Expanding the Classroom: Learning Opportunities Beyond the Walls A Cross Curriculum Examination of Podcasts and Vodcasts for the Classroom Dr. Donna SHELTON Associate Professor Northeastern State University - Foreign Language Dr. Pamela CHRISTOL Assistant Professor Northeastern State University - Natural Sciences Rick Shelton M.Ed. Assistant Coordinator for Academic Services Center for Teaching and Learning - Northeastern State University

To Infinity and Beyond  “To succeed in our struggle to build technology and new media to support learning, we must move far beyond the traditional view of teaching as delivery of information.” 1 John Seely Brown

Overview  How do we make sense of it all?  What’s good about it?  What’s the downside?  Podcasts  Vodcasts  Foreign Language  Science

How do we make sense of it all?

 Technology today can quickly overtake a classroom with its complexity and the endless options available to the instructor

How do we make sense of it all?  Develop a plan  Stick to your plan  Build in flexibility  Technology cannot instruct  Technology is a tool, not a solution

How do we make sense of it all?  Use reliable sites for video and audio content  Use content that fits the lesson  Be sure you have the software and hardware you need  Ask questions of your support staff

What’s Good About It?

 “Today’s digital kids think of information and communications technology (ICT) as something akin to oxygen: they expect it, it’s what they breathe, and it’s how they live.” 1 John Seely Brown

What’s Good About It?  Emphasis is on content, not the instructor  Increases instructor’s resources  Students are familiar with medium  Learning is expanded beyond the classroom in real time  Most schools now have the needed infrastructure

What’s Good About It?  Interactivity is increased  Instruction on the Internet accentuates the "student as worker" and the "teacher as coach" paradigms 2  Cost-to-benefit ratio is excellent

What’s Good About It?  Basic equipment is all that is needed Computer Speakers Internet access Media players installed  Quicktime  Windows media player  Flash A projector depending on classroom or lab

What’s the Downside?

 Many instructors fear technology Feeling that students are more capable than instructor  You must be able to recognize good materials  Some work is required to sort the good from the bad  There are a lot of bad sites out there

What’s the Downside?  Some sites may be down  Your network may be down  Virus threats from files  Tendency to treat technology as the solution  Technology choices seem overwhelming  Information could be dated

Websites

 Focus on established websites Beware of dubious websites Try to use sites with .edu .gov .org.com sites are commercial Others are personal in nature

Websites  National Science Research Center  Smithsonian  Amazing Space

Podcasts  Podcast is an emerging term used for the online delivery of audio-on-demand content

Podcasts  Education Podcast Network  Podcasting news  National Public Radio  iTunes U nes_u/ nes_u/

Podcasts  Podcast.net  PodcastAlly  iPodder.org  NASA

Audio Book Podcasts  LibriVox -- Volunteer Voices, Classic Books LibriVox -- Volunteer Voices, Classic Books  PodioBooks -- New, Original Science Fiction and Fantasy PodioBooks -- New, Original Science Fiction and Fantasy  Urban Art Adventures -- Classic 'Erotic' Audio Books Urban Art Adventures -- Classic 'Erotic' Audio Books  Maria Lectrix -- Public Domain Books with Catholic Themes Maria Lectrix -- Public Domain Books with Catholic Themes  Dead White Males -- Public Dead White Males -- Public

Create Your Audio Content  Content can be anything you like Audio books Music “Radio" type shows Interviews  There's no formula for creating the content  The beauty of podcasting is that your shows can be anything that you want them to be

Create Your Audio Content  It doesn't matter what platform or application you use to record the audio Audacity - open source, cross-platform, free and let's you mix together multiple files Audacity GarageBand - popular choice for Macintosh based computers GarageBand

Create Your Audio Content  Save the finished audio show at maximum quality in the native format  Convert the file to MP3 format  Use the minimum bit rate that provides good results  Some suggested settings: k Mono - sermons, audio books, talk radio 64k+ Stereo - music, music & talk combinations 128k Stereo - good quality music

Publish your MP3  Save your MP3 files to your web server  Test them with any MP3 player The files can go anywhere on your site However you may want to put all of them into one directory

Create Your Podcast Newsfeed  Podcasts feeds are RSS files that describe your podcast, along with information for each show  RSS files are just text files that link to your MP3 file -to-Podcast.html -to-Podcast.html

Vodcast  Vodcast is an emerging term used for the online delivery of video-on-demand content

Vodcasts  Vodstock  Vodcasts.tv

Questions

Reference Sources 1.Growing Up Digital: How the Web Changes Work, Education, and the Ways People Learn, by John Seely Brown 2.“The Effects of Internet-based Instruction on Student Learning” - Dr. Scott B. Wegner, Associate Professor  Impact of the Internet on Learning and Teaching - Hossein Arsham