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.

RM's Educational podcasts

I confess that I have only just noticed these.

'The RM Education Lectures are 45 minute presentations delivered by individuals who directly or indirectly, influence education or who challenge current thinking and methodologies. Ostensibly, the RM Education Lectures form part of a CPD programme for RM management but they have wider appeal than we can accommodate in the Conference Room at RM HQ. For that reason, we'd like to extend the programme to anyone interested via a podcast. For each new lecture delivered, we will record and add to the RM Education Lecture podcast (where the speaker has granted us permission to do so).'

To date you can listen to Stephen Heppell, John Davitt and Tim Brighouse.

Podcasting Reviewed

Trawling through my various feeds ( having been 'away' all last week ) I came across this interesting guide to podcasting from the world of education outside schooling but often referring to schools. More food for though. The podcast on the 'kineo' site by Donald Clark of Ufi is well worth the effort.

I like the idea that podcasts are pure content which help rather than distract.

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 !

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.