Wes Fryer Ch. 3 Audio
Podcasts are dated entries in an
often - ongoing series of recorded audio or video reports which often have
other files linked to them such as video or image files. They usually have an associated web feed that
allows listeners / observers to subscribe to the channel they are in. They also have meta information attached. Students can use these as a way to report on
a class project or assignment, or on something they did recently that was
interesting. These can take the place of
paper reports, and can incorporate images, video, and other interactive
resources. There were several examples
that were discussed.
There were various audio recorders
discussed, which included some pros and cons.
This helps teachers to decide what would be most appropriate and useful
for their intended project. For
instance, if I wanted to use one on a field trip, I would need to get a battery
powered audio recorder. However, they
involve significantly more “clicks” and organization to get to the finished
product.
There was a great deal of discussion
of the process of how to use this technology in the classroom. This is something I paid attention to and
learned a lot about. This will help me
to better use this technology in the classroom and avoid some issues. For example, I now know that if there are
bandwidth issues in the school I am teaching, using a cloud – based system may
not work well. Phonecasting could be
used for no-editing audio recording in the field or the classroom, but it can
become complicated. The images that
accompany these must be considered – there shouldn’t be copyright issues, and
the privacy rules regarding students must be observed.
One use of these audio recordings is
for students to record their essays and then play them back later. It could also be used to make them accessible
to friends and family far away. Recording
students’ impressions in the field can preserve their authentic emotional
connection to the experience, and preserve details that will be forgotten weeks
later. This can also be important to
their families. Students could also
record their class notes or highlighted text as an audio book and then listen
to them as they are on the school bus being transported, or passengers on long
drives looking for something to do. Or
for teachers preparing for lessons!
For the classroom management
assignment, I could use an audio recording as a voiceover for a
screencast. This would allow me to
present information on the screen while the voiceover explains what it means to
the assignment. It could also work for
some other assignments.
I visited the EdTechTalk site and thought it was
interesting. Much of it seemed oriented
to or created by education people who had a lot of experience. Most of the webcasts were about new ideas or
programs people were creating and exploring, or about conferences. Some topics might build upon traditional methods,
while many others were outside of, experimental, or alternative to the
mainstream education establishment. As a
starting educator, much of it was more about theory and not directly applicable
to what my class has been doing in class at this point. However, there was some discussion of things,
such as digital writing, that was immediately usable. Also, careful examination of the written descriptions
accompanying the podcasts did reveal leads to interesting tools with great
potential for use, such as gooru and this list by Erin Klein.
The EdReach site has blogs that are
more relevant to class activities you might want to use yourself today. Using digital content and technology,
incorporating gaming in the classroom, and new ways to use iPads are some of
the topics I found in a short time.
There seems to be lots of material here if you spend the time to search
through it. However, there was less
written documentation accompanying the podcasts, and the formerly live podcasts
weren’t edited. Some of the technology
limitations of long – distance collaborations were evident here, and could have
been edited out to increase watchability.
The website Classroom 2.0 Network had a lot of interesting wikis that had direct
relevance to technology use in the classroom,
interesting apps, and to classroom management topics. This included a number of entries of use to new teachers. I felt this was the most relevant to me as a
developing teacher.
