Podcasting and Audio Tools For the Classroom

In order for teachers to remain relevant and current in their classroom they must continue to embrace new tools and resources that enable them to provide dynamic and meaningful lessons.  With the emergence of the the Web 2.0 and the shift towards a 21st Century approach to teaching teachers must remain up to date on the newest trends in teaching.  While I admit that not all new tech trends will lend themselves to the classroom I believe that Podcasting and other audio tools create a unique chance for teachers to engage students and make them active participants in their own education.  The following are 5 classroom activities that incorporate Podcasting and other audio tools into your daily teaching routine:

1. One way to incorporate Podcasting into a classroom activity is to have student create a fictional commercial aimed at attracting immigrants to settle in their particular city.  The students could use existing photos or videos of their city or use photos or videos that they have shot, and pair this with an audio description of why their city of town would be a good place for an immigrant to settle.  We believe that this activity would work best with grades 7-8.
   
   
2. For teachers who are interested in integrating a more blended approach to learning they could record  lesson instructions audioally and upload these instructions to a class Edmodo page or Facebook page.  Furthermore, the teacher could also differentiate this lesson by providing different audio instructions for students that need accommodations and simply send them these instructions as a private message.  This is also a great way to keep parents involved because they can listen to the instructions with their child and assist them if they need any.  Furthermore, by recording the instructions and uploading them to a Facebook or Edmodo page, students who absent from school can still complete the assignment because they can access the instructions from anywhere.  
   
   
3. When traveling on a field trip students can use an Ipod, tablet or other digital recording device to take audio  notes and a digital camera to take pictures.  At school the next day, students can slide show software such as Powerpoint or Sliderocket to create a slideshow that acts as a guided tour of the trip.  Students can then upload their slideshow to Slideshare for others to access.This is a fun and novel way for students to demonstrate what they learned on the trip, while at the same time giving the teacher feedback on the merits of the trip.This activity would be useful for students from grade 5 and up.
   
   
4. Record students reading a story in a group.  Each student can have a different role.   Would be good for younger grades to practice reading skills and then be able to hear their voice reading the story.  Older grades could do a similar activity and focus on manipulating their voices to display punctuation and emotion.  Even older grades can write their own story, record it and use a program like imovie or other video editing software to create a digital animation to accompany their video.
   
   
5. When teaching students how to write for a specific audience the teacher could have them write a children’s story.  They could then record the story using a digital recording device and then make a short movie using iMovie or other video editing software that pairs their audio recording with digital characters.  

Authored by: Jon