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Using podcasts in the languages classroom
Organisational issues
It can take time to fit podcasting into a scheme of work, but this is well worth the effort. Some topics may lend themselves better to student-produced podcasts than others and these could be vehicles for an end of unit project.
Podcasts can be recorded in a variety of ways: individually in a classroom, around the school with a mobile device or working in groups in an ICT suite. If many students are recording podcasts at the same time they need to be careful not to produce over long sections of audio as these will produce large file sizes when saved. Large files also take longer to edit. Check also that the school network does not filter mp3 files as this will restrict podcasting to being done on a stand-alone machine.
To save class time, scripts can be written as homework tasks and as a result students can be given more time to properly rehearse their scripts before recording. This should dramatically reduce editing duties and make for a more natural and polished end product. To give keen students extra time to edit their podcasts, teachers could start a lunchtime or afternoon club and allow enthusiasts to develop their creativity further.
When adding music to a podcast, students must respect copyright and only use recordings which are covered by the Creative Commons licence. These podsafe tracks can be easily found by using a search engine, but always read the small print carefully before publishing.
Equipment, software and training
To get started you need a computer (PC or Mac), a microphone, some sound editing software and an Internet connection. If you want to record on the move, you will also need a mobile device with an internal or external microphone for capturing audio. Many podcasters recommend Audacity software for editing audio. It is free, downloadable, cross-platform, working both on PCs and Macs, and is easy to use. There are many tutorials on the Internet which explain how to use the software to produce a good quality recording and these are worth checking as you get used to the process. A great starting point would be Assignment: Podcast by British Telecom which explains the step-by-step process of podcasting from beginning to end: from identifying the necessary hardware and software to explaining how to showcase the finished results.
There are various places where you can upload your podcast such as on a blog, a school website or a podcasting portal. The advantage of a blog or portal is that you can let others subscribe to your podcast via an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. You can add this feed to an aggregator such as iTunes or Google Reader and then any new episode will automatically download to your computer ensuring you are always up to date with the latest content. For more information about RSS feeds, have a look at this helpful video, RSS in plain English by Lee LeFever.
SignpostingThe CILT web pages devoted to support for Specialist Language Colleges include a case study about using blogs and podcasts, which includes some information to get started. |
