How to Become a Millionaire!! OR Teaching students how to podcast November 14, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in Web2.0, podcasts.trackback
If I were to teach students how to podcast, I would give them meaningful assignments and get them to create from the start. As an IT teacher, it is my job to teach the students about the technology at their fingertips and then it is up to both them and their teachers to use the technology. And I think after many years, I have come to a realisation that at times, I too have made mistakes in my own classes, focussing too much on the technology instead of making it relevant and meaningful. So how can I do it and get the students to learn about technology at the same time? I would be interested in hearing back from others about their experiences or this proposed unit outline.
Unit Title: How to become a Millionaire!!
Activities
NB. No times given – I like to let it flow and see how the class reacts. I also like to set new challenges to individual students as they accomplish one thing and before I know it, they have taught each other. The students sometimes think it is completely unplanned.
- Create a wiki for students to add notes, comments, tips, tricks, etc. Must contribute at least x number of articles (depending on the number of students). USe throughout the unit, especially when there is equipment malfunction.
- Produce a list of capabilities and limitations (introduction to VCE Year 12 work) for each software/technology.
- Students produce and save a few .wav files using sound recorder on the PC. I would not do any teaching, but rather ask them to talk about their facourite sport, TV show, food, game, etc and keep it for later use
- A limitation is that they canonly record for 1 minute using this software – ideal for the first acitivity.
- Discuss web safety. There should be a discussion on how how anything that they create (video, website, e-mail, SMS, podcast) can be retrieved and used many years later. Refer to the recent controversial DVD produced by students in Werribee, Victoria and how that digital evidence is now being used against them. Discuss how employers now do a Google search to discover whatever they can about that employee. Discuss how personal information should never be put online, even if the other person appears to be nice.
- Show students podOmatic.com. Discuss how the site works. I would not engage in any discussion about Odeo as it has easliy accessible pornographic content. Gcast is another podcast site, and it has links to Odeo, so I would not discuss it either.
- Allow students a few minutes to explore the podOmatic site.
- Invite students to create their own site on podOmatic.
- First podcast – Upload the files they created in Step 2.
- As it uploads, podomatic will ask the students if they want to send a link to others. Encourage them to send a link to 3 people sitting at their table
- Listen to theirs – listen to others. Have fun.
- Upload more .wav files.
- Download other people’s files and/or add comments.
- Someone will start creating a podcast from within the site. Encourage them to write text to go with the podcast and that it is going out to a potential worldwide audience. Take care with what they say and write.
- If possible, customise podOmatic.
- Discuss uploading music files and legalities of doing so in Australia.
- Use mobile phones (where possible) to create a sound recording and upload it to the site.
- Challenge activity: Can they download a file to their phone (free ringtones)
- Introduce students to audacity and work in that environment for a few lessons with activites -editing soundtracks, creating new files using loops, etc. More on this another time.
- Post new files to podOmatic.
- Assignment: Ring Tones – a Multi Billion$ industry.
- Find articles about the Ringtone industry and how they are raking in the money (why aren’t I doing it this?). Prepare an assignment (doesn’t have to be written!)
- Encourage students to create a ringtone for their own use.
- Upload them and allow others to download if they wish
- Discuss RSS if it is new to them.
- Discuss podcatchers and how they can be used.
- I guess that by this stage, there would be no need to teach students how to download files to their iPods or other mp3 players.
These are just my thoughts on a possible unit to do in the classroom. Maybe I’ll do it one day, or someone may borrow it and adapt it.
NB. I thought of this idea and made some recordings on my mobile phone today while sitting at traffic lights. Sadly, my wife took the wrong phone and I’ll have to upload it later.
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