Betty’s Instructional Technology Blog

Students have been working on podcasts over the last couple of months. Two “Blogs” were created to share these completed products. Students did extensive research on the Internet as well as tin the library. I have shared the link to the first podcast before. It is http://rogem6a.edublogs.org/ . A new feature was added. One student used Voicethread to conduct an interview with a teacher in another district. The interesting thing is that the student and the teacher never met or spoke to each other live. Difficulties with schedules made it impossible to conduct a traditional interview. So, thanks to the help of a wonderful educator and skilled technician, we were able to email questions to the teacher and obtain audio clips of the responses. We recorded the student’s questions then recorded the teacher’s answers. The direct link to the interview is: http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=136299

A second group created a series of podcasts using Audacity and Photo story. To embed the link to the video podcast, we uploaded the Photo story files to Teacher Tube, since You Tube is often blocked in our district. The link to their site is: http://rogem6b@edublogs.org .

Sixth grade students from Roland Rogers Elementary School completed their research on “going green.” View their blog and podcasts at this site: http://rogem6a.edublogs.org

The students used Photostory and Audacity to create the podcasts. We uploaded the completed Photostory “videos” to Teacher Tube since you tube is blocked in our district. It was easy to embed the videos into our edublog site.

They will  finalize their project by including a list of their references and  a link to bookmarks they made that can be printed.

Another group working on a different blog for “sustainable living” will be posted soon. 

I’m so excited! I have been working with a class of students over the past couple months. They have been researching various ways to “go green.” As a culminating project, the students have created podcasts to share what they have learned.

It is our first attempt. We are all still learning. The following are three examples. They will eventually be posted on a class blog. I am also considering creating a wiki for them to share all they have learned.

I hope you enjoy our podcasts.

Intro -  www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/intro.wmv

Reuse – www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/reuse.wmv

Reduce – www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/reduce.mp3

Today, I will be attempting to create podcasts with some sixth grade students. I will be using PhotoStory and a program called Jodix. Thanks to Dan Schmit whose “Kidcast:Podcasting in the Classroom” podcasts have been an invaluable help. 

I hope to use Edublogs to host the podcasts. The following is a test. A very bright and creative 4th grade student created the following video after researching William Shakespeare: (Quicktime is needed to view it)

shakespeare-video.mp4

The following is a sample audio file. (My first attempt at using Audacity.) There is no content, it is only a test using free music loops from http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free.html

Click on the audio link below. (Quicktime is needed to listen)

podcast-test.mp3