Right Angle Reflection

This is almost embarassing to admit, but what the heck – here goes!

I’ve been a podcast listener for a long time now so I was pretty relaxed about our third assignment.

BUT… it has been a LONG time since I bothered to check out the podcast listings on iTunes, and there has been such an explosion of offerings that I felt like I was in a warehouse when previously I was in a corner store! So, the good news is that I’ve discovered some new podcasts that I need to follow, and the bad news is that I’ve discovered some new podcasts that I need to follow! No… that’s not a mistake. I know it says the same thing, but I know those of you who listen to podcasts can understand what I’m saying.

As to how a library could use podcasts… obviously there’s some great content for listening and viewing, but more importantly, I think it would be cool to create your own content.

I’ve used Audacity and had kids create mP3 files that we burn to a CD and play over the PA during announcements, but it would be neat for students to know they potentially had a much bigger audience.

My explorations recently led me to discover gCast, which allows you to record a podcast using any kind of phone, and I fiddled around with that until I got it to work. I’m already thinking of some kind of “on the spot” reporting that the kids could do. I have visions of student reporters armed with a cell phone interviewing kids as they exited the library after an author visit. It would be great PR to post their responses on the school web site.

Alan November at his site, http://novemberlearning.com/ in a section called Community How-Tos has a GREAT pdf explaining exactly how to use gCast. He suggested how neat it would be to use it while kids were out on a field trip. If the parental group leaders had a cell phone, then periodically, the kids could be required to report what they were doing and what they were seeing.

The other reason I’m excited about gCast is because this year we purchased five $40 USB microphones because the cheap dollar store mics were not working with our computers. The front microphone jack is defective in the computers our school board purchased, and the microphone wires were not long enough to reach the back jack…. Anyway… of the five microphones only two survived the school year because kids disconnected them without properly ejecting them… So the exciting thing is that this would help decrease the need to have expensive microphones – most people have telephones. Wahoo!

My learning curve is so steep lately, it’s a right angle!

I’d rather learn than sleep!

Ciao,

Janice