It's summer, but I can't get away from school or technology. My school district is hosting staff development sessions this summer. We don't have to pay anything to attend, but after arranging for a neighbor to walk the dog, paying for camp for two kids and asking a friend to drive the kids to camp it's not exactly free either.
But after all that, I am here with iPod, laptop and flash drive in hand. I have attended short sessions on podcasting before, but I was always dipping my toes in the podcasting water. Today I dove in head first.
I recorded a podcast, added it to a web page with a podcasting plug-in (podpress), set my iTunes settings and Voila'!
I am a podcaster!
Showing posts with label podcast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label podcast. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, May 03, 2007
MEGA Showcase
The MEGA showcase happens every spring. It features innovative technology project from schools across the piedmont of North Carolina. It is like a free mini conference and also features an impressive keynote speaker (more on the speaker in another post).
The highlights of what I saw at yesterday's showcase:
Wikis
The highlights of what I saw at yesterday's showcase:
Wikis
- Middle school students are collecting data about blue birds using boxes on the school property and posting them to a wiki. West Lee Middle School, Lee County Schools
- Fourth grade students using wikis to write for a large audience in language arts from W G Pearson, Durham Public Schools
- Middle school students podcast interviews with family members about their experience with heart disease and/or high blood pressure. The teacher, Joselyn Todd, also creates vodcasts with the students describing why they chose that particular family member. Cary Academy
- 1st through fifth graders writing their own books based on a particular author's style. Then creating illustrations for their books using Scholastic Keys. Finally the illusltration s are put together using MovieMaker and the student records a narration. This is awesome and could be done easily in almost any classroom! Olive Chapel Elementary School Wake County Schools
- EC middle school teacher video conferencing with pre-service teachers at NC State West Lee Middle School, Lee County Schools
- Elementary math teacher and her student creating math raps. They got a grant to buy a special software to make their videos very professional with animated backgrouds, etc. Some of them are posted on TeacherTube. Deep River Elementary School, Lee County schools
- Elementary students using a virtual environment where they create their own avatar. Quest Atlantis is the program and is tied to the Standard Course of Study. Williford Elementary School, Nash-Rocky Mount Schools
Thursday, March 22, 2007
MEGA fun!
About twenty educators gathered in the Friday Institute yesterday afternoon to network and share ideas and experiences. Our group is called MEGA. It used to stand for Middle Educators Global Activities. We are so diverse now that we have moved beyond the "middle" part. There were elementary and middle school teachers there along with representatives of the Department of Public Instruction, NC State University, and private industry.
Joselyn Todd presented a jaw drapping session on Wikis. She teaches 7th grade science at Cary Academy. Get this - if she has to be absent, she creates a screencast for her students to watch so they don't lose any instructional time. She gives wiki homework. The students are divided into groups and each group is given a subtopic on chemical reactions, for example. They have one night to make their contributions to the chemical reactions wiki. And wow!! These kids create some compelling content. Joselyn said she loves teaching middle schoolers because they are naive enough to believe that they can do just about anything. And she motivates them to do just about everything! They are working on a Periodic Table of Podcasts. Listen to Krypton. It is great!
I got to lead a discussion of cybersafety in the 21st century classroom. The conversations were remarkable! We all agreed that turning off Web 2.0 sites for schools is not the answer. That would be like telling students that they can never use scissors because they could get cut. Yes, there is potential danger in Web 2.0 from predators and cyberbullies, but our students are out there. They are not going to give up these tools! We need to be out there with them learning and creating an environment that is somewhat protected. We give them rounded kindergarten scissors. Teach them how to cut and they slowly graduate to the big, pointy scissors. Start them off on imbee and class blogmeister, where the teacher or parent controls access and student sites are protected from the general population. Teach them how to protect their privacy. By the time they are in high school they will be ready to use MySpace responsibly.
We recorded the conversations so they may be available in the future as a podcast. Until then you can visit some of the links (look at MEGA_1 through 4 and cybersafety) that we used as resources. The links and my Powerpoint presentation will all be posted soon in the MEGA archives!
Our next meeting is May 2. Beckey Reed and Lisa Grable, our group facilitators, always make it interesting. I can't wait!
Joselyn Todd presented a jaw drapping session on Wikis. She teaches 7th grade science at Cary Academy. Get this - if she has to be absent, she creates a screencast for her students to watch so they don't lose any instructional time. She gives wiki homework. The students are divided into groups and each group is given a subtopic on chemical reactions, for example. They have one night to make their contributions to the chemical reactions wiki. And wow!! These kids create some compelling content. Joselyn said she loves teaching middle schoolers because they are naive enough to believe that they can do just about anything. And she motivates them to do just about everything! They are working on a Periodic Table of Podcasts. Listen to Krypton. It is great!
I got to lead a discussion of cybersafety in the 21st century classroom. The conversations were remarkable! We all agreed that turning off Web 2.0 sites for schools is not the answer. That would be like telling students that they can never use scissors because they could get cut. Yes, there is potential danger in Web 2.0 from predators and cyberbullies, but our students are out there. They are not going to give up these tools! We need to be out there with them learning and creating an environment that is somewhat protected. We give them rounded kindergarten scissors. Teach them how to cut and they slowly graduate to the big, pointy scissors. Start them off on imbee and class blogmeister, where the teacher or parent controls access and student sites are protected from the general population. Teach them how to protect their privacy. By the time they are in high school they will be ready to use MySpace responsibly.
We recorded the conversations so they may be available in the future as a podcast. Until then you can visit some of the links (look at MEGA_1 through 4 and cybersafety) that we used as resources. The links and my Powerpoint presentation will all be posted soon in the MEGA archives!
Our next meeting is May 2. Beckey Reed and Lisa Grable, our group facilitators, always make it interesting. I can't wait!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
If Blue Can Do It, You Can Too
Blue, Dora and Diego all have their own podcasts on Nick Jr. I have visions of two year olds with their iPod video players sitting in their strollers watching Dora. Maybe that is a stretch, but maybe not as much of one as we old-timers might think. Fisher-Price has a digital camera for preschoolers and it was one of the hot toys this past Christmas. Disney has a cell phone it markets exclusively to 10 to 15 year olds. Yesterday, a friend of mine told me that many, many of her 8 year olds' friends just got iPods, and several got cell phones.
Blue, Dora and Diego each only have three right mini-shows now and they are actually vodcasts. However, you can subscribe to any of the three characters programs, so I think many more will be coming. There is no denying that RSS is now becoming mainstream. As educators we need to get moving and start experimenting more with these technologies. Kids are using them in their out of school life and if we don't learn to harness their potential we will become as outdated as a copy of Benji on beta.
Technorati Tags: Blue's Clues, Diego, Dora, podcast, preschool, RSS
Blue, Dora and Diego each only have three right mini-shows now and they are actually vodcasts. However, you can subscribe to any of the three characters programs, so I think many more will be coming. There is no denying that RSS is now becoming mainstream. As educators we need to get moving and start experimenting more with these technologies. Kids are using them in their out of school life and if we don't learn to harness their potential we will become as outdated as a copy of Benji on beta.
Technorati Tags: Blue's Clues, Diego, Dora, podcast, preschool, RSS
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