From the BBC News this morning ...

'Pupils at a Devon school have had their textbooks replaced by personal computers and webcams.' ..... this is the scariest thing that I have seen for a long time. If this is the face of the future for education then I think we should have an uprising now !!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6310000/newsid_6316000/6316013.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm

BBC creates fantasy island for kids

I missed this at first ... would prefer that children get outside in the fresh air and run around. Has anyone any more information on this please?

Let their voice be heard !

On 10th/11th February I am going to Paris to take part in a European convention concerned with looking at network connectivity for schools and services provided to schools, as well as how they are used by schools, and what the needs of schools are in this respect.

http://www.terena.org/activities/earnest/ws-schools/

I have just read the DEMOS pamphlet by Hannah Green and Celia Hannon called 'Their Space - Education for a digital generation' and find myself, not so much agreeing with them, but noting that they concur with beliefs that I strongly hold.

http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace

The Executive summary of the work says:

' School’s out ...

The current generation of decision-makers – from politicians to teachers – see the world from a very different perspective to the generation of young people who do not remember life without the
instant answers of the Internet or the immediate communication of mobile phones. It is these decision-makers who shape the way that digital technologies are used in the system and who set them up to limit their use and role in everyday life. This is a short-term solution to a long-term change. In an economy driven by knowledge rather than manufacturing, employers are already valuing very different skills, such as creativity, communication, presentation skills and
team-building. Schools are at the front line of this change and need to think about how they can prepare young people for the future workplace. But it is not just about schools – parents, young people and society in general have a blind spot in terms of recognising and valuing these ‘softer’ skills.'

Is this how you see it ?

I am concerned that unless we recognise ( their final chapter) ...' The world has changed so why haven't we'... any system 'we' think is acceptable will be bypassed.

What do you think and feel please?

Podium stand at BETT 07

Podium looking good at BETT 2007

Why Educational Podcasting ...

Your views are urgently sought .... please

How's this for a start:

Why Educational Podcasting January 2007

• Provides another way of sharing and transmitting audio for teaching and learning in schools and at home
• Children and young people are able to record, produce and publish on the Internet podcasts of their very own
• Tailored to any curriculum area
• Can provide bespoke materials to support any learning situation
• Provides instructional content to reinforce learning
• Excellent for homework
• Potential to support or extend the work of any pupil with special needs
• Great community/school link potential
• Useful for children who miss sessions/ illness etc
• Useful for those with a reading difficulty or for English as a second or third language
• Promotes a concept of ownership of materials
• Promotes sustained effort in publishing for specific audiences
• An easy vehicle for personalised learning.

Some Contexts

School weekly magazine

Reports of school visits on line

Development of collections of poetry

Collaborative work with other schools

Audio jargon busters

Information for parents

Information for new pupils

Historical interviews

Regular school sports reports

Summary …Podcasting has the potential to offer the following for personalised learning in schools:

• creating audio material for learning "on demand", at anytime and anywhere
• using differential materials that can be matched to the abilities, needs and motivation of identified children and young people
• engaging in curriculum activities grounded in an emerging technology and integral to the world-wide communication revolution
• providing curriculum-related teaching and learning in a wide range of contexts and in different locations both within and away from school
• As with all technologies, podcasting has the potential for releasing the imagination of children, young people, their teachers and parents/carers.

Podium or Audacity ?

I often get told by people that they are podcasting and, when I question them, I discover that they are recording sound and uploading the MP3 file to a web space somewhere or putting the recording in a blog etc ... this is beginning to annoy me a lot.

So ... Podium .V. Audacity

The difference is actually quite simple, they do different things.

Podium enables you to plan, record, edit, publish and promote podcasts. Audacity doesn’t.

It's important that we are clear that podcasts have multiple episodes and once they are subscribed to they are automatically delivered. If you create single, stand alone sound file, you are not podcasting, you are recording a sound file…full stop … simple as that.

Audacity allows you to record and edit sound files. It's an excellent piece of software but it doesn't create podcasts. Audacity is the sound recorder and is one way of creating the first part of the podcasting process. To create podcasts you need other pieces of software, pieces of software which, potentially, are going to put people off creating their own podcasts because they were developed for the technically capable.

Podium creates a podcast and the multiple episodes which exist within it, together with an image per episode. It can also create chapters in each episode, each of which can be recorded and edited individually. It also contains a scripting tool which enables children to script their podcast, hence embedding literacy and planning activities into the creation of the podcast. It then publishes the podcast to the internet and lets you promote your podcast to your potential audience. Audacity doesn't do any of this because it wasn't created for this purpose.

Podium also allows you to record edit and produce your podcast, importing sound effects and music, as well as recording speech. This is the area of functionality which Audacity also does, in quite a sophisticated way. Podium was created for use by teachers and pupils, Audacity, and the related pieces of software, were created for the adult world and are not anywhere near as intuitive as Podium.

The acid test would be to sit a group of teachers and pupils in front of Podium and Audacity, ask them to create a podcast and .Spend the five minutes it takes to take a look at Podium and you'll see why it is the way to put podcasting in the hands of those that matter most, teachers and pupils.

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