Podcasts and other adventures in recording

Podcasts are great thinking tools for students. They require similar thinking skills as video. Writing the script, evaluating audio, synthesizing the clips, managing the overall work for effect: these are all higher order skills that ask learners to be educated members of the community. Learners also add to their repertoire of software skills using Audacity or a similar program for simple podcasting.

While it is easy to see the educational value of creating podcasts, it is more difficult to see the interest in listening to them. My own experience listening to them is very limited. Last year, our online school newspaper ran a few podcasts that discussed pop music, but they weren't widely read. If you read them in the car, you have to download them before you leave your house or use up some of your precious data on the road. The key to getting good listenership seems to be having a specialty niche in a particular area. For example, my husband is a bluegrass fan and plays mandolin. He has listened to a few podcasts from musicians to get tips on playing the instrument or to learn about the bluegrass tradition. There really aren't a lot of sources for this type of information, although, if he has access to the Internet, there are a wealth of video and print sources on the subject.

For students, podcasts could be useful in this same way, catering to small special-interest groups while providing students an outlet for their opinions. There may be a way to use these podcasts as marketing tools for something like the school newspaper, as well.

I'm a convert. I admit that I have always been skeptical of wikis. But through our work during the last two weeks, I see the value of a wiki. It is very much like a collaborative discussion that a group could have on Blackboard, but it also incorporates the collective knowledge idea and allows contributors the sense of accomplishment that people have when they publish their work. As a publications teacher, I leverage that sense of accomplishment with my students every day. I just opened up our class wiki, "Do You Want Fries With That," and showed it to my husband because I was proud of the work that my group did collectively. Our collaborative problem solving was there for everyone to see. And if we don't like it, we can go back and edit, collect more ideas, and build on what we have.

The possibilities of wikis in the classroom... wow. It's exciting to think about. Just like our ITSopedia, students could create a cumulative wiki of their class knowledge base. They could create wikis for particular areas of expertise as well. For example, in my Photojournalism class, we experimented with three or four methods of cutting out the background (COBbing) photos before finding the one that is the most effective. Wouldn't it be great if we could create a wiki of those types of skills, and then students could add on to those as the technology changes and improves? What a great resource for the students coming up next year!

Every day I collaborate with professionals who continue to seek new ways to modify their approaches in order to reach more kids. Teachers on my hall are using my online newspaper as a collaboration tool. Students are learning to write reviews of books, music, food, etc., which they will then submit to our online publication. This activity gives students an authentic purpose and audience for their work. In addition to improving their writing, they have to analyze some aspect of the world around them and be persuasive of others.

These kinds of activities are born out of professional collaboration, where teachers work together to find common solutions to educational problems. It is much like the consultations of doctors, the meetings of the advertising team, the research of the law firm. We are teaching students the life skills they will need to function beyond the confines of the SOL test, the skills that will help them thrive in the workplace. Regardless of their success, my hope is that they will find fulfillment in their ability to solve problems, work together, and exercise their minds.