Students Creating Podcasts

Giving students opportunities to share with authentic audiences can increase engagement and tap into student motivation.

One way I have tried to do this is by helping students develop podcasts.  This can be a relatively simple way for students to publish their work.

The most consistent avenue for a student podcast has been one for our teaching team.  Student “reporters” relay what has been going on in the classes during the week.  The process is as follows:  students write a script, students record, students share an audio file with me, and I process the file into the podcast.

I currently publish the podcast using Anchor, a free platform to publish podcasts.  In addition to being posted on its site, the podcast is embedded on team pages, so that parents and students have access.

Anchor is simple, utilizing drag and drop features to produce the podcast. Background music can be added to enhance the podcast.

Students record using their phones or Chromebooks.

In an even more basic form, I have had students record the audio and then published the raw audio without processing it in Anchor. This has been done both for the team podcast as well as class podcasts. Students have created class podcasts on different topics they have investigated.  In addition, we have recorded Socratic seminars and posted them as podcasts. (See Unscripted, Students Jump Into Podcasting)

Vocaroo is a straightforward, online audio recorder students have used. More recently, if students are not using their phones, they are using the Chromebook app Beautiful Audio Editor.  This is a browser-based audio recorder that allows students to easily delete sections and lay multiple tracks.

The process is easy, allows students to publish their work, and provides an authentic audience

Unscripted, Students Jump into Podcasting

On a whim - well actually the day before - I thought it would be a great opportunity for my students to dive in and attempt a podcast.

They had been investigating the Amazon Rainforest and the land use conflict there.  I thought this presented a good opportunity for them to pause and process the basic understandings that they had acquired to this point.

Student participants had no script and referred to notes on the computers to help 

them along. A student computer picked up the audio using white microphone in 

the middle of the table. This link is to their podcast: 

So, I threw out the idea to the students….and they were on board.

I briefly explained that the format is like a talk show...a conversation...a Socratic seminar (which they had just done in ELA).  And, of course, we would make an audio recording and share it with the world.

The class discussed how the topic would be introduced, how the conversation would flow, and general prompts that could be used to encourage the flow of conversation.  We quickly outlined this on the board so they could have a visual reference, asked for volunteers, pushed the tables together, and set up the microphone on a computer.

Most who participated eagerly volunteered while others reluctantly did so.  But we had seven volunteers, including our host/moderator.

Those who were not participating were given a very special task - listening.  Their responsibility was to identify arguments/points made in favor of an idea or position and arguments/points made against an idea or position within a T-chart.

I helped our student  host connect with Vocaroo to record the podcast.  Then the host clicked record, and off we went.

Each of my classes did a fantastic job. I was please how the conversation flowed and how the students were able to both share information and respond to one another. Each of the classes sustained the conversation for nearly 10 minutes. Of course there were some glitches and confusion - they had never had a “formal” conversation like this with such little pointed preparation - but they performed admirably. (The biggest glitch was the misstep in one class that did not get the technology to record their conversation - that may have been the best one of the day, too.)

Afterward, students were smiling and were “reliving” their participation.  

We followed up with a discussion of the points speakers made against an idea or position.  The participants joined in with those taking notes, recalling others’ counterpoints to what they had said.

Both the conversation and listening focus served as a meaningful opportunity to process information and review for the students.  They were also better able to see connections between ideas by having others respond to what they were saying.  By recording it, they also have the opportunity to go back to the conversation, hear it again, and reinforce understandings.

Having now exposed all my students to podcasts, I love the idea of letting them loose to create their own as an option for them to express their knowledge in a meaningful way.

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If you have had students create podcasts, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.