Greenhill Enters the World of Podcasting

In the last issue, I introduced the concept of podcasting and how you could easily implement a podcast in your class using a cell phone and Audioblogger. The Internet is a dynamic place and Audioblogger has moved out of podcasting as it was too costly to maintain. However, there are many options on the net and Gabcast has taken up the torch. We now have a couple areas on campus that are using Gabcast and podcasting in their programs.

Sample Greenhill Podcasts

MS Music Club
Sponsored by Mr. Blake Harkey
The Middle School music club has started using podcasting through Gabcast to produce programs centered about student interests in music. Some of these productions were even created while standing in the middle of a record story (OK so they seldom sell records anymore but I just can bring myself to call them CD stores). Join the MS music club as they explore the music around them. You can even subscribe using an RSS aggregator such as Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) By subscribing, you will automatically be notified of any new programs posted to their podcast.

Mary Tapia Spanish Classes
These podcasts were created by students in her classes and were created using a phone and gabcast account.

Mary Tapia, chair of the Modern and Classical Languages department has provided a brief narrative on how she has started using podcasting in her classes.

Submitted by Mary Tapia
Since the Upper School Language lab changed to a digital recording format almost four years ago, the MCL department has been experimenting with new ways to record and store student sound files. Thanks to the new format we began to digitize not only listening exercises from our textbooks but also student practice sessions, interviews with native speakers, music, movies, and much more. Gradually, we began to use some of the lab tools to combine sound and text files when giving students feedback on their work and encouraging students to combine sound and text files in a PowerPoint document for their presentations. When Chris Bigenho told me about WebCT, I jumped in with both feet because I was already using a class web page for each of my classes, but I was getting bogged down in having to post all of the student work myself. Thus, when Chris mentioned the possibility of using podcasting as a teaching tool, I was very excited about incorporating this relatively new technology into my “bag of tricks.”

To get started, I logged on to www.gabcast.com and created my account. Then, I offered my students extra credit if they would create a podcast of an original ghost story they had recently written for class. In order to post the podcast, all the students had to do was dial 1 (800) 749-0632 and follow the prompts. After recording the podcast, the speaker has the option to review it, redo it, or post it. One of my motives was to give students an authentic reason to incorporate the feedback I had given them on their original stories into a more polished version. Furthermore, by posting the podcasts on the Internet, students from both AP Spanish Language classes could listen to each other’s work. It has been my experience that having a real audience is a strong motivating factor for students to revise and improve their work. Podcasting creates a wonderful forum for students to showcase their work even beyond Greenhill to include anyone who has access to the World Wide Web.

If you would like to listen to my students’ podcasts, go to www.gabcast.com and enter 2669 in the search field or follow this link to all of my student podcasts.

Each episode represents one student’s work. Click on “play,” wait a few moments for the document to download, and you will hear the podcast. Feel free to send me comments, if you choose, by clicking on the “comments about this podcast” button.

Now that I have introduced students to this tool, I plan to explore its use for interviews with native speakers. In the past when I have asked students to interview a native speaker about a particular topic, it was somewhat challenging to make and listen to the recordings. Sometimes we had difficulty converting the student made recordings into digital files so that we could save them. Recently we purchased two small digital recorders that will streamline this process, but we do not have enough recorders for each student to have one. However, Gabcast has an option for conference calls that should allow a student to interview a native speaker over the phone, save the interview, and automatically post it. After the interview is posted, we can listen to it in class and/ or save the file on the Greenhill Intranet for future use. In the very near future, students will be using these and other files to create a digital portfolio of all the work they have done in a trimester, a year, or even over a longer period of time. I hope that you will take a moment to consider the wealth of opportunities that podcasting could have for your own classroom.

How can I set up a podcast for my class?

Simply go to www.gabcast.com and set up one of their free accounts. You will then use an 800 number to access the gabcast and the account number for your hosting site. Enter the security code that you set and record away. If you would like additional help getting started in the world of podcasting, drop by my office or send me an e-mail. (First three faculty members to set up a podcast and send me the link to their first post gets a prize. Current podcasters excluded-you get a prize anyway)