KidCast: Learning and Teaching with Podcasting

I’ve received lots of emails lately from teachers interested in “vodcasting” - short for video podcasting. I typically don’t use this term because, as people begin learning the concepts around syndicated media, I believe it throws an unnecessary term into the mix. Whether you use video, audio, enhanced or some variant of all three. It also sounds nearly indistinguishable from podcasting, which makes me a little crazy. So, for me, I say take the extra millisecond and give yourself the luxury of all six syllables - say it with me vid-e-o pod-cast-ing. See how nice that rolls off the tongue? Okay, now that we have semantics and pronunciation out of the way, I actually have a lot of ideas about video podcasting - - even for someone who is almost completely podcasts in a simple audio format. Check out this episode to hear me try to dispel some myths about video podcasting, explore some ideas about what makes a good podcast, and give you some ideas about managing the video podcasting process.

In this episode I would like to discuss the power of adding meaningful data analysis into your podcast as a way to increase the validity of your message and to help teach students how to talk about data in ways that promote understanding of complex issues

I often find that teachers get a little overwhelmed with the idea of producing an extended series. The prospect of committing to a long term or never ending publishing adventure is a little scary. I try to reassure them that it's not overwhelming if you just take it one episode at a time. That actually works sometimes. :) In other cases, I try to shift their thinking from a multi season show to a mini series. A "mini series" is a short multi episode (as few or as many as you like) that is focused on a dealing with a specific inquiry topic or question.

In my current role, I work with a LOT of teachers and many are exploring how podcasts fit into their curriculum. I am most interested in getting students and teachers to create their own podcast episodes as products of their learning. However, there is so much wonderful content out there to use as supplementary curriculum material that I always spend some time working with teachers on searching out and subscribing to shows that might benefit their students. Getting quality content that meshes well with your curriculum is only half that battle. In this episode we'll talk about active engagement while listening to or watching podcasts. Special thanks to Stef Paramoure of Canyon Middle School in New Braunfels, TX for her inspiration for this topic! Tune in for 6

Lately I've been noticing a lot of podcasts that are simply "proof of concept" shows that seem to be part of an effort to show kids how to podcast. Sounds good, right? It sounds fine, except that is as far as the projects seem to go. There is no transfer from technical skill to academic pursuit. In this episode I discuss this troubling occurrence and suggest some ways to turn it around.

As you organize your ideas into a podcast series, it makes sense to define just what you aspire to reach with your show. This definition can come in the form of a rubric that lays out exactly what it looks like.

I've spent the week in Ojai, California at the Teach the Teachers Collaborative at the Thacher School. Although the scenery is amazing, my lasting impression about this week comes from the people. I worked with teachers, science content specialists and instructional technology specialists from the Los Angeles Unified school district. I shared some ideas with the whole group on sunday night and they helped me with my california transition...I did a ceremonial loosening of the tie. The teachers were really receptive to the possibilities of developing student inquiry and articulation AND the power of finding their voice and letting it resonate beyond the classroom. This episode is built around asking good questions. I would argue that questions make up the heart of good educational podcasts, whether teacher or student produced. Questions set our focus, and mirror the needs of our audience. Student podcasts that are designed to be extended academic conversations can really benefit from being scaffolded by a framework of questions. We'll look at a couple approaches to generating questions. The Question Game and using Bloom's as a framework from finding questions that move us toward higher levels of exploration.

This episode will focus on looking at syndication (subscription models) and the tools of aggregation (rss) as a way to create new streams from content already available from other producers. This can provide professional developers, teachers and students with a new strategy for leveraging rss into a type of ongoing academic scrapbook related to a particular research interest.

t’s time once again to celebrate all the great work that is happening in student and teacher created podcasts with the 2008 KidCast Podcasting Awards. This year we are shaking up the process a little bit. The truth is that the awards have been evolving each year as this technology grows and becomes more integrated into the learning process. Check out the website at http://www.intelligenic.com/blog for more information and the entry form.

The field trip has been a staple of the elementary school experience for generations. What comes to mind when you think back to your field trips as a student? As a student part of it was the novelty of getting out of our four walls and onto a big yellow bus and we were going off to places like “Pioneer Village”, “The Henry Dorely Zoo”, or the “Joselyn Art Museum”. Compared to the mundane school room these were amazingly exotic places. This episode will highlight some strategies and activities for pulling podcasting into your field trip to increase reflection and retention.

Recently, my friend and colleague, Dr. Guy Trainin stopped by my office and we started talking about the podcasts. He mentioned a podcast that he discovered from Penn State called 60 second lectures. I thought, Catchy name…probably worth checking out. So I did a search and found more than just a podcast with a catchy title. I found a new form that was as beneficial, from a learning point of view, to the writer as it was the listener. During this episode, we’ll explore this form and the value that distilling ideas down may have for our development as teachers and our students’ development as communicators.

This week I sat down with two soon to be podcasters Jarred and Dale, who also happen to be pre service educators at the University where I work. They have some great ideas for a new podcast and are getting very close to being ready to launch it. We decided to record our conversation about what they hope to accomplish, the plans they have made, and questions they are still working through. I think it is an interesting conversation that may help inform some of our own conversations about our podcasts or the shows we are helping our students develop.

The word argument has become a dirty word, it seems. It conjures up images of angry faces and unrest. We are here today to clear the name of the "argument" and bring it back to class. You see, without arguments, facts lack organization to take a stand. Arguments give rise to point of view and illumination. This episode features a guest, Dr. Michael Schueth from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of English. Dr. Shueth and I discuss the concept of argument and its role in developing more effective writing and podcasting. We'll listen to an example from the Portable Radio Podcast which has produced several "Point of View" podcasts. After listening in to this example, we'll try to categorize the types of arguments they have made and emphasize the value of this type of academic exercise. Special thanks to Jane Smith and Nathan Toft, from the grade 5 and 6 classes at A. Lorne Cassidy School in Ottawa, Canada for sharing their work.

The details of a idea or the steps in a process are sometimes lost in our personal perspective. We make assumptions about what people know or how they will need to build upon foundational knowledge in order to really understand what we are presenting in our podcasts. This episode of Kidcast will explore some activities for developing sequence, priority, and articulation of detail.

Podcast CaptureBuried deep within the Applications folder on Macintosh computers running the 10.5, or Leopard, operating system, is a small un assuming little application called “Podcast Capture”. This little app is the client side of an extremely powerful, game changing, system called Podcast Producer. By itself, the application is useless. But with an account on a Leopard Server, it becomes a streamlined conduit that gives users a fast and easy way to create video, audio, screencast podcast episodes and publish them in a single motion.