Tuesday, May 29, 2007

A request for help

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Hi all

I am currently undertaking research looking at the question:

In what ways does podcasting enhance oral literacies?

I have been gathering data in my own context but I would love to hear what other teachers have found when using podcasting in their classroom programme and add voices from further a field into my final write up.

I am intersted in authenticity:

  • Audience
  • Context
  • Purpose
  • Self confidence

If you could provide an example of your students demonstrating any of these things I would love to hear about it and incorporate it into my study.  Please leave me a comment on this blog including the country that you are commenting from.

Please could you include this request on your blogs with a link to this post, I would love to get as much information as possible.  It will be great to have a piece of research that says - This is worthwhile doing, and this is why.

Jane

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13 comments:

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark said...

As good as done Jane.

Good luck with your research.

http://tinyurl.com/3dt9xc

TSmith said...

Self confidence has really grown with my grade 4 podcasters. They are attracted to the activity of podcasting, and I have seen continued improvement in the content quality. Our main areas have been in doing book talks and summarizing. For example, we split up James and the Giant Peach and summarized the entire book in a series of podcasts, which reflected the various ability levels and talents of the students. An example of a particular student increasing her confidence level is in her Tom Sawyer podcast. It can be heard at:
http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=51798&blogger_id=51831

Regards, Terry
www.smithclass.org

Anonymous said...

Jane,

I just came across this in my aggregator, I thought you may be interested. http://hickstro.org/2007/05/29/teachers-teaching-teachers-53007/

Brian Grenier
http://bumpontheblog.etowns.net

Susan said...

Jane,
I have been podcasting with my 8-12 French students for the past year. I can tell you that their level of language use as well as comprehension of the target language has really improved. I would be happy to talk with you about this more - my email is on my blog.
Susan - Grand Rapids, MI USA

sachauncey said...

Hi Jane,

Here is a link to an interview I completed with a graduate student in Florida. It includes a good deal of information and I'd be happy to elaborate on anything you read, listen to, or see that would be helpful.

http://wikispace.ci.fsu.edu/ltripp/pmwiki.php?n=RuthE.GrandviewElementaryPodcasts

Sarah Chauncey
Grandview Elementary School
www.grandiewlibrary.org
www.digitalpencil.org

John Kain said...

Sixth graders at one one of our schools made a podcast that combined music with literature. Here is the link:
http://pesd.alevelhigher.com/technology_and_learning/on-line_learning/podcasts/edison_drinkinggourd.mp3

Many of our students are English language learners, so this helped them become more comfortable reading English in a musical context.

Jody Hayes said...

Voyagers (Year 1 & 2), New Zealand podcast in simple, short bursts to record their thoughts about whatever we are learning about. The children have become more aware of the way they give information to their audience over the start of this year.
Their podcasts are simply real children with their real learning ... no script (hate to use the word 'authentic').
Over even just a term there has been;
* honest self reflection, next step for learning
* a growing awareness of sharing the 'topic' in the opening sentence
* some of the most recultant speakers in other situations are the keenest to record their voice for podcasting
* our blogging audience, especially our families have commented on how htey love to hear the childrens voices... this makes the children proud of their work
* podcasting is not limited to those who can read and write
* we have had great discussions around ways of phrasing, accents, interesting words etc that we have listened to in other childrens podcasts

Our class blog page is called Voaygers and you can find us here http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1638

Mr Harrington said...

Hi Jane,
I guess you know some of the things that I am going to say but I will say them anyway.
Here in my class of 7-8 year old pupils in Wales we have been using web 2.0 tools for the whole of this academic year, what difference has it made to my pupils oral literacy :
*They realise that they have a 'real audience' for both blogs and podcasts that they produce.
* They have developed a whole new frame of reference for themselves in the world, they know people to talk to who are 11,000miles away, they know them personally and as friends - this has completely changed their vocabulary.
* They have learned that it is cool to be creative in this environment.
* They think more deeply about what they have to say and know again that it now has value beyond our 4 walls.
* Their confidence in speaking to others - both adults and peers has grown - they will quite happily strike up a conversation with people from Estonia to Nelson NZ.
* It has given them a window into how their futures will be - and like letting the genie out of the bottle it is difficult for some of them to see another way of communicating to their audience.
All in all they have taken me on a journey much further than I could ever have imagined we would go - so they have taught their teacher something as well - never underestimate the power of the medium.
Best Wishes
Paul

Anonymous said...

The podcasts that my six and seven-year old Canadian children have made this year have been on many different topics. Often after making a podcast, we will talk about the speaking objectives we have set (these are from our curriculum) such as speaking loudly enough quickly or too slowly, etc., and then listen to the podcast together to reflect on our learning. In fact, the subject of our podcast is often about what we have learned and what we still want to learn in a specific area such as mathematics. The children love to hear their voices, and even my shyest students are willing to speak aloud into a microphone instead of to their classmates. Parents, who also love to hear their children's voices are the main audience of our podcasts, although we get comments from others as well.

Simon said...

Hi Jane,

Am just beginning with podcasts for my students. They interviewed me for my about page on my blog and have done a variety of readings. Early stages at present but feel free to get in touch if you need anything.
www.educatingthedragon.edublogs.org
simon.dragon09@gmail.com

paulbmckenzie said...

Hi Jane,

I'm a K12 ICT Coordinator at a school in Kuwait. We have just started using podcasts with our grade 9 students. Some interesting observations include;

a) When students realise that their work may be listened to by a global audience, the quality of work goes through the roof (take 2,3...12).

b) The engagement is far greater than previous technologies. Anything associated with an iPod has to be cool.

c) The Web2.0 sharing capabilities and mashups have meant the final product can be quite professional. Sound effects, music, news broadcasts, famous public addresses...

d) The skills absorbed in these projects far outstrip anything done with cassettes.

e) The ability to add so much more functionality to the final product has created far more opportunities for developing collaboration, delegation, communication, leadership... skills.

f) They can very easily find similar creations from students the same age all over the world and use these as guides (what to do and what not to do) and as inspiration.

g) These projects are very teachable moments for ethical issues surrounding create/share/modify in the Web2.0 world.

h) The level of quality and easy access, the dynamism if they are used with iMovie or Photostory 3 are a great tool for inter-grade communication.

i) They are fantastic first step opportunities for dragging teachers into the 21st Century and bridging the "digital divide" within our schools.

The teachers learn so much more about their students in these types of projects. It also gives them a chance to grasp the comcept of Web2.0 and the whole CC concept.

On top of that, they get to understand and employ some of the Internet safety policies in a very non-threatening way.

When they realise how easy and rewarding it all is, they are more likely to go off and start a class blog, esp. if you say you want to link to podcasts from a class site.

I look forward to seeing your work.

Paul McKenzie (a Kiwi in Q8)

Pam said...

I saw your request on Steve Dembo's blog. See my blog post that has a link to an example of a video showing a lesson that included a podcast. The teacher, Mark Lada, would be happy to discuss his thoughts about podcasting if you wish.
http://shoemap.edublogs.org/2007/05/21/great-example-of-tech-integration/
http://walledlake.k12.mi.us/banks/teachers/lada/