My new year's resolution in my class is to record and podcast all of my classes so that students may download all class discussions from ITunes. The students are very excited as am I. It may take a little bit of time but I think the spring sports season will be much better because of it.
Of course, the prospect makes me nervous because during 200 minutes or so of conversation a day, someone could find SOMETHING that I did wrong, however, I do not mind being held accountable. I believe that I am doing my best and if something I do is called into question that is fine by me. This is done by the inspirational Mabry Middle School (Look on the right to see and listen to their class podcasts) and when I saw their principal, Dr. Tim Tyson, talking about how they do this, (listen to interview) I really was impressed that it is something I should do.
I am recording with the iRiver Model T30MX 512 MB which costs $40. It will record around 115 hours of time and I hang it around my neck. It has a built in microphone and does a good job of recording (and it follows me around the classroom.) I am in the process of uploading this into iTunes as we speak. (Just look for Westwood Schools under podcasts in the itunes store.)
I'm going to post under Westwood Schools so you can search for that in the itunes store. (I'm the process of doing it now.)
More about my Tech Tools on the TechLearning Blog post I wrote today called New toy Heaven in 2007.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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5 comments
Posted on G-Town Talks :
I agree – I can’t do books on tape either!
BUT I love what Cool Cat Teacher is doing over at her blog. She is recording and podcasting her classes so that students have access to class discussions.
I’m considering buying a portable mp3 player for our library. We could loan it out to teachers and students, maybe record booktalk podcasts ‘in the field’. From where did you purchase your iriver recorder?
Great blog, Vicki. I’m with you on the courage to be accountable–and lucky to have a trustworthy principal who will stand by me as I experiment and do the “messy learning” that comes with originality.
Question: Have you ever thought about a ceiling-mounted microphone for class podcasts?
David Warlick mentioned it somewhere, and I’m darned if I can find the kind of mic that would actually pick up entire class conversations from the ceiling–or even where to start looking for one.
Ideas? Knowledge? Resources?
Thanks and keep sharing~
Might want to actually check out the iRecord ( http://www.irecord.com ). It’ll make your podcasting MUCH MUCH easier
Sounds ideal for recording what you say, but what about when picking up responses and interaction from the classroom? From some of the audio recording tools I’ve been looking at, there’s not much in the pro-sumer range that have a good signal-to-noise ratio. I’ve thought about bringing my Samson C01U mic into the classroom, but am also looking for a more portable solution as I’m in one of two labs during any given day.
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