Podcasting

Have just done the reading :Hendron, J. G. (2008). RSS for educators. Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts and wikis in the classroom (pp. 1-16). Oregon, USA:International Society for Technology in Education. as up until this point have not even heard of pod casts, the mere sound of the word sends shivers down the spine as I am not technically minded in the least. I have already started to think of ways this could be used within the classroom as I thought that the way that the school in Virginia used blogs to create a link with home and school created an effective way to communicate in this information loaded society. Parents could keep up to date and have the opportunity to give feedback to the podcasts and blogs. I also found this website which I will use for my podcast which defines what a podcast it and the ways that it could be effectively used in the classroom.

Shamburg (2009) advocates that podcasts encourage learning which is supported and facilitated through ICT. ICT can be taught on its own as I have often done myself as with the time allocation to the computers and limited resources, funds and of course my very limited knowledge I have often taught the skills of ICT use, I now know this is the wrong approach however I dont feel that you can change your teaching until you change the skills and knowledge you have. What is more important is that e learning needs to grow out of other curriculum whereby it is a means of chaning and adapting teaching and learning to more adequately cater for the needs of a digitally literate society. (Finger, Russell, Jamieson-Proctor & Russell, 2007) Podcasting is a new technology that enables students the opportunity to engage in a new form of communication where they can present and share what they have learned, their opinions etc. with the focus clearly on the learning.
Shamburg (2009), suggests that podcasting involves encourages active participation in society where children have the opportunity to take risks with technology which is accessible, inexpensive and within an authentic learning context, one in which they can take ownership of and create for themselves:
"Real-world activities connect to student interests and powerful ideas" (Shamburg, 2009, p. 10); when podcasting and these real-world activities combine, effective learning can really take place.
I have never tried podcasting or any other web 2 tool in my class but im hoping that while I learn about the importance of these tools that I can eventually set thing in motion to get them into practise.

I thought before starting out that I had better google as you know I do to find out exactly what Podcasting is in laymans terms.

Taken from http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~nshelley/
Podcasting is a new method of communication allowing anyone to create audio files and post them to the Internet for others to download and listen to at any time. These audio files can be downloaded to a personal computer or handheld device such as an iPod.
Podcasting has rapidly become a new medium for both commercial and home-grown talk shows on multiple subjects. The relative ease of production and low costs associated with the making of a Podcast has opened this new medium to the masses. This lesson gives teachers an overview on starting a student-produced Podcast at their school and in the classroom. The Podcast to be created can take on multiple themes. Some teachers are using Podcasting an an alternative to student produced newspapers and television shows. Others are using the medium to reproduce lessons for absent students or for students to present oral presentations of reports and assignments. There are multiple possibilities for using the Podcasting medium. This lesson focuses on producing a student-created Podcast as medium for student expression, news, interviews, and related themes specific to the student's own school.
The desired outcome is:
Students learn the technical skills needed to record a high-quality podcast.
Students brainstorm, and design the themes and content of their Podcast with teacher guidance.
Students complete pre-production, production, and post-production of their Podcast.
Students ultimately learn project management skills, Podcasting technical skills, and actively use the Podcast as a medium for positive student expression.
Time AllocationPodcasts usually take 3-4 weeks to produce, so teachers should aim to make one Podcast a month to start. Once students are more familiar with the process, the number of Podcasts produced can increase as desired. To make the most efficient use of time teachers should follow the below process steps for creating the Podcast:
Review computer skills and software needed for production process.
Define the purpose of the Podcast.
Organize students to participate.
Brainstorm potential topics for the Podcast with students (Weekly classroom news broadcast, document a field trip, share book reviews, etc.)
Divide up topics to pairs of students for content/script production.
Produce rough scripts with students.
Practice recording the content a few times (like a dress rehearsal).
Record the Podcast content
Edit recording in Garageband or other audio program.
Post content to Internet and RSS feed
Advertise Podcast availability to peers.
Technology Use

Podcasting
I am going to attempt to create my own podcast this is tricky for me as, as you all know I am very new to Web 2.0 technologies and have left this until last. What I had to do was to go onto You tube and find some step by step tutorials which is what I did for setting up my blog as well.
I have inclosed the youtube tutorials which helped me get things right in the end. Fingers Crossed

I am going to use Audacity to record my podcast but will have a bit more of a read of what to do first before giving it a go and of course download Audacity to my computer.

Have just tried downloading it and now as Tony has said I will need to put it into a drop box from which I can link my blog to. Man this gets more difficult as time goes on.