Podcasts are certainly trending, and more and more often I have
started listening to them myself. As a new mom, I love listening to parenting
podcasts. I've also come across podcasts geared towards children- some promote
good behavior, hygiene, or learning for children, too. "A survery of 436 parents
conducted by Kids Listen found that 74% of children take an action, such as
initiating a conversation or researching a topic, after listening to a podcast"
(Blatter, 2018). A few of my favorite podcasts are TEDtalks, Teachers Aid, and
Messy Parenting. Finding a podcast that interests you is as simple as a search
based on what you may be interested in.
As a teacher, we could use podcasts to get messages out to parents or students, review books, or explain grading procedures and syllabus requirements at the beginning of the year. I personally use YouTube in a similar way to send out to my drill team booster club parents; I create videos for them to review where often I go over paperwork that I have handed out to their daughters, and then I send out the link. It would be just as simple to create a podcast and do the same for your classroom or library. The hard part is keeping it interesting and concise, because if you talk too long or monotone, people stop listening. Another challenge would be keeping it updated and often. I try to send out a YouTube to parents every 6 weeks or so, or anytime I pass out important handouts. As the year goes, it's hard to stay consistent. The easy part is that once you get going, it's really quite easy to record yourself; have the handout, book, or topic ready and in front of you so that you can stay on topic, and make sure to keep track of your time.
In exploring ways to create podcasts, I created free accounts with three different sites:
As a teacher, we could use podcasts to get messages out to parents or students, review books, or explain grading procedures and syllabus requirements at the beginning of the year. I personally use YouTube in a similar way to send out to my drill team booster club parents; I create videos for them to review where often I go over paperwork that I have handed out to their daughters, and then I send out the link. It would be just as simple to create a podcast and do the same for your classroom or library. The hard part is keeping it interesting and concise, because if you talk too long or monotone, people stop listening. Another challenge would be keeping it updated and often. I try to send out a YouTube to parents every 6 weeks or so, or anytime I pass out important handouts. As the year goes, it's hard to stay consistent. The easy part is that once you get going, it's really quite easy to record yourself; have the handout, book, or topic ready and in front of you so that you can stay on topic, and make sure to keep track of your time.
In exploring ways to create podcasts, I created free accounts with three different sites:
AudioBoom-
It's quite easy to use AudioBoom to create your own podcast, but I
had a hard time searching on AudioBoom for other podcasts and relevant content
for me. The search features seemed limited. However, if you're looking for a
way to create podcasts or help your students do the same, this site seemed easy
enough!
SoundCloud-
This is a popular one, so I was excited to explore it more.
SoundCloud is kind of like YouTube, but for audio files. Some people share
podcasts, some share music. For me, I felt like it was geared towards more
recreation and music than educational podcasts. However, I did find some
podcasts via SoundCloud and uploading your own audio files would be simple as
well. It seems to have more of a "social" presence than the others,
so commenting, and sharing is a bigger part of the atmosphere on this site. You
may like that, you may not. For me, this seems like it could be more risky to
introduce in the classroom.
Podbean-
I had already created a podcast with Podbean last year, so this is
the one that I used to create a new podcast. It's very simple to use, but it
seems outdated, and it's just not very pretty. The good news is that it's
extremely affordable, even the upgraded version. Listen below to my review of a
children's picture book entitled Don't eat the baby by Amy Young created
on Podbean:
Sources:
Blatter, L. C. (2018, June 07). Tooth-Brushing
Tips and Less Screen Time: The Rise of Children's Podcasts. Retrieved July 16,
2018, from
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-childrens-podcasts-1528382827
I have been an avid podcast consumer for quite some time now, but never stopped to think about their role or impact on learning and education. Even though we have used them throughout our program as part of our own evidence of learning, I'm not sure why I never thought about how they could be used in the library as well. I love that you were able to include all of your previously recorded podcasts.
ReplyDeleteI love Don't Eat the Baby....Such a cute book. The use of podcasts most definitely have a place in our libraries, but I think they are underused. One of my goals this year is to utilize them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a new mom - I'm a fairly new grandmother, so for me, a podcast was something I had to do for my LSSL classes. I completely agree with you about using them to share information. I can't wait to do this with my students.
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