iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

Whether you're leading your class or advising an extracurricular group, we hope this guide will make the podcasting process easier.

Below, you'll find a breakdown of the process and a series of sample lesson plans to ensure that students have the skills and background knowledge to start making a podcast.

I'm going to confess, I did not bring podcasts into my English classroom with any intention of improving my students' literacy skills. The idea came from a more selfish place: My wife and I were enthralled by the first few episodes of Serial, and I wanted to share our excitement for the amazing story with my students. Like almost everybody, they were hooked by the pilot episode and begged me for more.
I began using other podcast episodes and excerpts as both primary and supplemental texts.

Using Serial turned out to be a huge academic success for a variety of reasons, most of them related to critical thinking, listening comprehension, and the art of storytelling. While I felt guilty that the students weren't doing as much reading from a traditional text, they voluntarily studied maps, evaluated clues, argued with each other, and wrote twice as much in their journals as they previously had. Perhaps most satisfying to me, they were engaging in adult conversations with teachers, parents, and administrators who were listening to the same podcast.

The development of easy-to-use podcast production tools like Anchor and Synth have contributed to the proliferation of podcasts in the last few years. The ways that we can find and listen to podcasts has also increased substantially in the last few years. That's why Common Craft has released a new version of their popular video, Podcasts Explained by Common Craft.

In this episode of Educational Podcasting Today, I sit down with podcaster and Instructional Technology Coach, Gabriel Garillo, to discuss the importance of having positive communication with your students.  Gabriel is not only a fantastic Tech Coach in Texas but also is the host of the brand new Edtech Bites podcast that can be found on all of the major podcasting platforms.

In today's episode, we discuss how podcasting can be used not just as a tool to provide instruction but also as a vehicle that allows students to grow and mature as young adults.  Gabriel has an amazing outlook on the subject and why podcasting and food should always be found next to each other.

Do you like podcasts? Chances are, either you or someone you know is a fan of listening to podcasts. According to a 2018 Nielsen study, not only is the number of people listening to podcasts growing rapidly, but the level of engagement is also increasing.

Podcasts and education go hand in hand!

This guide will help you understand what podcasts are, why they’re popular, and how to access or create your own podcasts. We’ve also included a PDF with 50 ideas for student created podcasts.

Podcasting has had a resurgence over the last couple of years. Part of that resurgence is due to the increase in easy-to-use tools for creating podcasts as well as an increase in platforms through which you can listen to podcasts. Anchor.fm is one of those easy-to-use podcast creation tools. I featured it in a video in my tip of the week in late February. The folks at Edublogs were kind enough to share it with their followers and include it in their new comprehensive guide to classroom podcasting.

If you’ve been reluctant to attempt podcasting for yourself or for your students, Anchor, just might be your solution. Available free at either the App Store or Google Play or at Anchor.fm, Anchor makes podcasting from your phone or iPad or Chromebook a breeze. It also makes podcasting a social media event.  And there’s virtually no learning curve to move from record to broadcast.

Everybody needs a hobby, so it's said. But even if you're busy enough as it is (and what teacher and student isn't), you can still benefit from exploring this list of creative hobbies for building critical thinking skills. Some of them you may already be doing. If not, consider starting out with one that interests you. Learn about it as much as possible before you dive in—creative hobbies can grow to be more than just a hobby if they resonate with you.

n this episode of Educational Podcasting Today, Jeff welcomes Meredith Allen from Soundtrap on the podcast to discuss why teachers are using Soundtrap in their classrooms to teach their students about audio production and podcasting.  

"I just learned that New York City doesn’t actually have alleys. Okay, they have a few private alleys. However, after listening to the latest 99% Invisible podcast, I learned that the idea of alleys throughout NYC is a bit of a myth. Does this matter? Probably not. But it’s what I love about podcasts. I love the surprise of learning random historical facts on Hardcore History or rethinking creativity from 99% Invisible. In other words, I love geeking out.

But it’s more than that. My favorite podcasts push my thinking and help me see things from a new perspective. I discover new frameworks and blueprints. They can be purely geeky or imminently practical.

As a former teacher and current professor, I’ve spent years having students create podcasts. While the platforms and audiences have evolved, I love the idea of students sharing their voice with an audience."

Anchor are continuing their march to podcast dominance with the launch of the new Anchor iPad app. Although you could always use the iPhone version of the app on an iPad, the experience, like most iPhone apps on an iPad, was less than ideal. The new app makes much better use of the larger screen and will of course sync all your recordings from the web and your phone. However, the iPad app also brings a collection of brand new iPad specific features, so here’s a look at what you can expect.

Audacity is a free, open-source program for recording and editing audio. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. For classroom podcasting projects or other classroom audio recording projects, it is hard to beat Audacity. The only trouble is that it can feel a bit overwhelming the first time that you open it up on your desktop. Fortunately, there is no shortage of YouTube videos that will show you everything you need to know and then some.

Anchor says it is “The easiest way to make a podcast. Ever.” Well we will just see about that and also see if it is a good fit for you in the classroom. There are three things that make Anchor a bit different than its competition. One, there is no limit to what is hosted. That means no bandwidth limit, no storage limit and no time limit. Go crazy creators. The second thing is that you can “move” your podcast from one site to Anchor. The third thing is that it is completely free. As an educator who has relied on services before, I am a little skeptical about this one but we can discuss that later.

There are mobile apps for iOS and Android but for this post I am going to focus on the online webservice.