Podcasts
Everyone likes to learn in their own way and has their own learning style. As educators, we have known this for years and often do inventories with our students to see what learning style they are so we can best teach them. Are they a visual learner? Audio? Kinesthetic? Podcasts have exploded in popularity, along with audiobooks, as a way for audio learners to listen to get information. In an interview with School Library Journal, librarian Marcie Atkins explains that, "it gives students an opportunity to learn information in other ways besides just reading." In today's blog we will explore three different sites for podcasts: Soundcloud, Podomatic, and Podbean.
Soundcloud:
Soundcloud was very easy to use. To sign up, you can either put in your email address, use Facebook, or my favorite Google. I like the ease of signing up for websites with Google and then I never have to worry about remembering passwords on my home computer. After sign up, creating my first podcast with Soundcloud was a breeze. It was easy to navigate and within seconds I had uploaded my first podcast. There were not really any editing options available nor an option to upload a picture to associate with that specific podcast. The free version offers 3 hours of upload time and is very simple to use. I think this would be great to use with first time podcasters and students as it was very basic and limited options.
Podomatic:
Like Soundcloud, Podomatic was easy to use. Users can sign up with Podomatic with their email address or through Facebook. To create your first podcast, simply press the create button at the top and then users can upload their content. Podomatic gave a few more options that Soundcloud for the podcast. Users can enter a title and description for their podcast, as well as selecting an image to be associated with that podcast. My favorite option was the ability to choose a sound quality level. Podomatic, of course, has a PRO upgrade account which allows the original sound quality to be used or users can choose between "talk" and "music" quality levels for free depending on what they desire for that specific podcast. The free version offers 15GB of bandwidth per month and 500MB of storage. Podomatic was my podcast venue of choice because of the large amount of storage and editing options. Click below to listen to my podcast about selecting just right books in the library!
Podbean:
Podbean was the last podcasting website I tried. I had previously used Podbean for previous podcasts so I was already familiar with how it works. The first time I created a podcast with Podbean I remember being a little confused on how to get started. I had a to click around the website a little before I realized what I needed to do to create my first podcast. It is important for users to get on the "Dashboard" and from their they can "publish a new episode". Once I figured that out, it was easy to use, though not nearly as easy as both Soundcloud and Podomatic. Podbean gave several of the same options as Podomatic after uploading the audio file for the podcasts, but did not give the sound quality option. The free version offers 50MB of storage space for the podcasts.
Using Podcasts in the Library:
There are lots of great ways to use podcasts in the library. The librarian can make podcasts that would be helpful to students as well as to teachers including book recommendations and tips to help the students/teachers in writing, technology, and reading strategies. Podcasts are always a great way for the librarian to record poems or short stories that students could listen to and then visualize (cognitive strategies for the win!) Students can also easily make podcasts in the library especially if your school has access to iPads. Students can interview each other about books and share what they have learned in the library.
There are a plethora of great educational podcasts on the Internet. Here are a few that I found and plan to follow!
https://bookriot.com/listen/
https://circulatingideas.com/
https://soundcloud.com/dewey-decibel-703453552 - Librarians will love the name of this podcast!
http://overdrive.libsyn.com/
Rodgers, L. (2018). Prime Time for Podcasts. Retrieved April 10, 2018 from
https://www.slj.com/2018/02/programs/prime-time-podcasts/#_
Soundcloud:
Soundcloud was very easy to use. To sign up, you can either put in your email address, use Facebook, or my favorite Google. I like the ease of signing up for websites with Google and then I never have to worry about remembering passwords on my home computer. After sign up, creating my first podcast with Soundcloud was a breeze. It was easy to navigate and within seconds I had uploaded my first podcast. There were not really any editing options available nor an option to upload a picture to associate with that specific podcast. The free version offers 3 hours of upload time and is very simple to use. I think this would be great to use with first time podcasters and students as it was very basic and limited options.
Podomatic:
Like Soundcloud, Podomatic was easy to use. Users can sign up with Podomatic with their email address or through Facebook. To create your first podcast, simply press the create button at the top and then users can upload their content. Podomatic gave a few more options that Soundcloud for the podcast. Users can enter a title and description for their podcast, as well as selecting an image to be associated with that podcast. My favorite option was the ability to choose a sound quality level. Podomatic, of course, has a PRO upgrade account which allows the original sound quality to be used or users can choose between "talk" and "music" quality levels for free depending on what they desire for that specific podcast. The free version offers 15GB of bandwidth per month and 500MB of storage. Podomatic was my podcast venue of choice because of the large amount of storage and editing options. Click below to listen to my podcast about selecting just right books in the library!
Podbean:
Podbean was the last podcasting website I tried. I had previously used Podbean for previous podcasts so I was already familiar with how it works. The first time I created a podcast with Podbean I remember being a little confused on how to get started. I had a to click around the website a little before I realized what I needed to do to create my first podcast. It is important for users to get on the "Dashboard" and from their they can "publish a new episode". Once I figured that out, it was easy to use, though not nearly as easy as both Soundcloud and Podomatic. Podbean gave several of the same options as Podomatic after uploading the audio file for the podcasts, but did not give the sound quality option. The free version offers 50MB of storage space for the podcasts.
Using Podcasts in the Library:
There are lots of great ways to use podcasts in the library. The librarian can make podcasts that would be helpful to students as well as to teachers including book recommendations and tips to help the students/teachers in writing, technology, and reading strategies. Podcasts are always a great way for the librarian to record poems or short stories that students could listen to and then visualize (cognitive strategies for the win!) Students can also easily make podcasts in the library especially if your school has access to iPads. Students can interview each other about books and share what they have learned in the library.
There are a plethora of great educational podcasts on the Internet. Here are a few that I found and plan to follow!
https://bookriot.com/listen/
https://circulatingideas.com/
https://soundcloud.com/dewey-decibel-703453552 - Librarians will love the name of this podcast!
http://overdrive.libsyn.com/
Rodgers, L. (2018). Prime Time for Podcasts. Retrieved April 10, 2018 from
https://www.slj.com/2018/02/programs/prime-time-podcasts/#_
Great job on your podcast! You showed us a fun way to present library information to students. I appreciated your thorough evaluations of the different podcasting sites. I also evaluated PodBean, which is one of my favorites to use. Also, your comments in the beginning about using different teaching strategies to meet the needs of all types of learners was an important reminder of why using tools like podcasting is important.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Michelle! I didn't realize we were able to choose the sound quality level. I think that makes a big difference in the success of a podcast. I love your idea about using podcasts to record poetry readings! It would be fun to hear the students speaking progress through the year as they add more podcasts. There are just so many excellent ideas!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how much storage podomatic offered. That's great to know, as it is much more than my choice of Podbean. Love the idea of using it to record poetry!
ReplyDeleteI loved your insight on the different podcast sites! I read on another blog that podcasts could be used for students to record their presentation and present it to the class in that way. I loved this idea. I actually thought about doing this and then having the students create a QR code to take other students to their podcast to listen! This would be great to use in stations in the classroom or for book reviews around the library! Podcasts was one of the pieces of technology that took me out of my comfort zone!
ReplyDelete