On Friday, we were all assigned to whip up a podcast to have ready on Monday. I noticed on our Moodle forum that a large portion of my classmates had their podcasts finished on Sunday evening which was fine with me, because that's when I finished my own.
Initially, I was pretty productive about working on my podcast. I went to class on Friday morning with an idea for it (how to write an essay) and quickly narrowed down and focused that idea (how to write a proposition). I also had it in my mind that I wanted my viewers to see me type as I was typing. After trying to figure out screencasts, I almost chucked that idea. However, I ended up keeping it, for better or for worse.
I downloaded a program called Jing because I had heard that it was a really great program for creating screencasts. It really is a great program for creating screencasts. The trouble is that I'm too cheap to shell out the fifteen bucks I'd need to have the privilege of saving my screencasts to my computer. With the free version, you can only save the program in such a way that it opens in a browser (on my computer, through Opera, which I rarely use).
Oh well, Screentoaster is free, though the quality isn't as good.
Though we learned all about Garageband in class, I created my podcast through iMovie. For some reason, I can't figure out Garageband like I can iMovie. I had fun creating the podcast visuals. I wanted to avoid using common use material because I figured I could create all of the materials, myself. I did, although I'm sure anyone viewing the podcast would have preferred the common use materials. I had an absolutely terrible time creating a voiceover for the podcast. I hate recording myself and I'm a terrible public speaker. I stumbled throughout the entire podcast, making it less than desirable.
Oh well. At least it was a learning experience.
I figure that I can use podcasting in my future classroom. Mostly, the students will be doing the podcasting. Perhaps, through podcasting, they will have the chance to develop the public speaking skills I will probably never have. I expect it to be the powerpoint of my generation. For awhile. Until they invent something newer and cooler.
Hey Amber! I think you did a great job on your first podcast! Good for you for choosing a tough subject to talk about. I really like how we could see you typing. The only think I would say is that if you are stumbling over yourself, relax! You can always edit out the ums...and the pauses! This is probably a great way for you to get used to speaking out loud because you are not actually standing in front of people.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I had fun making the little clips for it. Yeah, I know I'm a horrible speaker, and that record button makes me really nervous! I probably should go back over it and redo the speaking.
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