Podcasting for Educators

In Annette Lamb & Larry Johnson's articles about podcasting--"Podcasting in the School Library, Part 1 & 2" (Teacher Librarian 34:3 February and April 2007), the authors note that pocasting--(a combo of ipod and broadcasting) is a great way to offer multimedia learning for students. In Part 1, the they state, "Podcasts are a way to convey ideas and emotions that are difficult to express in a text format." What I liked most about this article was the incredible resources for educational podcasts which were listed included:
Education Podcast Network
http://epnweb.org
Podcast Directory for Educators
http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting
Podzinger
www.podzinger.com
and more!

The authors ask interesting and relevant questions including:
"What is the vaue of the audio medium? How does the Podcast fit with other learning resources? My family and I often listen to podcasts from NPR www.npr.org/podcasts and Studio 360 (http://perec.studio360.org/podcast.html) while traveling in a car and not only is there some topic for everyone--but, it's a great way to get new information while multi-tasking with other things like driving, playing games, knitting, etc.

In Part 2, "Creating Powerful Podcasts with Your Students," the authors state, "...instead of spending time confiscating MP3 players from students, [teachers can] integrate learning by involving students in scripting, recording, editing and sharing Podcasts..." Some tips to consider while creating a podcast are to: work in teams, write a script, check for copyright issues, select a good location for your podcast, choose a microphone, add sound effects and most importantly, select the right software. You can use GarageBand or the opensource software Audacity which is free. Podcasts can aso include pictures, video and animations.