Podcasts
Currently I am a second grade teacher, and my past students were not very familiar with podcasts (at least I have never heard them talking about podcasts). However, my students enjoy using social media apps, so I know if I were to introduce them to podcasts, they would easily catch on and enjoy creating them. Middle and high school students may already have experience with creating or listening to podcasts, so I can see this being a big hit with students in these grade levels. I would definitely say podcasts are becoming more known, and it would be a fun addition to any school library. In my future library, I would like to have an area dedicated to creating podcasts, or I would like for my library club members to create, edit, and upload the podcasts during or after school.
Here are three podcast websites I tried out and my experience with each one:
1.
I've heard of Soundcloud before, but I've only heard of it being used to listen to music. I hadn't tried it for creating or listening to podcasts, so I decided to give it a try. Creating an account was very easy as I was able to use my Gmail. Other than that, I had a very difficult time with Soundcloud. For some reason, I could never get my audio to upload, even though I was able to upload it to the other podcast websites. Also, searching for educational podcasts was difficult to do and there wasn't many options to choose from. For these reason, I would not recommend Soundcloud to teachers and librarians to use.
2.
For two previous courses, I needed to create a podcast and I chose to use Podbean mainly because I didn't know other options to use. It was easy to create an account because I was able to connect to my Gmail. With a free account, you get up to 5 hours of audio and can upload up to three episodes a day. Creating my podcast channel and uploading a picture to be used as my logo was very easy to do. The steps to uploading my audio file were simple to do, and I was able to edit the title and the description for my podcast episode. I was also able to search through different podcasts about various topics. Even though I had previous experience using Podbean and my current and past experiences were good, I still think another option would better suit teachers, librarians, and students.
3.
The best podcast option that I would recommend is Buzzsprout! Although I wasn't able to create an account by connecting to my Gmail, I used an email address that I use on a daily bases. The layout of Buzzsprout is easier to follow along and use, and this was my first time using this website to create my podcast. It was easy to upload my audio file, and I was able to write out a title and description for it. With my free account, I have 2 hours worth of audio that I can upload which is more than enough for me since my audio was less than 10 minutes so I still have space to upload more if need be. Buzzsprout is a great website to use to house your podcasts and there are resources on the website in creating a great podcast. The only downsides to using Buzzsprout is that after 90 days, your podcasts are deleted (with a paid account this would not be the case) and you can only house your podcasts, which means you are not able to find other podcasts to listen to. Besides these downfalls, I had a better and easier experience using Buzzsprout. It would also be easy for students to use and it's safe to know they won't be able to search for other podcasts (inappropriate ones) besides the episodes that they upload.
Here is a podcast Leo, Ione and myself created.
(Leo did the awesome editing on Garage band and then I uploaded my audio on Buzzsprout!)
How podcasts can be used in the library:
- Students can create book review podcasts
- Students can write a short story and create a podcast reading their story
- Librarians can create booktalk podcasts to describe books (or new books) that can be found in the library
- Librarians can create podcasts about newly released/award winning books
- Librarians can create podcasts discussing events that have happened in the library (the librarian can also "interview" a student who attended the event)
Here is a list of educational podcasts that I found on Spotify that I recommend you give a listen to:
- Due Knowledge
- Library Ideas Podcast
- OVERDUE: Conversations from the Library
- Books in the Middle Podcast
- Tech Plus Books
- Teacher Prep
- Google Teacher Podcast
There are so many teacher/librarian podcasts on Spotify, my recommendation list can go on forever!
These are two other podcasts that I wanted to share because I thought there were fun to listen to!
Great podcast! I am very interested in Buzzsprout now, I have not used it, or tired using it for a podcast, but it sounds like an excellent option. I enjoyed reading your list of ideas and ways that librarians can facilitate the use of podcasts, especially how students can create book reviews. I think that is an excellent way to engage them in reading and reflecting on what they like or dislike about certain authors and genres.
ReplyDeleteYou all created an amazing podcast! Really enjoyed it and very informative. Like you stated, we also used Podbean because it is the one we have used before for past courses, therefore we immediately went with it. Now with your review I would really want to try Buzzsprout!
ReplyDeleteGreat podcast! School libraries have changed a lot, and they have only gotten better for our students and teachers. Your group chose an excellent topic for your podcast. The only podcasts I have used from the ones you reviewed are Podbean and Buzzsprout. They are both easy to use and would be excellent tools for the library.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Buzzsprout before. I really like Podbean and Anchor, so that is something I will have to check out. I LOVE your idea for having a designated area for podcasting in the library. I had never thought of that before! I also did not like Soundcloud, for the same reasons. As far as your ideas for using podcasting, I really liked book reviews, reading their own writing, and the librarian interview students who attended library events. What an amazing list of ideas!
ReplyDeleteThank you for including links to other library podcasts. Although I do listen to a few podcasts already, I never really thought about listening to library podcast. I feel like this will be a great resource for my car rides to school and back!
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