Thoughts on Podcasting

While I am familiar with podcasts, I had never created one before creating them in class.  I was surprised at how easy it actually is to create a podcast.  I didn’t realize that this could be done using Audacity.  In fact, my only experience with Audacity prior to class was using it to improve fluency in struggling readers.  They would be assigned a reading passage to read Monday through Friday and each day they would record themselves using Audacity.  After recording, they would play it back and rate themselves.  On Friday, they would compare time and accuracy to their earlier readings.  Anyway, I found Audacity rather easy to use for podcasting.  It is one of those programs that I can see my students actually being able to use!  It’s not that hard to teach students to highlight and delete, which is one of the most complicated processes in this program.  I think students would struggle with adding background sounds or putting multiple recordings together, but that part could be assisted by the teacher for sure.  I could definitely see how podcasting could be done with my students.  Students could be tour guides or travel agents suggesting sites to see in each of Virginia’s five regions.  Of course, writing the scripts would undoubtedly be the most grueling part of the process, seeing as how a half a page of typing yields approximately one minute of podcasting!  Something to consider though…