Assignment: Podcasting & Blogging
In order to explore some of the potential of the 2.0 Web, you will produce and publish a podcast to your own wiki site. The wiki will include a blog feature, which you will use to post a few comments about someone's podcast. Your assignment consists of the following:
- Your instructor will set up wiki spaces for the class members on the lab server. If you are working in a group, give your instructor the names of the members of your group, and also a name to label your group for the wiki.
- Create a podcast according to these parameters:
- Content of the podcast should be something related to K-12 education; for example, reading a children’s book, an instructional segment on some type of concept or lesson from the K-12 curriculum, a (mock) interview with someone concerning an educational issue, etc.
- Length of the podcast should be 3 to 5 minutes; a little longer will be fine, but if it exceeds a period of 8 minutes (e.g., reading a longer children’s book), please get approval from the instructor.
- Voice soundtrack should be edited for audio quality; that is, an occasional “ah” or “um” is not so much an issue, but there should not be excessive distracting elements in the voice track.
- Podcast should at a minimum begin and end with some appropriate musical segment with appropriate fades; if you utilize music playing in the background during your voice parts, the level should be low enough so that it does not overpower or interfere with your voice.
- (Optional) If you create a podcast with graphics, include both an episode artwork graphic as well as graphic elements that will display during your voice presentation.
- Upload the podcast to your wiki; include a brief summary or introduction concerning your podcast.
- Each of you individually must listen to someone else's podcast, and post a few comments about it on your blog space in your wiki. Comments should be of an appropriate, substantive nature; saying something like "Great show--I love it!" won't quite cut it.
Example of a podcast
Rubric for podcast
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on DiscoverySchool.com