I have to say, out of all the tools which were presented, the one which I was most intrigued to hear about was Audacity, due in no small part to the fact that podcasting as a medium is something which is near and dear to my heart. I must say, after having seen Audacity, and had the opportunity to think through the possibilities presented by internet-published audio, I couldn't be more enthused.
Let me be clear, I don't necessarily think that this is an everyday-use kind of tool. I feel like it really only needs to come out for "special occasions." As a result, I think the complexity that it brings to the table (ordinarily something which would make me reticent to use it in the classroom) can be offset by its use, long-term, around a single, special activity. I'm thinking of a summative assessment type thing, where students r-enact famous moments in history through their voices, or produce radio interviews surrounding historical personnages or events (my focus here is history, but I think the possibilities content-wise are pretty broad. You could even use it as a group presentation medium, where groups are asked to produce an "episode" of a podcast which their fellow classmates can then listen in on, rather than bore people to death (and take up class-time) with your standard stand-at-the-front-of-the-room-shaking-like-a-leaf reports. Again, ordinarily a tool with a learning curve as steep as this one (i.e. more than about 5 minutes) is ordinarily something I would shy away from using with students, but for longer-term projects I think it would be worth it.
Prior to this presentation, I never really considered audio productions as something which could be brought into the classroom, but now, I am wholly intrigued.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your reflection. If I recall correctly you Naomi and someone else used audacity as a interview tool when we had to create an audio about Annabelle Lee. I really enjoyed listening to your piece in class because you showed me a novel way to use the tool. I think it would be a wonderful assignment to prompt students to take the roles and characters of famous individuals in history. I like how you thought of the "standard stand-at-the-front-of-the-room-shaking-like-a-leaf-report" I agree that for many students such a task can be daunting and this tool could be used to alleviate some of that stress. I am not sure how I would use it in a biology classroom but that's something I have to chew on and ponder a little more. Using your suggestion I may have kids take the roles of different parts of a cell, say a mitochondria and enact their function to the nucleus. That would be really fun to see.
Again, thank you. I loved your post.
Stay warm!
Sara
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on this one. Audacity was a fascinating tool that I did not know about prior to the presentation in class. I too see it more as the type of tool I would bring out once in a while as an option for a summative assessment. I thought that your idea to have students use the tool as a way to record themselves enacting events or characters from history was creative and I think that students would be really engaged with that type of assignment. I'm in Place out of Time with Jeff now, and in that class we are asked to take on the persona of a famous person from history, as are the students that we interact with online. Audacity would be an interesting tool for us to use to record our impersonations and share with other characters. Great post!
Jess