Education World ® Technology in the Classroom: Sites to See: Podcasting
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
Week 4---Podcast
"One of the Web's most powerful features is its ability to connect people and provide them with a virtual space for the sharing of ideas and content." (Hendron 67) Podcasting is one way to connect people. I have heard of podcasts. Have I ever used or made a podcast? No. After reading Chapter 3 of the Hendron text I learned a great deal about podcasts. A podcast is simply a series of digital media files (audio or video) that is released and downloaded through the Web. Podcasts can refer to an ongoing series or episodes of a particular program. Someone who creates a podcast is known as a podcaster. Podcasting started out in universities. Professors created podcasts to share lectures. This is a great idea that even teachers can use. Say a student is out of school due to an illness or surgery, they can simply download the lectures and stay in-sync with the class. It can even be used by students who leave school early for sporting events.
I always assumed that you could only use podcasts if you had an ipod. Well, you know what they say about people who assume! Once you subscribe to a podcast, it can be downloaded to your computer or your MP3 player. Subscriptions do not cost money, at least not as of right now. You can preview podcasts online and download individual episodes if you like from an online directory such as: Yahoo! Podcasts or iTunes Podcasts. Once you officially subscribe to a podcast the real magic occurs. An aggregator manages the podcasts that you subscribe to and organizes the media files on your device (MP3 player, iPhone). Everytime the podcaster creates and publishes a new podcast you receive it. The aggregator connects and continually checks with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) file. When there is something new---BAM---you get it!
Creating podcasts has many educational benefits. Students are able to create a product to share with a potentially world-wide audience. Their podcast can be listed in iTunes, right along with podcasts from The Discovery Channel and Disney. Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product. The process of putting together an audio recording is extremely valuable and is certainly a cross-curricular experience.
I found the following ideas at a wonderful site: www.macinstruct.com/node/43
I always assumed that you could only use podcasts if you had an ipod. Well, you know what they say about people who assume! Once you subscribe to a podcast, it can be downloaded to your computer or your MP3 player. Subscriptions do not cost money, at least not as of right now. You can preview podcasts online and download individual episodes if you like from an online directory such as: Yahoo! Podcasts or iTunes Podcasts. Once you officially subscribe to a podcast the real magic occurs. An aggregator manages the podcasts that you subscribe to and organizes the media files on your device (MP3 player, iPhone). Everytime the podcaster creates and publishes a new podcast you receive it. The aggregator connects and continually checks with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) file. When there is something new---BAM---you get it!
Creating podcasts has many educational benefits. Students are able to create a product to share with a potentially world-wide audience. Their podcast can be listed in iTunes, right along with podcasts from The Discovery Channel and Disney. Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product. The process of putting together an audio recording is extremely valuable and is certainly a cross-curricular experience.
I found the following ideas at a wonderful site: www.macinstruct.com/node/43
In a classroom where students have access to computers (a computer lab or in a 1-1 environment), students complete work in class and participate in instructor lead activities followed by independent work with a Podcast as resource material. Students can go through the Podcast at their own pace -working through the assignment at their own pace, backing up and reviewing material from the Podcast as needed without slowing down the class as a whole.
Podcasts that support the curriculum are identified and linked to by the instructor. As students require extra assistance on specific topics or concepts, they are directed to the Podcast resources by the instructor for additional help outside of class or during independent work in class. This is in conjunction with one-on-one assistance by the instructor with the student, but also allows the student to work on difficult concepts with extra help from other resources when the instructor is unavailable.
Students participating in English as a Second Language courses are provided with iPods containing spoken material of existing written content to allow them to listen to the material while reading. This can be done in the classroom, on the way to and from school, and at home. Improvements in reading, comprehension and verbal skills are gained through a tool that is cool to have. It’s not a dream, it’s a reality.
Students in one school create content for their own class, but also provide that content to the world so that any other school can participate in their learning process, as an observer or a learner. Comprehension of a topic grows exponentially when you are required to teach it to others. The process of creating a lesson becomes the lesson. The learners are the educators, and the educators learn from their students. This is why TIME Magazine made YOU the person of the year. You are the creator, the publisher, the subscriber, and the consumer. You control the demand and the supply. This is also a reality at Radio Willow Web, one of the leaders in educational Podcasting by students.
Hendron, J. G. (2008). RSS for educators: Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis in the classroom. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Week 3--Wikis
"Wiki"
From an educators standpoint, I like being able to access and share information readily. However, I find some negative aspects in allowing my students to be able to update content as quickly and easily as I can. As most educators would probably agree, the need of accurate information is very important.
My first experience at using a Wiki was during another grad class. It was a group assignment. The assignment was to create a budget for a library. As a group we were responsible to prepare a written budget which contrasts current per pupil expenditures--which we were given. The assignment had to be completed using a Wiki. At first I thought there was no way I could do this....I had no idea what a Wiki was or what to do with one! One of my group members thankfully got things started. She set up the Wiki by choosing a name and a basic layout. She then sent the rest of the group members an e-mail inviting us to join the Wiki. The link to our Wiki is/was http://threeonabudget.wetpaint.com/ (I am not sure if it is still accessible). I was amazed that it was sooo EASY to do. As we logged on and added or made changes to the budget, each of us knew who was posting. It was useful for our professor too. She was able to access our Wiki and see just how much each of us was contributing. This is a major bonus because you do not always know if everyone is contributing, or pulling their weight like they should. Hendron text states that Wikis come into play whenever people need to share access to information quickly, and to share responsibility for creating and updating that content. This is exactly what my group was doing. When you set up your Wiki you can make it so that only people you invite can add or make changes to items. In Chapter 2, I also learned that by requiring a sign-in several things happen. "It tells us who last made changes: but more importantly, it enables us to track use of the Wiki and all content by that particular author."(Hendron 41) I am happy to say that my group was fantastic and we received an "A" on our budget.
I had to partner-up for a database course last spring. We were constantly e-mailing each other back and forth back and forth...sending enormous attachments to one another that were filling up our in-boxes. It had us very frustrated! We approached the professor and asked if we could set up a Wiki for our next assignment. She was thrilled by our idea. She suggested it to the other groups in our class. I am not sure if anyone else used one or not. I am glad that we did. I am also glad that I had the budget project before that one and knew what I was doing!
I feel like a "Wiki" pro now!!
I want to say that I love Wikipedia. I know that many educators have issues with wikipedia. I think that it would be a good learning tool for students. They do not have to use the information that they find on wikipedia for term papers. Part of their assignment could be to compare the information that they find on wikipedia to other sources. Just because the information can be edited by many people does not mean that it is wrong information.
How do you feel about Wikipedia?
Have you used it?
Have you ever made changes or added to a page?
Hendron, J. G. (2008). RSS for educators: Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis in the classroom. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
From an educators standpoint, I like being able to access and share information readily. However, I find some negative aspects in allowing my students to be able to update content as quickly and easily as I can. As most educators would probably agree, the need of accurate information is very important.
My first experience at using a Wiki was during another grad class. It was a group assignment. The assignment was to create a budget for a library. As a group we were responsible to prepare a written budget which contrasts current per pupil expenditures--which we were given. The assignment had to be completed using a Wiki. At first I thought there was no way I could do this....I had no idea what a Wiki was or what to do with one! One of my group members thankfully got things started. She set up the Wiki by choosing a name and a basic layout. She then sent the rest of the group members an e-mail inviting us to join the Wiki. The link to our Wiki is/was http://threeonabudget.wetpaint.com/ (I am not sure if it is still accessible). I was amazed that it was sooo EASY to do. As we logged on and added or made changes to the budget, each of us knew who was posting. It was useful for our professor too. She was able to access our Wiki and see just how much each of us was contributing. This is a major bonus because you do not always know if everyone is contributing, or pulling their weight like they should. Hendron text states that Wikis come into play whenever people need to share access to information quickly, and to share responsibility for creating and updating that content. This is exactly what my group was doing. When you set up your Wiki you can make it so that only people you invite can add or make changes to items. In Chapter 2, I also learned that by requiring a sign-in several things happen. "It tells us who last made changes: but more importantly, it enables us to track use of the Wiki and all content by that particular author."(Hendron 41) I am happy to say that my group was fantastic and we received an "A" on our budget.
I had to partner-up for a database course last spring. We were constantly e-mailing each other back and forth back and forth...sending enormous attachments to one another that were filling up our in-boxes. It had us very frustrated! We approached the professor and asked if we could set up a Wiki for our next assignment. She was thrilled by our idea. She suggested it to the other groups in our class. I am not sure if anyone else used one or not. I am glad that we did. I am also glad that I had the budget project before that one and knew what I was doing!
I feel like a "Wiki" pro now!!
I want to say that I love Wikipedia. I know that many educators have issues with wikipedia. I think that it would be a good learning tool for students. They do not have to use the information that they find on wikipedia for term papers. Part of their assignment could be to compare the information that they find on wikipedia to other sources. Just because the information can be edited by many people does not mean that it is wrong information.
How do you feel about Wikipedia?
Have you used it?
Have you ever made changes or added to a page?
Hendron, J. G. (2008). RSS for educators: Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis in the classroom. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
Monday, September 14, 2009
RSS Feeds
Check out this site for some rss feeds to add to your blog.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/learnRss
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/learnRss
week two--9/13
Again, I know I am late with the post. It is my goal to stay on track with my blog entries from now on. In week two I read about RSS, blog, podcasts, wikis, and how to use them with education. I actually already knew about the items I read about. It makes things so much easier when you already have a grasp on the concept! I've used wikis for past assignments. They make working in a group a lot easier.
Some things that I learned this week:
A wiki is a collaborative web page with simple online editing tools for building content. If you refer to the online encyclopeida Wikipedia, then you're using a wiki.
The term wiki comes from a Hawaiian word meaning 'quick'. Wiki software was developed to give people a quick way to collaborate on a document. Read a full history of the development at Wikipedia.
How to get started:
There are hundreds of wiki programs to choose from. Find a list of wikis here, and try them by clicking into the sandbox.
You can create a free wiki at pbwiki.com, StikiPad.com or wiki.com.
A podcast is the verbal form of blogging, and are really just audio files embedded in a weblog newsfeed.
There is free service at Odeo.com to subscribe, download and listen to podcasts.
You do not need an iPod to listen to a podcast — you can listen on your computer or many other digital music players.
A blog is a type of web page. They are frequently updated pages with the postings arranged reverse chronologically (newest at top). Blogs use lots of links to outside sites, pages and search engines. Usually written by one person, blogs often include a way for readers to leave their own comments.
How to get started:
Create a free, blog at blogger.com or Wordpress.com — it takes all of three minutes.
Once you've got your blog started, it's easy to write and publish a post.
Hello! If I can do it...you certainly can.
Subscribing to newsfeeds
Most weblogs and many news organizations automatically publish a newsfeed (known as RSS, RDF, Atom or XML, and often shown with an orange button). A newsfeed is the same content as the weblog but it can be read in many email clients or newsreader programs, such as Google Reader and Bloglines. Use a newsreader to efficiently track multiple blogs and news sites.
The orange RSS button(which I can't show a picture of--because I don't know how) on most weblog home pages is the newsfeed. Right-click and save the link to subscribe to the newsfeed in your newsreader.
I am going to add an RSS feed to my blog. Wish me luck!
Some things that I learned this week:
A wiki is a collaborative web page with simple online editing tools for building content. If you refer to the online encyclopeida Wikipedia, then you're using a wiki.
The term wiki comes from a Hawaiian word meaning 'quick'. Wiki software was developed to give people a quick way to collaborate on a document. Read a full history of the development at Wikipedia.
How to get started:
There are hundreds of wiki programs to choose from. Find a list of wikis here, and try them by clicking into the sandbox.
You can create a free wiki at pbwiki.com, StikiPad.com or wiki.com.
A podcast is the verbal form of blogging, and are really just audio files embedded in a weblog newsfeed.
There is free service at Odeo.com to subscribe, download and listen to podcasts.
You do not need an iPod to listen to a podcast — you can listen on your computer or many other digital music players.
A blog is a type of web page. They are frequently updated pages with the postings arranged reverse chronologically (newest at top). Blogs use lots of links to outside sites, pages and search engines. Usually written by one person, blogs often include a way for readers to leave their own comments.
How to get started:
Create a free, blog at blogger.com or Wordpress.com — it takes all of three minutes.
Once you've got your blog started, it's easy to write and publish a post.
Hello! If I can do it...you certainly can.
Subscribing to newsfeeds
Most weblogs and many news organizations automatically publish a newsfeed (known as RSS, RDF, Atom or XML, and often shown with an orange button). A newsfeed is the same content as the weblog but it can be read in many email clients or newsreader programs, such as Google Reader and Bloglines. Use a newsreader to efficiently track multiple blogs and news sites.
The orange RSS button(which I can't show a picture of--because I don't know how) on most weblog home pages is the newsfeed. Right-click and save the link to subscribe to the newsfeed in your newsreader.
I am going to add an RSS feed to my blog. Wish me luck!
Week one-9/6
I know this is technically the start of week 3...but I am a late beginner. In week 1, I created a Google account(which I already had--just forgot about-oops), set up this Blog, signed up for a listserv, and added new friends to Facebook! I am usually good about what is going on with technology....most of the time. It took me a while to commit to signing up for Facebook. I heard horrible things about MySpace and teachers...I just assumed Facebook would be the same way. I guess I was wrong. I am looking forward to learning more about listserv(s) and what they provide. I am also looking forward to learning more about technology and what is new and up-coming.
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