Digital audio recording

I decided to create a digital audio recording on blind stitch hemming (to link it to my subject area of Home Economics).  The audio recording can be found in my wiki.

I then converted the audio recording into a web podcast using Podomatic:





I used my Iphone to create the original audio recording.  I was able to trim it using the same program, which was very handy.  Podomatic was a very easy program to use to convert my audio file into a podcast.  I think for students who are working in a blog, they would get more benefit out of creating their audio files into a web podcast so that it can be embedded into their blog.  I found it very disjointed and inconvenient to have to upload the audio file into my wiki and then have a link to it in my blog.  Creating and embedding a podcast would eliminate this need.

I analysed the audio tools using a PMI table:

Plus	Minus	Interesting / Implications
Students can re-record until they are happy with recording.	No visuals – may not engage visual learners.	Can give a more polished presentation as students can practice until they are happy with their final recording.  This is unlike a live oral presentation where students who are not confident presenting may struggle.
Can do other things while listening to audio recording.	Can’t embed directly into blog.	Podcasts have changed education – anyone can take classes on nearly any topic for free, and can learn when it suits them (and can repeat over and over again if they don’t understand a concept – which you can’t do in a class).
Can listen to audio/podcast whenever convenient
Easy to record (most mobile phones have voice recorder function)
Can embed directly into wiki.
Online podcasts – free education on virtually any topic.

Out of the three tools explored this week, the audio podcast was my least favourite.  While they would be useful to listen to while you do other things (eg housework!), I found listening to the audio-only podcasts quite unengaging.  I am a visual learner, so found the video podcasts and enhanced podcasts much more engaging as they contained related images as well as the audio.  I like the idea that they can be used for students to publish and present their work, particularly for those students who may be less confident giving live oral presentations.  Audio recordings and podcasts allow the students to practice and practice until they are happy with the recording.  Podcasts can also be used to create an archive of lessons.  This may be useful for students who may have missed some lessons due to illness, or as a revision tool.  Students can listen (or watch in the case of enhanced podcasts) to archived lessons in their own time when it suits them, and they can listen over and over again for concepts that they may be struggling with. 

Itunes U had many podcasts that I think would be useful to use in teaching.  I narrowed my search to education, however, I think if you opened it to the subject areas, there would be many more options as well.  A few that I really liked were Classroom 2.0 Live (a resource for teachers – great ideas as to how to use podcasts and ICT in the classroom), iPads in Education (more ideas how to use iPads in teaching), Chemistry (aimed at high school students, and includes review questions for each week), Principles of Human Nutrition (aimed at university students, but has handouts, ppts and review questions that could be used or adapted for Senior School high school students). 

My favourite was the Khan Academy, and I was very impressed by the science lessons that I looked at.  The lessons included key concepts written on the whiteboard, while the teacher narrated the class.  For me, the components of the lesson I remember are the diagrams and pictures that were used to add value and explanation to the key concepts written in the lesson.  I can see the Khan Academy lessons being very valuable revision tools for students to use in the lead up to their assessment, or for further clarification if they didn’t quite understand a concept in class.

With audio recordings (and particularly Podcasts), ethical and legal considerations for students include ensuring they do not use abusive or explicit language and content, and accessing Podcasts that do not contain the same.  Copyright issues also need to be considered if students use music or voice recording of others in their podcast.