The toughest point for many student podcasters is finding direction for the content of their work and getting started. If you’ve been reading or listening to me very long, you know that I’m not a fan of topical research which merely reports out facts. So to avoid it, I think teachers should take a page from language arts and spend some time crafting effective prompts. One of the ways to tell a great writing teacher is to see the way that they can pull thoughtfully crafted writing from the simplest of prompts. A good prompt is like a trigger that acts as a catalyst for academic or personal inquiry.

So what does a good prompt look like?

a premise + a question + a constructive task

This semester we have learned that fresh water is perhaps the most valuable of our natural resources. How might our relationship with water change over the next 25 years in order to ensure access to fresh water? What is at stake? Create a short podcast episode that will begin a discussion of water conservation with your audience. Explain your ideas with vocabulary, ideas and examples from history and current events. Your 3 minute response to this assignment will be published as an episode in a series you will build upon

The prompt is very important, but so is the scaffolding that follows it. Stay tuned for more entries on each of these steps.

• The brainstorming process
• the introspection
• finding significance in the topic
• the research to substantiate a point of view or find kindred thinkers
• the organization of ideas
• and building the narrative from which your ideas find a digestible form for your audience

“The web is for scanning, not deep reading. People typically spend two minutes or less on a site. Why do you think the killer app is called a browser?”  - How tablets will change magazines, books and newspapers, Fortune, Feb 2010

I was reading this morning about potential changes to the publishing world as mobile devices such as the iPad become mainstream tools.  I was struck by Josh Quittner’s dilemma as a writer.  His writing’s depth was somehow sacrificed, or at the very least altered, when it moved online.   The browser/scanner modality of reading made it harder to go deep and tie together a longer narrative.   Even as I made my way through the article I had a sort of “meta moment” when I realized I was doing exactly this same type of superficial scanning as I moved through it.

I compared the experience of scanning an article to the experience of listening to a podcast episode.  I had just finished listening to the 400th episode of This American Life and I was struck with cognitive difference in the two experiences.   As I listened, I allowed for every word, interaction, and the expressive elements in the podcasters voice, as well as the ambient sounds and music that helped build the story.  I experienced the full “article” as the authors had intended and edited.

We often approach modality and media as a buffet of equal choices.  Some people are just visual or auditory learners…and the like.  Certainly, I am not completely objective on the matter being a decidedly auditory learner myself.   However, I wondered if the nature of our relationship with media has changed the way that we approach different modalities.   In other words, if we are really interested in delivering salient details, perhaps we had better consider audio and video formats as primary vehicles for instructional support?

However, the answer isn’t to just jump to audio or video modes.  The answer is to mix the media – to listen AND read AND respond.

1.  Set things up by giving the students a significant and interesting task to complete

2.  Provide students with the media that supports the information and knowledge requirements of the task.  If possible provide a text transcript or printed material (including images, charts and graphs) that help conceptualize what they are hearing and seeing.

3.  Prompt the students to stop the video/audio whenever they need to take some notes or just jot down a new idea.

4.  Debrief – Give the students an opportunity to summarize and critique the important details of what they experienced.  Specifically, what differentiates this idea from others?  What is the “tricky part” of this concept?  How is this significant to us?

3.  Give the students adequate time to experience the media and the reading.

I’ve received lots of emails lately from teachers interested in “vodcasting” – short for video podcasting. I typically don’t use this term because, as people begin learning the concepts around syndicated media, I believe it throws an unnecessary term into the mix.  Whether you use video, audio, enhanced or some variant of all three.  It also sounds nearly indistinguishable from podcasting, which makes me a little crazy.  So, for me, I say take the extra millisecond and give yourself the luxury of all six syllables – say it with me vid-e-o pod-cast-ing.  See how nice that rolls off the tongue?

Okay, now that we have semantics and pronunciation out of the way, I actually have a lot of ideas about video podcasting – - even for someone who is almost completely podcasts in a simple audio format.  Check out this episode to hear me try to dispel some myths about video podcasting, explore some ideas about what makes a good podcast, and give you some ideas about managing the video podcasting process.

To help differentiate between the video podcast and audio podcast it may be helpful to consider some factors that can influence whether you make a move to video.   Here are some indicators that point toward the video podcast format:

• The nonverbal interactions between subjects provide significant information to the audience
• The content requires a visual model to scaffold understanding
• You are providing demonstrations on procedures that include motion
• If your audience is most likely to access your content from in front of their computer, television (Apple TV or Tivo) or on a portable media player (iPod)

What’s the minimal equipment necessary to do a vodcast?

You can record video very easily with a built in web cam and software bundled with your computer.  For example, iMovie on the Macintosh platform provides a very quick and professional recording and production environment complete with titles, transitions, and video effects like picture in picture and green screens.

How do you suggest people get started beyond learning the basics of the equipment? Should it be a series, a blog gig, a specific project covering a single unit of curriculum, or something else?

A video podcast can emerge as a solution when you need it.  Podcasts don’t have to fall squarely into one category of media, the content can dictate when a video might be more appropriate than an enhanced podcast or an audio podcast.

Any advice on divvying up the work among students? And what role should the teacher play?

Think of yourself as an executive producer.  Your job is to pull together the technical resources, guide the research and creative process and help remove barriers. The mistake that many teacher make is to confuse their role and take over the actual production.  That turns the podcast into an synthetic academic exercise, rather than an authentic research and communication experience.

Where should the videos be posted? Is there a problem with putting them on youtube?

I generally encourage podcasters to post their material in the most flexible and widely accepted formats.  This allows the audience to experience them in whatever medium makes sense for them.  For video, I recommend the MPEG-4 (H.264) formats because they provide really great video and much smaller data rates.  These formats are also compatible with the iTunes and iPod ecosystem; where a large segment of podcasting and educational media is distributed and consumed.  Creating your podcast in other formats creates additional work for you when you try to pull your content into the systems and formats your audience will be using.

What about YouTube?  Once considered the wild west of video, it is starting to offer educators more and more reasons to take a second look as a place to store and organize content.  The two big benefits of YouTube are storage and embeddibility.  In terms of storage, the sky is the limit!  YouTube doesn’t limit the amount of content you post.  Their video upload tool does, however limit your files to 1GB in size and 10 minutes in length.

As for embeddibility,  I’m not really sure whether it is actually a word, but I’m going to use it anyway.  For podcasters that want to syndicate their media mostly for web consumption and hope to “go viral” and get their work embedded within the blogs, twitters, wikis, and web pages of other users, YouTube provides the easiest way for others to grab your video and make it part of their own stream of content.

The limitation of YouTube is that downloading the content you post can only be played back within the Flash based player in a web browser.  There isn’t a built in  video download option to allow users to take the content with them on an iPod, iPhone or other media player.  Google has been experimenting with this functionality during the spring of 2009, but has yet to pull it into widespread use.

Part of the challenge that some podcasting teachers and students face is storage and network speed.  Storage should become less and less of an issue as technical improvements continue to push the cost of memory down.   In some districts, arbitrary storage limits are put in place that have little to do with the actual needs of technical realities of users.  My advice is to have a conversation with your campus administrator and your technology director about what your are trying to do academically through your show.  Chart a path that includes the skills you are going to develop, the standards your students are going to be meeting, and the technical needs you are anticipating.   By making the case from an academic point of view, you’ll get farther with your technical arguments.

What’s the most common mistake that newbies make in introducing vodcasting into the classroom – and how can that be prevented?

• Not considering the audience as one of the first steps in developing their show
• Thinking of discrete, individual topics, rather than a larger scholarly exploration of related questions
• Putting too much time and emphasis on the production, and not enough on the quality of content and conversation in the production.
• Letting questions of safety and security derail the process.  Be upfront and communicate with administrators and parents about how you plan to protect identity and personal information.  Be creative with your production.  Talking heads aren’t as interesting and are a less secure approach to student produced video.
• Preview and review EVERYTHING before posting it.  The teacher must remain the gatekeeper for the safety, truth, copyright compliance and integrity.
• Reflect on your work – try to pull new ideas for continual improvement by watching and  listening to your show with a focus on constructive critique.  Also, become a subscriber to other student produced shows.  Compare and contrast your approaches and your strengths.
• Take it easy.  Start small and allow yourself and your students to grow into their scholarly and technical skills.

kidcast62.m4a

In this episode I would like to discuss the power of adding meaningful data analysis into your podcast as a way to increase the validity of your message and to help teach students how to talk about data in ways that promote understanding of complex issues.  Podcasts offer us a great context for data explorations. Here are a few ideas for injecting more data inquiry into your podcasts:

• Develop a short survey related to an issue you are exploring.  For example, if your students were producing a podcast episode around the question, “What impact do recycling programs have on landfills?”  You could survey students’ families on
  • Do you participate in a recycling program at home?
  • How often is your recycling picked up?
  • Can you estimate the volume of recyclable materials you put out each week? (hint: the volume of the container provided by our local program is about 7.5 gallons)
  • What factors influence whether you will recycle?
• Find explore primary source or “raw data” source to give you statistics.  For example, if you are exploring changes in state demographics, you might look to a government census bureau website, like the U.S. Census Bureau.
• If you produce your show as a class or divide responsibilities among groups of students, assign a group of students to be in charge of researching or collecting meaningful stats related to your research question.  They collect data, move it into clear tables or charts and then provide an initial summary of what it says.

I often find that teachers get a little overwhelmed with the idea of producing an extended series.  The prospect of committing to a long term or never ending publishing adventure is a little scary.  I try to reassure them that it’s not overwhelming if you just take it one episode at a time.  That actually works sometimes.  :) In other cases, I try to shift their thinking from a multi season show to a mini series.  A “mini series” is a short multi episode (as few or as many as you like) that is focused on a dealing with a specific inquiry topic or question.

A Mini Series would likely have:

1. A consistent set of music, artwork and formats.  You want the series to be identified as a set with a sense of unity.  If the series is a special project of an ongoing podcast, tie your show’s identity pieces (logos, etc) together with the special artwork of the mini series.
2. An introductory episode that details the scope of the series.  What question(s) will you be exploring?  What will listeners be able to take away from the experience?  What can they look forward to in upcoming episodes?
3. An episode for each of the central questions or angles you or your students explore.
4. A summary show co hosted by all the contributors in which the lessons of the previous episodes can be tied together.

Just a few examples of mini series we brainstormed:

• Animal Adaptations – How does an environment affect animal apprearance or the way they behave? 
• Life Cycles – How do animals grow and change throughout their lives?  Are there similarities between different animal life cycles?
• The Census – Why is the census important to our government?  What can we learn about the past and future by looking at census data?
• 10 Inventions that Changed the World
• Creative writing – telling a story as a serial
• Pillars of Character
• Community Institutions
• Biographies

In my current role, I work with a LOT of teachers and many are exploring how podcasts fit into their curriculum. I am most interested in getting students and teachers to create their own podcast episodes as products of their learning. However, there is so much wonderful content out there to use as supplementary curriculum material that I always spend some time working with teachers on searching out and subscribing to shows that might benefit their students.

Getting quality content that meshes well with your curriculum is only half that battle. In this episode we’ll talk about active engagement while listening to or watching podcasts. Special thanks to Stef Paramoure of Canyon Middle School in New Braunfels, TX for her inspiration for this topic!

Tune in for 6 strategies for engaging students as they listen to podcasts!

http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast59.m4a

Lately I’ve been noticing a lot of podcasts that are simply “proof of concept” shows that seem to be part of an effort to show kids how to podcast.  Sounds good, right?  It sounds fine, except that is as far as the projects seem to go.  There is no transfer from technical skill to academic pursuit.  In this episode I discuss this troubling occurrence and suggest some ways to turn it around.   

http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast58.m4a

Ch-ch-ch-changes!  It’s been a little while since I have had the chance to post a show, but I’m glad to be back…in a new state! with a new job!  and a whole new ecosystem from which to pull great ideas and share them with you!  Stay tuned in for lots of new stuff!

Be sure to check out the entry form for the 2008 KidCast Awards!  The deadline is approaching – Nov 15, 2008!

As you organize your ideas into a podcast series, it makes sense to define just what you aspire to reach with your show.  This definition can come in the form of a rubric that lays out exactly what it looks like.  You can start by asking some essential questions:

• What constitutes a great show?
• What does it sound like?
• How does the conversation flow?
• How is content organized?
• How do I want my audience members to feel?
• How can I engage them into my conversation?

Answering those questions might be easier by actively listening to some sample shows that are similar to your own.  In this episode, I’ll give you a couple of strategies for using active listening to help build a trajectory to excellence in podcasting.

Kidcast #57

I’ve spent the week in Ojai, California at the Teach the Teachers Collaborative at the Thacher School. Although the scenery is amazing, my lasting impression about this week comes from the people.  I worked with teachers, science content specialists and instructional technology specialists from the Los Angeles Unified school district.

I shared some ideas with the whole group on sunday night and they helped me with my california transition…I did a ceremonial loosening of the tie. The teachers were really receptive to the possibilities of developing student inquiry and  articulation AND the power of finding their voice and letting it resonate beyond the classroom.

This episode is built around asking good questions. I would argue that questions make up the heart of good educational podcasts, whether teacher or student produced. Questions set our focus, and mirror the needs of our audience. Student podcasts that are designed to be extended academic conversations can really benefit from being scaffolded by a framework of questions.

We’ll look at a couple approaches to generating questions.  The Question Game and using Bloom’s as a framework from finding questions that move us toward higher levels of exploration.

KidCast #56

This episode will focus on looking at syndication (subscription models) and the tools of aggregation (rss) as a way to create new streams from content already available from other producers. This can provide professional developers, teachers and students with a new strategy for leveraging rss into a type of ongoing academic scrapbook related to a particular research interest.

Kidcast #55

Kidcast Episode 53

The field trip has been a staple of the elementary school experience for generations. What comes to mind when you think back to your field trips as a student? As a student part of it was the novelty of getting out of our four walls and onto a big yellow bus and we were going off to places like “Pioneer Village”, “The Henry Doorly Zoo”, or the “Joslyn Art Museum”. Compared to the mundane school room these were amazingly exotic places.

Field trip days were a departure from the regular patterns of school life….and by no small coincidence- these days became strongly embedded memories. Why? Because the experiences had hooks. They were filled with engaging moments, with stimuli – sights, sounds, interpersonal exchanges – we were wrapped up in content – absorbing as much as we could – snapping pictures with our kodamatic cameras.

The trouble is that learning by absorption isn’t very efficient unless it is properly scaffolded with questions and a framework for putting the experiences in context. I know this isn’t always the case, but I bet we can all think of a time when a field trip was taken with little or no academic preparation. As if to say that the educators responsibility was to do the logistical work of the trip, which is no small feat, and the learning work was the responsibility of the museum, zoo or whatever destination you are headed to.

So I sat down and started to think through the Field Trip and how the podcasting process might help make these experiences more meaningful from an academic perspective.

1. Build significance for your field trip

Set a larger context for the field trip well in advance of the day. Listen or watch podcasts and read articles about the significance of the site you are visiting. Build some collective knowledge about the significance of it. Essentially, answer the “Why are we going here question”. Have students produce a short “significance podcast reviewing some of the basic facts about the concepts you will be exploring on your trip. Also, have them establish why a visit to this location is a good way to understand the concept, events, or issues better.

2. Rethinking the KWL – Introducing the WTWT

WHY are we studying this?

What do we THINK we know?

What do we WANT to know?

What are we ready to TEACH?

I like this better because students can articulate the significance of things at the beginning. Some of what we “know” will be changed from the experience. Stating it in this way recognizes the fluidity of learning – that it isn’t where we are, but where we are headed that matters most. It also helps to articulate what we want to know. We have to set our intentions instead of wandering into the experience. We craft a set of intentions that will guide our attention, research and ultimatly our experience. And teaching is the hallmark of great podcasts because it focuses us on what we have to share with the world.

THE WTWT becomes a scaffold for everything that follows.

3. Move your students beyond observersation and into interaction.

Find a question about each display your see. Try to find the answer using the information provided and by asking the docents or tour guides. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice interviewing techniques. Be ready with a few questions and try to move beyond what is given in the displays and brochures and ask questions about the significance of what you are seeing.

4. Take reflective time outs to record descriptive accounts of the day.

What you have seen so far, the big questions you have answered, and the mysteries still to be solved. How do you plan to use what you found – application is often the missing piece in field trips. Without reflection and application – we are left with trivia and superficial learning.

As you create these reflections – Talk TO your audience as if they were there with you, but needed to know the context in which you are seeing things. From an audio point of view, be extremely descriptive and paint as clear a picture as you can. It isn’t really just about describing the physical spaces. It is about capturing the moments, the feelings, the expectations, and “bringing us along with you”. Keep these reflections short and purposeful. It will make your editing process easier when you get back.

5. Sound seeing tours

Record a guided tour of the exhibits and attractions that help the listener feel like they are really there. If, by chance, your listeners are actually there, they can use your sound seeing tour to guide their thinking and their senses.

6. Create a Quiz Shows

Create a quiz show or mystery tour that asks the audience to move through the space and content to find answers and look for meaning in the exhibits.

7. What was missing?

What could you create that would help take the experience to another level? Create a podcast that describes how you would improve the destination. This could be a collaborative podcast where all the ideas of students could be put into one episode. Think of this like an audio/video suggestion box.

8. Help promote the location by creating a psa that highlights what it has to offer. Send the PSA to them and they might just use it in their media campaigns or on their website. Effective PSAs are short and cut directly to the value and meaning of topic.

I also want to thank Wendy Goodwin of R.A. Mitchell Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama for sharing her students’ GCAST podcasts about their field trip to Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama.

Recently, my friend and colleague, Dr. Guy Trainin stopped by my office and we started talking about the podcasts. He mentioned a podcast that he discovered from UPenn called 60 second lectures. I thought, Catchy name…probably worth checking out. So I did a search and found more than just a podcast with a catchy title. I found a new form that was as beneficial, from a learning point of view, to the writer as it was the listener.

During this episode, we’ll explore this form and the value that distilling ideas down may have for our development as teachers and our students’ development as communicators.

http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast52.m4a

UPDATE:  The 60 second lectures are UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) not Penn State (The Pennsylvania State University) as previously posted.  Thanks Jenn for straightening me out.   I think this misunderstanding is a sign that I should visit Pennsylvania soon.

This week I sat down with two soon to be podcasters Jarred and Dale, who also happen to be pre service educators at the University where I work. They have some great ideas for a new podcast and are getting very close to being ready to launch it. We decided to record our conversation about what they hope to accomplish, the plans they have made, and questions they are still working through. I think it is an interesting conversation that may help inform some of our own conversations about our podcasts or the shows we are helping our students develop.

 http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast051.m4a

The word argument has become a dirty word, it seems. It conjures up images of angry faces and unrest. We are here today to clear the name of the “argument” and bring it back to class. You see, without arguments, facts lack organization to take a stand. Arguments give rise to point of view and illumination.

This episode features a guest, Dr. Michael Schueth from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Department of English. Dr. Shueth and I discuss the concept of argument and its role in developing more effective writing and podcasting.

We will listen to an example from the Portable Radio Podcast which has produced several “Point of View” podcasts. After listening in to this example, we will try to categorize the types of arguments they have made and emphasize the value of this type of academic exercise. Special thanks to Jane Smith and Nathan Toft, from the grade 5 and 6 classes at A. Lorne Cassidy School in Ottawa, Canada for sharing their work on the Portable Radio Podcast.

http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast50.m4a

John’s Podcast 

The details of a idea or the steps in a process are sometimes lost in our personal perspective. We make assumptions about what people know or how they will need to build upon foundational knowledge in order to really understand what we are presenting in our podcasts. This episode of Kidcast will explore some activities for developing sequence, priority, and articulation of detail.

• 10 Ten Lists as a way to develop our students’ ability to prioritize ideas
• When given a problem, explore cause and effect and support it with evidence, and suggest solutions
• Explaining a process with descriptive language and unassuming details
• Use scaffolds like Inspiration to offload ideas and arrange them visually to get the most effective sequence

http://www.intelligenic.com/kidcast/shows/kidcast49.m4a