KidCast: Learning and Teaching with Podcasting

KidCast: Epsode 32 - Dan's Down Under, Shark Boy Takes a Bite Out of the Web!

KidCast: Off to the Races!

On Monday of this week I have a great honor of helping open this year’s Nebraska Association of teachers of mathematics conference in Kearney, Nebraska. I have to admit that I was more than all little nervous about standing in front of all those mathematics teachers. I have delivered lots of presentations and speeches before and I’m actually pretty good with math and I have always had wonderful math teachers. But, there’s something about math teachers that makes me nervous. I think it’s that I know how logical and smart they are. Math teachers don’t get caught up in all hype. So, I was nervous. What a relief it what is when I saw 200 plus smiling faces that seemed to be interested in what I had to say. My presentation was focused on making a connection about the potential of podcasting to enhance the experience of mathematics educators and mathematics students. After all, isn’t that what were really about? We don’t do what we do just for the sake of technology. We don’t spend hours producing, podcasts just to prove that we can do it. We are all working to find you applications for podcasting because we believe they can enhance the experience the student. I believe that when students create authentic products like podcasts, they’re getting a taste of what is like to be a creative professional. They’re exploring their voices, their ideas, and their understandings in order to fulfill and outside mission. I will admit that when I first learned about podcasting, math wasn’t the first subject I thought about. My mind actually went toward social studies, language arts, foreign language, business education, music, and even science. But math? As it turns out, there are whole lot of applications for podcasting in mathematics. One of the most exciting applications that we talked about was the use of a professional organization like NATM as a network of professionals who are all pulling together their best practice and their best ideas into a single channel as a distributed professional development channel. Another idea that I shared with the group was the idea of using smart board technology as basis of a video podcast. Smart boards allow teachers to record both their voice and writing on a smartboard as a movie. This approach will allow teachers to share the steps required to solve a problem or given the opportunity to describe a concept in both of verbal and a visual way. We also considered student created podcasts including examples of sports shows with a statistics focus, math exposés, math quiz shows, and podcast dramas with a math focus. I even got to meet one of our podcast drama winners from last spring, Angela Mosier of Westside Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska. Her students had produced a great set of podcast dramas that illustrated scientific notation and exponents. All in all, I’d calculate the day to be both productive and fun. :)

KidCast: Epsode 30 - Phonecasting

KidCast for August 23, 2006 The kids are coming! Are you ready for the new school year? Why not start the year off with some new school year resolutions? Find a new podcast for yourself from the 60,000 available online! Explore a "quickcast" to share with your students each day. Have you polled your students to see how many of them know about podcasting? What do they know about it? How do they perceive themselves? Consumers or producers or both? My TEAM in Training marathon preparation is still going strong. Thanks to everyone who has donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you would like to make a donation, or to catch up on my progress, visit: http://www.active.com/donate/tntne/tntneDSchmit On the show I will discuss odeo.com as a one stop solution for podcasting that removes many of the technical barriers to getting a podcast online. I love this site and the features keep getting better all the time. Go Evan and crew! I will also explore how to begin designing a podcast project for a grant or initiative within your school. There are lots of important questions to consider, be sure to ground your ideas in solid planning.

Welcome back to Kidcast: Podcasting in the Classroom! AFter a little summer hiatus, we are back to give you some great ideas, resources and strategies for considering how to place creative technology into your school's curriculum. I'm heading to Oklahoma City to the Encyclomedia conference soon. I can't wait! It should be a great conference with a great group of people. I'm also heading to Australia in November to work with some students and teachers in Adelaide about podcasting. It will be my first trip there, so I'm really looking forward to learning more about the schools, people and culture in Australia. This week we'll focus on two questions: 1. What applications are available for recording podcasts on Windows XP? 2. Does podcasting really help improve student learning or really enhance the curriculum? If you have a couple spare bucks, throw a donation my way for my TEAM in Training campaign. I'm doing a double marathon to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can read all about it at: http://www.intelligenic.com/marathon

This week on KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom... We'll get an update on the Where in the World Podcast quiz show and hear about a new idea that offers a new twist on this interactive podcast quiz. Podcasters for a cure! I'm running two marathons...that's 52.4 miles...within 7 days this fall in Chicago and Washington D.C. to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Please visit my Team in Training blog and consider donating to this very worthy cause. http://www.active.com/donate/tntne/tntneDSchmit To set the mood for this fundraising effort, I'm playing Beatrice Ericsson's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" on the the show. Beatrice is from Sweden and has an amazing voice and a great way with a song. If this song doesn't motivate you...I'm not sure what will. This song is on heavy rotation on my iPod while I run! I'll also share a few podcasts and Web 2.0 integration ideas for language arts. Grab your favorite reading and writing teacher and see if you can introduce them to the world of podcasting and fan fiction. Are you heading to NECC 2006 in San Diego? If so, drop me a line and let's get together for a cup of coffee and talk podcasting. This is a great conference and you'll find lots of great resources for podcasting and other educational technologies. Check out their website at neccsite.org.

This week on KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom:Be sure to check out our new podcast project "Where in the World?". It's a collective project that features short descriptions of communities and places from all around the world. Each episode will have an email address that will allow listeners to send in their guess. If you guess correctly, you'll get a postcard back from the class. If you guess incorrectly, you'll get some additional clues.Plan to do a short descriptive podcast about your community and post it to your webserver. Then email us with the URL and we'll add it into the feed.We're hoping this feed grows over time to include dozens of geographic puzzles that will help students use their deductive thinking skills and their understanding of geography to make educated guesses. We'll spend some time exploring elements of effective "Sound Seeing Tours" with a couple of examples from a Mayan Tomb in Mexico and the New York City Public Library. I'll play some promos for a couple really great podcasts - "The Dean of Behavior" and the "Owl Teacher Media" PodcastsWe also have an interview with one of the developers of the popular podcasting tool"ProfCast".

Hello...and welcome back to another week of discussion, examples, ideas and commentary about podcasting in education. This week we will feature a BRAND NEW QUIZ SHOW that YOU CAN JOIN! It was based on an idea that was shared by John Stritt and Jason Everett from ESU 10 in Kearney, Nebraska...then pushed forward by Anna Adams of Killeen, Texas. This week we're launching this new idea right here on the show. Be sure to download the detailed directions from the website (www.intelligenic.com/kidcast) We'll also have some great music for heading to the summer home stretch! It's podsafe music from Valley Lodge, "Hangin On" from the Podsafe Music Network (music.podshow.com) In addition, we'll have several example of podcasts from a science education perspective. We'll have student generated shows, teacher generated review-casts, and some professional stuff from the BBC. Finally, we'll take a look at some new proposed (and troubling) legislation from the US Congress called DOPA. Listen in to find out why I think this is a bad idea. I also invite you to share your comments on our forum at www.intelligenic.com/forum

Here's a special bonus episode from a recent presentation on podcasting's origins, educational applications and future directions that I gave at the Nebraska Educational Technology Association's spring conference. If you are a regular listener, you'll recognize some of the information. However, there are some new tidbits sprinkled in there too. Thanks to NETA for recording and sharing this. If you are interested in having me come to your district or area to talk about podcasting or other creative applications in technology, please drop me a line at dschmit@intelligenic.com.

This week's show highlights the winners of our podcast drama in the classroom contest. There were tons of entries, but we were able to identify a group of podcasts that we feel were exceptional - each in their own unique way. And the winners are.... (BEST SCIENCE PODCAST DRAMA) Sean Porter School Name: Hartley Elementary School City: Lincoln, NE (BEST HISTORICAL PODCAST DRAMA!) Dean Mattson SchoolName: Edgemere Elementary City: El Paso, TX (BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA) Chris Shearer School Name: Williford Elementary School City: Rocky Mount, NC (BEST COURT ROOM DRAMA) Katie Morrow School Name: O'Neill Elementary City: O'Neill, NE (BEST LANGUAGE ARTS DRAMA) Jeanne Halderson School Name: Longfellow Middle School City: La Crosse, WI (BEST USE OF SOUND EFFECTS and MUSIC) Kelly Bauer School Name: Mazano Day School City: Albuquerque, NM (BEST MATHEMATICS PODCAST DRAMA) Angela Mosier School Name: Westside Middle School City: Omaha, NE Look on the website (www.intelligenic.com/kidcast) for links to these great podcasts so you can listen to their dramas in their entirety.

On this week's KidCast we've got some great food for thought about sustainability in podcasting. What will it take to make podcasting more than a passing technical fad? How can you position it in your classroom so that you aren't a victim of the "podfade" or "podrot"?We have some podsafe music from The Parlour Dames from the Podsafe Music Network. We are featuring this California based band's single, "Do You Feel Me?" on this week's show. Check it out!I will also go over a couple of new tools that really knocked my socks off! Tune in to find out how to create a podcast from an ordinary text blog without even recording a word yourself! Also, I'll show you how to record a podcast with a very common piece of software. You may be surprised by this one. Also, I'll update you on the status of the podcasting in the classroom podcast drama contest.

This week on the Kidcast: Podcasting in the Classroom we will have a follow-up discussion about professional development podcasts. We are reminded that podcasts are only a part of professional development efforts, not a stand alone tool. We'll enjoy some great podsafe music from Mike Errico - Skimming. Brought to you by the Podsafe Music Network (music.podshow.com)One of our listeners called our listener line (831 303 2994) with a great question about controlling noise in the classroom during recording. We offer a human solution, a hardware solution, and a software solution.We'll look at a couple great language arts podcasts that feature reviews and professional perspectives in language arts. Check both of them out:Book Voyages - http://www.bookvoyages.com/Literature Circle - http://feeds.feedburner.com/literaturecircleSpeaking of History - http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/Stay

Get Kidcast: Podcasting in the Classroom from FTC Publishing at: http://www.ftcpublishing.com/kidcast.htmlI've escaped the foot of snow that was dumped on my city this week and made it south to sunny Orlando, Florida for the Florida Educational Technology Conference. I'm speaking at the conference on...you guessed it...podcasting in the classroom. We'll start things off with some podsafe music from the Podsafe Music Network - This week's show will include tips for doing INTERESTING interviews. Lots of student podcasts feature interviews with people within their school, community or even people outside of their community. I'll offer you some ideas to organize these interviews and tips that will move your interview beyond the ordinary.We'll also talk about student contracts for podcasters as a strategy for focusing students on their responsibilities.

6 Very Creative and Expressive people volunteered to be a part of our cast for this podcast drama. This skit is used to teach and reinforce how podcasting works using a Sci Fi theme. Thanks to everyone at FETC who participated so enthusiastically!See you online!Dan