currently in summer school, students are making their own podcasts. a lot of teachers i know use podcasts as a way to replicate lectures or they present professionally created podcasts to students. in my opinion, this is poor use of a powerful tool. the purpose of technology in the classroom is not as an additional toy for the teacher, but as a learning tool to be operated by the student. there is much talk about the importance of building 21st century skills & technological literacy. these goals cannot be achieved if the student is not an active user of technology. i understand that access to a class set of computers is frequently not a possibility, but it is important for us to encourage student use of technology whenever possible. podcast creation is one tool i find to be extraordinarily engaging & meaningful.
the scenario for podcasts can be varied & require higher-level thinking skills when appropriately used. my favorite roles for students to adopt involve the student transporting to another place or time. create a podcast as a news reporter covering the treaty of versailles is an excellent topic example. interviews can also make great podcasts. i recently had two students, one as the interviewer & the other as Harry Truman, discussing the united states' decision to drop the atomic bomb on japan. imagine not only the factual research required, but the ability to analyze cause & effect, & the emotional maturity required for such as task.
as far as podcast production is concerned, garageband makes all other consumer programs look like garbage. upon opening garageband, the program asks you what type of project you want to create. simply select make a new podcast, and garageband will automatically populate two vocal tracks, a jingle track, & a photo track. from there, simply add media. drag loops from the pre-installed extensive garageband library. record your voice. drag photos from media browser or the internet directly into your podcast. apple support is second to none. there is a myriad of resources available through apple's website that explain everything from how to start a project to how to publish your project. perhaps garageband's best feature is one that most mac users take for granted, it's ability to synchronize flawlessly with other programs. you could publish your podcast to iweb, export to itunes, or save as a .mov file. creating your own radio program has never been easier or more fun.
below is an excerpt of a podcast made by one of my students using garageband. it is here so you can witness the great quality garageband delivers with little work.
