Podcasting in Surrey (without a fringe)

Sometimes people just make my day.

Yesterday I had wakened early (before 5.00) and had begun my drive down the M1 towards Surrey. My route was to take me on to the M25 and then around to J10 and off to Cobham. I gave myself 3 hours to do it ... it was not enough. I arrived on the M25parkway at just before 7.00 and then stopped and started my way around anti-clockwise ... even had time to count the number of jets I could see in the sky over Heathrow (7). I arrived at the 4S Training Centre in Cobham at 8.33 ... rushed in ... and was greeted by smiles and a really warm welcome. Just down the corridor, in the room we were to work in I met Tim Barette ... more smiles, warm handshake, and 'What can I get you to drink?' and 'Is there anything I can do to help?' and ' Will this be okay for you?' and 'Is there anything else you need?'

Sometimes people just make your day ... thanks Tim !!

Then the teachers came and we podcasted. We used Podium from Softease and it was easy to use and didn't get in the way of what we were trying to do and we recorded sounds and made podcasts and had fun and could see why we might want to do this with children in classrooms.

We took poems as a theme and the teachers read and developed lots of ideas and added backing tracks and 'stings' to their productions. We spoke of building a podcast as a 'design and build' exercise in D & T and commented that preparing the resources ( sound files mainly) was a pre-podcast job.

The scripting tool in the software excited interest and its potential was not lost on a group of primary teachers who could see the cross-curricula application of both the scripting and the podcasting.

The 'witches' from Shakespeare's Macbeth, concluded proceedings.

It was no big deal. Not once did any of the teachers ask how to do something. They listened, watched and then experimented ... brilliant !! I do hope that they enjoyed it as much as I did.

The podcasts they made can be listened to here (Remember it was a first try and was supposed to be fun)

Podium Podcasting in Luton

The sun shone on us on Friday in Luton where, in the ICT suite of the Luton Learning Resource Centre a group of primary consultants gathered to podcast using the Podium Software from Softease.

The idea was for these professionals to discover both the functionality of the software and the curriculum implications behind its use. Able users they were, with lots of enthusiasm and interpretive minds to see challenges and advantages. The software proved itself on all counts, being simple to use and safe and secure in its operation. The key thing was the application of the concept of recording sound and syndicating it so that subscription meant continuity.

Ideas flowed thick and fast as the consultants worked with the software.

The use of the podcasting as an audio record of reading was developed and as one professional said: 'Rather like and audio blog with each book read being a blog post.' ... and so it was. In Podcasting terms each episode of the podcast of a reading record was associated with a specific book on a specific date with room for comments and 'book review'. The idea that this meant that there could be a wider audience for reading progression and that this could engender a sense of ownership and audience was not lost on the group.

As they mastered the software the consultants worked with multi-tracking ... recording a story on one track and adding sound effects on another. 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat Hutchins was a favourite text here with some very inventive animal sounds produced.

We looked at, and experimented with, the idea that podcasting was a great revision tool and examined its application in teaching and learning languages.

Finally the group looked at the 'scripting tool' and examined how its use to practice and refine speech before publication with its manual autocue could be a real 'tool' for developing the links between reading, writing and speaking.

By the end of the two and a half hour session the consultants had loaded the software onto their laptops, set the systems up to 'ftp' their podcasts to the server, sampled and experimented with the functionality of the software and discussed the contexts.

A great afternoon in the sun in Luton.

Podcasting in Spondon

With 32 excited Y1 children, 10 laptops and assortment of microphones, 2 teachers and myself we embarked on a podcast of what each of the groups thought of the story of Cinderella.

Firstly we had to set the kit up over lunch time and check that the laptop batteries were charged and that the mics worked ... well that took some time ... but in the end we were there just in time for the children to come in.

We began,(after the niceties) to have a look at the Podium software. I demonstrated on a SmartBoard (bad move - explanations later) how to open the software and where to click to record. We had a class go at 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' and the playback sounded really good as my laptop has a great in-built mic and the speakers on the SmartBoard did the job well.

We reviewed how to make the recording, talked about not chewing the microphones and not fiddling with the wire while speaking and then the children went to their tables to speak and listen to their voices. It was wonderful ... 32 young voices with no problems about what to say. We paused and spoke of 'sharing' and 'taking turns' and then we were off again. These were Y1 children many had never used a laptop before and certainly had not seen a trackerpad and so some of the pointing and clicking was a bit hit-and-miss but they soon got the hang of how it all worked. Small problems were found listening to playback as the laptops had really low volumes which I could not seem to change. Perhaps that was for the best really as they had to listen carefully and quietly. Oh ... and the SmartBoard bit ... well, because I moved things around my screen with my finger they thought that they could do that on theirs ! They soon worked out that it didn't happen!

I then showed how to import MP3 sounds into Podium (just for fun) and they made up lots of sound jumbles. Then we got down to the real stuff.

The group had listened to the story of Cinderella in a literacy context based on the idea of 'traditional tales' and had gone on, in small groups, to write their ideas about the story. These ideas they had 'carved up' so that in the speaking rehearsals they knew who was going to say which bit. And they had practiced their parts.

To set up the podcasts the children had to type in the podcast title, who would make it, the name of the episode and their initials. this took quite a while as keyboard familiarity is something that they are working on.

Once that was done with papers at the ready, the red buttons around the room were pressed and the recording started. Some stuttered and stopped and we restarted ... some spoke loudly and softly, some repeated. But, after all the trials were done they were satisfied with their own individual bits.

These Podium files were then saved as Podium MP3 files so that I could collect them and stitch them together to make up the final Cinderella Podcast.( They did not publish their individual files as the network was going a little slowly)

When all the files had been collected on my portable hard drive we did a final class podcast on my laptop of 'Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.

The whole thing took the best part of two hours and the children did not appear to flag once. They stuck to the task and appeared to have had a good time. The quality of the literacy was also good and the 'soft' curriculum aspects of sharing and collaborating were well to the front.

You can listen to the Cinderella podcast by clicking here or by pasting this address into iTunes:
http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/~182812/PSLiteracyGr260308182321/rss.xml

Podcasting - have you done it yet?

I have, this year, spoken/demonstrated/discussed and expounded many, many times about the power of the Podcasting. Last evening at a school near Burton on Trent a group of teachers, after a long day in the classroom and a one and a half hour session on administrative matters came, at 5.00PM to a session using the Podium software from Softease. They were still there at 6.30 PM !! They were engaged, vocal, enthusiastic (difficult to manage at times) but focused because they could appreciate the implications of what they were learning for their children. From a standing start, they got to grips with the application, laughed at the sound of their own voices (some people are always children at heart ... thanks goodness) but, most of all, developed a facility with the software which gave them confidence and conpetence to move on. One teacher, about to leave, said, ' I just can't wait to get home and show them what I have done !' She had just emailed herself the url of the podcast she had made and was urgent to get home, open iTunes and subscribe to it. She had even emailed her friends so that they could listen.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.(As they say)

My friend David Noble (of Booruch fame) interviewed me earlier this month for his Education Podcast Reflections series ... well worth subscribing to as an information source and a prompt for thought. Podcasting as a CPD opportunity for teachers in the field.

Softease has just released Podium MultiTracking and for all who bought the original version, this is a free upgrade ! ... of course, it is available to all others who wish to buy. Also added to this version is an updated Getting Started Guide together with a new keyboard shortcuts guide. This follows work undertaken with the RNIB by our own Jane Doran and the rest of the Podium development team, who have helped ensure that Podium is now even easier to use for the visually-impaired.

‘Raising achievement through podcasting’

Last Friday I did a session at the Guardian Newsroom, following my friend Baldev Singh, called 'Podcasting - let their voice be heard'. You can see the video of my bit here and you can read James Watson's excellent report of the event here.

There will be another similar event on April 25th.

Deepest Cornwall ...

An exciting day set up for tomorrow ... I am in deepest Cornwall not far from 'The Lost Gardens of Helligan' where I, a large group of Cornish teachers and another large group of Cornish children (The children come from the Bishop Bronescombe School in St Austell.) are going to use some advanced ICT to investigate invertebrates and plot their positions on EDA machines and upload the data to Google Earth. The engine that will drive all of this is called WildMap ( with its partner WildKey). As well as this the children ( and their teacher helpers) are going to be recording sounds and impressions of what they find as .wav files so that they can be used for podcasts which will be developed during the afternoon using the Softease Podium software.

All very exciting ...real datahandling for an authentic purpose.

PS Weather Update for Cornwall 31st January ( near here ) is rain and a bit more rain.

ICT Register Conference

Loughborough was the venue today at the ICT Register Conference - Making Connections

It was blasted off by a keynote sessions from Russell Prue, Award Winning ICT Evangelist, Author, Inventor & Entrepreneur and most ably followed up by Dr Baldev Singh, Imagine Education Director.

Russell's handouts can be found here.

John Sutton's presentation on podcasting can be found here.

Bits of my presentation (the videos etc) can be found here.

The Keynotes and Showcases focused on:
Creative use of new technologies and software tools
Creating new virtual and physical learning environments
National and international partnerships
Strengthening pedagogy through ICT
Web2.0 technologies

The web site for the event will soon be updated with the presentations. People attending were very open to the notion that we needed to move forward ( and quickly) to get the best from technology for the students/children in the system at this moment. Procrastination was NOT the order of the day. Inspired people ready to do inspirational things.

A wider perspective

Friday found me standing near the top of Hilton's newest hotel in Manchester. The views from Floor 23 give a really wide perspective of the City and were a fitting climax to a morning where we had been pushing the boundaries of Web 2.0 with and invited group of guests who had come along to hear about Softease's latest venture, Honeycomb, an integrated set of online creativity and collaboration tools that work through the Internet.

The group assembled in the Podium Lounge for bacon rolls and coffee. An inspired venue choice by Danielle Markland,account manager at Softease. Inspired for the food and welcome but more so as the flagship podcasting software produced by Softease is called ... Podium.

This excellent beginning was followed by an inspiring Keynote by Dr Baldev Singh seen here pondering the meaning of life and times with Peter Sadler, Sales and Marketing Manager of Softease.


Dr Singh took us on an impressive tour of the world in which Web 2.0 fits into educational contexts. Below I pick out just some of the nuggets of his presentation.

These aren't quoted verbatim but are taken from my notes of the event:

We need to get into the 'Q' stuff ... high Q ... Quality

Input less ... process more ... output less - but of greater quality

The best way to predict the future is to build it ( I think that is what Softease are doing with Honeycomb)

In a world of infinite content, the only way to cope with it is to focus on the context.

Did you ask a question today?

Content is important, connectivity is king but context is the emporer.

Kids act as amplifiers for learning.Using powerful technology allows children to make choices.

Access is important ... look to your firewalls!

From elearning to clearning .... connected learning!

I feel sure that there were more but when I read these they start to ask me questions about my thoughts and ideas ... good prompts for the future!

Baldev also flicked through a good number of interesting Web 2.0 site he uses:

Voki - for making and managing your own virtual characters
FlickrStorm - for searching for picture sets
bubbl.us - for online, collaborative mind mapping
walkit - mapper/router extraordinary
voicethread create, comment & share

On his blog John Sutton ably describes the part I played in the proceedings under the 'Honeycomb' heading. I reproduce his comments here ... Thanks John!

Also on the agenda was an introduction to Softease's brand new, soon to be launched, Honeycomb project presented by Doug Dickinson

Honeycomb is Softease's answer to the challenge that Web 2.0 presents to schools. In an article John Naughton wrote for the Observer newspaper in January he bemoaned the over emphasis on skills teaching in ICT and, in particular the heavy concentration on Microsoft Office. This, he argues, is turning children away from ICT in school in order to focus on all the simple and engaging stuff they can do with their mobile phone, Youtube, Facebook and Myspace etc. Honeycomb is an attempt to provide a set of cool tools that will engage children in a way that asking them to produce yet another PowerPoint simply won't. The launch at BETT in January is only the first step along the road for what is clearly a major development project. So far, they have developed a web portal which allows each student to have a website and a blog. These can also act as wikis with group access. The famous Softease "click anywhere and type" philosophy is seen throughout and makes it very simple for anyone to create a multi-media homepage and blog.

They have also included a couple of widgets to start things off (with clearly a long list of potential others to add) and a load of teacher review tools to ensure that staff can keep simple tabs on what children are doing. There are also a host of tiered security features to allow schools to manage access. Getting this right from the start is a major challenge as the two key inhibitors to uptake of Web 2.0 tools in school in my experience are perceived workload issues (not true if you embed it it in your teaching) and perceived security issues (cyberbullying and inappropriate stuff being published). If Softease can build teacher confidence with this aspect of the product straightaway, then they could be on to a winner (as long as the price is right - ever the issue for school!).

It's a fascinating project and I hope to bring you some screen shots when I've been given trial access to the development portal. One to follow for sure.

Podcasting Y3 ... French

I've had a terrific day !! This afternoon I worked with a couple of absolutely incredibly, stupendous teachers and 26 Y3 children. We podcasted (with Podium)

The children had never heard their voices before and were so excited to listen to each other and to get me to listen to what they had said. There was no false modesty here. They came straight in with 'the news', 'Radio school', 'Why I like football'. These were seven and eight year olds ... no fears ... taking risks.

The key to it all was what had happened long before I came on the scene and had my ego trip. They all knew how to log on, open software, save in different formats to their space etc ... and the kit worked ... all of it ... all of the time.

We ended up singing a first episode for the class French podcast ... the numbers.Just paste this url into iTunes or listen straight away to the first of many (I hope) podcasts ...

So exciting. so good, so real and 'in your face' ..... children having fun doing what comes natural with teachers prepared to let it happen and reap later rewards.

Wonderful !

Isle of Wight MFL Conference

Over 70 MFL teachers gathered on Friday and Saturday 12/13th October at Nodehill Middle School in the Isle of Wight for a Conference to reach out and accelerate the use of ICT across all aspects of the teaching and learning of languages. It was a truly multi-national affair with delegates from as far afield as Scotland, Wales and Portugal !

The sessions kicked off on Friday evening with a structured 'un-conference' show-and tell session in the Castle Inn in the centre of Newport. The evening began with David Noble from Fife setting the scene on the things he is currently thinking about. Have a look at his Future Lab interview on the subject. At 9.30 we tried a Flash Meeting with people from around the world ... New Zealand to USA ... the concept was great and it showed the potential of the medium but was let down by the speed of the connection.John Warwick was the man for Flashmeeting and he did a well visited presentation on Saturday. There were many interesting projects brought to the fore during a long evening the main thing coming through time and time again was the enthusiasm and commitment on the part of the presenters and the audience to quality education for young people. I finished off with a look at how Textease Studio CT could be used to read the page and record sound in different languages.

The Conference proper on Saturday had a host of presentation with many delegates really wanting to get to grips with blogs and podcasts and Joe 'keynoted' with a how to get started with podcasting. I know that there will be videos etc from him about all of the other presentations on his blog ( as soon as he and his wife have recovered from their organising efforts).

My session on the Friday evening provoked a good deal of interest in Textease Studio CT and the presentation stand had a great turn over of vistors wanting to know more. The Podium session attracted 15 or so who were looking to compare and contrast methods of podcasting before they dived into it. In using Podium I responded, in answer to a question, that ... 'Yes, it was a 'paid for' application' but felt that there was nothing that came entirely free and that people must judge for themselves about speed, simplicity, security and 'fit for purpose'. I also commented that it was up to those working across the educational arena to ensure that all colleagues and students had access to technology which fitted their learning and teaching contexts''

Keep your eye open for next year's Conference.

Podium Podcasting in Derby

What a superb morning! A group of Y3 children from a primary school in Derby attended a podcasting session at the local ICT Training Centre. And they were up for it !

ICT techniques to the fore ... they knew what it was about so they podcasted in FRENCH.

Scripting, recording, editing, importing MP3s, publishing and carefully listening to each other all seemed were taken in great leaps rather than strides.

You can hear their podcast by pasting this link into your favourite aggregator...

http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/~182215/the011007105705/rss.xml

You can read more about the session on the Podium Blog

It makes your heart sing...

From a dedicated teacher colleague...with many thanks ...

I have a pupil in my class who is selective mute. We’ve been doing voice recordings/podcasting since November, and so far she’s never taken part. We did a podcast for the Head to take to a conference .The children recorded a section at a time on audacity and then we converted to an MP3 then imported into Podium. *’s group asked if I would leave the room as she wanted to record her voice. * has been selective mute all 7 years in school with adults although she will talk to other children. She spoke clearly, and in one take. Further to this, last week she has since recorded her voice with me in the room!

We have been trialling a VLE for 12 months and * has been prolific in her postings. I have given her her own ‘space’ that only she and I can see and I’ve had loads of messages from her. She attended a residential and we used it to allay her fears and start a dialogue. It has been absolutely inspirational to read funny, thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent conversations with her, and I actually feel I know *. I have learnt what a fantastic sense of humour she has. This makes her disability even more remarkable that she can maintain this silence when she obviously has so much going on. This technology has definitely changed *’s school life and my relationship with her. I can ask her a question and she’ll reply on the VLE and vice versa. She has many other special needs. The VLE in itself was revolutionary but the added part of her wanting to take part in podcasting has really moved me and made me realise how powerful these web 2.0 technologies can be. We’ve also set up a log in for * on the VLE at the Secondary School she going to move to in September.

Podium Podcasting

I am alerted to the 'ICT Inspirations', the blog of Simon Mills, and a neat description of the use of Podium in a class based project on advertising fitting in with the Framework's unit on persuasive text that is certainly worth the read.

There is also a useful guide to how to use Podium written from the point of view of someone who worked through it so knows what first time users will want to know.

Somerset ICT Conference 2007

A good day at the Conference in the splendid surroundings of Dillington House on Monday 18th June talking with teachers about podcasting. I did two sessions, the first followed a session by two of Somerset's ASTs who were talking most ably about the use of sound in a great variety of ways to enhance teaching and learning across the whole of the primary curriculum. This gave me a great lead in and we spoke of podcasting as being almost a 'genre' which you choose if you want your sound recording to be serialised and syndicated. Of course, there was more to it than that but the two things did follow on really well.

It was interesting to see the small number who regularly use sound recording in their classrooms (in any format) but heartening to appreciate that they had come to find out how to do it and what its purpose would be.

Trent University Lunchtime CPD

On May 2nd I was invited to Trent University, Nottingham to talk to a group of educators about podcasting. It was to be part of a series of session that the University has to keep people in teacher education in touch with ideas to support teaching and learning, both of their students and in education as a whole.

The university have two ways of disceminating the information in these sessions. The first is to be there and listen and take part in the debate and the second is to pick it up from the video on the web site.

For those of you with a strong stomach here is the video !

It is awful to watch your own mannerisms - I must remember NOT to clasp my hands like that.

Sorry !

Podium Scottish Launch, Stirling, 16th May

Colleagues from many parts of Scotland assembed at the Stirling Management Centre on 16th May to listen to Ewan McIntosh expound his view on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in education. Inspiring stuff it certainly was !

Then I followed it with a demonstration of the Podium software for podcasting.

The session was well received and people went away excited to get started. I met up with one participant the day after who said that she had 'podcasted the night away' !

You can read a full report of the session on the Podium Blog.

Podium launch event, May 16th 2007, Stirling

James Watson of Softease reports:

'Well, it has now been just over two months since Podium’s release. During that time we have seen a huge amount of interest in understanding more about the educational benefits of podcasting.

The majority of teachers and advsors I speak to have heard of the word ‘podcast’ (well, it was word of the year way back even in 2005), but most are still uncertain when asked for a precise definition, how to create or listen to podcasts, or even why podcasting and other social software is so important in aiding children’s learning today.

To help raise further awareness of these issues, therefore, we are delighted to announce our official Podium podcasting launch event for Scottish Council Education Advisors at the Stirling Management Centre on May 16th 2007. We’re delighted to have Ewan McIntosh as a guest speaker to talk about podcasting and the broader themes of ‘Communication and Creativity in the Classroom’.'

Details here

An explanation of Podcasting

On the Softease/Podium website we have tried to make the concepts underpinning podcasting really clear ... if you are still confused try this from the Ninja !

Materials for the IBO Convention in Singapore March 2007

Unfortunately I will not be able to be at the Convention but you will find here the link to a short series of podcasts of some of the ideas that I hoped would come out of the sessions. These podcasts were produced by new software from Softease called Podium, a powerful and very straight forward to use application. A presentation on the nature of podcasting and the use of Podium to prepare and publish podcasts is available here.

Also here is an extended presentation of ideas and links which, I hope, will support ideas on multi modality across the IB range with particular reference to the PYP and the MYP. This presentation would be best viewed on a machine onto which Textease Studio CT has been downloaded so that the examples and activities become interactive in a truely multi modal sense.

Linked here are a number of flash files which tell the full story of multimodality with Textease.

(For best effect remember to press the 'F11' key on your computer keyboard and hide the 'IE' toolbar ... this will reveal the full Textease screen.)

Introduction to Multimodality and Textease
Using Texts
Graphics and Hyperlinks

Sound and Music

Video

Turtle Graphic Animation

Basic Animation

Further Animation

Multimodality Complete

All comments will be gratefully received.

Cumbria ICT Conference 14th March 2007

A really good day at the Rheged Discovery Centre near Penrith with the sun shining and over 100 ICT coordinators coming together to 'up' their knowledge base on current issues.
The Keynote by Kevin Thompson was an excellent opener on the world of Web2.0 and set the mind going about what can we use in school that our children/students are already using at home. The went from del.icio.us to flickr and onwards.... podcasting, wikiing and blogging. The real challenge now is to make use of this technology in a learning/teaching context.
Check the podcast if you want to here some of the bits ... it was made using the Podium software which I introduced to about 60+ people during the course of the day.

Leeds Trinity 6th March 2007

Three excellent sessions on podcasting today. Trust that those attending left with more information than they started with. If there are any questions please use the comments section.

IMPALA Project meeting University of Leicester 5th March 2007

Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation

An stimulating meeting with a good discussion on the definition of podcasting and the variety of ways to do it.

Podium Software was demonstrated and a copy was given to Matthew for instalation in the IMPALA zoo. I would be most please to see discussions on the morning in the comments on this thread...thanks

If there are any questions please get in touch

The presentation used is in wikimuse

Podcasting at the Learning Lab Conference, Telford 1st February 2007

An exciting day in Telford with lots of people to meet and lots of ideas to mull over.

This blog is here for those who attended my session '‘Podcasting-Making yourself heard’' , using the Podium software from Softease, so that they can ...'make themselves heard' .... comments please about the session if you will ... thanks.

Podium stand at BETT 07

Podium looking good at BETT 2007