can be interactive, and the audience can be invited to send their comments, giving valuable feedback to the children about their work.
-I've found that making a podcast is also great for developing teamwork skills. The children always work together really well, as they're always keen to make a great show."

Beyond writing, the literacy skills which students use in creating a podcast directly support and extend our Alberta Program of Studies (http://education.alberta.ca/media/450519/elak-9.pdf). Students are reading, writing, listening, viewing, speaking and representing in meaningful ways when creating podcasts. Readers’ Theatre, book reviews, book club questions and conversations, poetry, sharing writing, and radio plays are just a few applications that I see working very well with my students.

Audio podcasts seem like an excellent place to start as a teacher, as the degree of anonymity is much greater than with video podcasts. Freedom of Information and Privacy policies have been a common obstacle in my exploration of Web 2.0 as a teacher, but audio podcasts in which students work as a group or use a pseudonym seem like an exciting and manageable way to engage students on Web 2.0.
Podcasting does not seem to be growing as quickly as other Web 2.0 applications, however. In ‘Enjoy Podcasting While You Can, Kids’ Matthew Lasar (http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0044/t.15902.html) asserts that podcasts are not easy enough to download in our busy lives, and therefore are not catching on quickly for those who are working full-time or parenting (he seems to relegate this technology to kids and teens). This is an important implication for teaching as parents would need to be educated on how to access our podcasts created in class. [There are simple tutorials available all over the web; some even simple enough for small children (http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/podcasts/index.html).] As we consider easy ways to reach our audiences with child-created podcasts, RSS feeders may become more integral. I have not been particularly diligent with my GoogleReader account yet, but I see podcasting as a perfect use for this Web 2.0 tool. If specific audience members could subscribe to our class/school podcasts we would have a dedicated audience and they would have easy access to our work. I look forward to further exploring RSS feeds and my favourite podcasts (my commute accompanied by the ‘Vinyl Cafe’...sounds perfect to me!).

If we think that educators have the podcast market covered, don’t be fooled. Ad Age reports
DISNEY READIES CHILDREN'S AD-SUPPORTED PODCASTS.
"In its push to reach 6-to-14-year-olds when they're not listening to the radio, Radio Disney offers content downloadable to MP3 players...Plans to insert advertising come at a good time. The recent iTunes soundtrack explosion triggered by Walt Disney Co.'s 'High School Musical' no doubt is creating a halo effect for Disney properties as it involves the likes of Gabriella and Ryan in other Mouse properties."
As with all Web 2.0 tools, and the Internet as a whole, students will need to educated about podcasts that are available, some of which are inappropriate. As Will Richardson writes "[while] the 'anyone can publish anything' aspect can be unsettling...wouldn't it better to teach students how to deal with less-than-salient contet that they see when they get home?" (2008). And those podcasts which are appropriate may be sprinkled with ads (as mentioned above) or posted by those with a bias or misinformation. This is another important opportunity for teachers to educate students about media literacy and internet awareness.

Podcasting offers an exciting tool for teachers and students, and in true Web 2.0 form, provides opportunities for both consuming and contributing online. I know my students would be excited by the possibility of posting their own podcast, and I think they will be fascinated by some of the podcasts available (I myself, didn’t realize how easy it was to download podcasts without iTunes!). But admittedly, the first thing I will do with my students on our SmartBoard tomorrow morning is to share the podcast I have posted on my blog. I’m proud of what I have learned and discovered this week, and I’m motivated to keep exploring.