Podcasts

Podcasts can be a great way to share information with students, teachers, parents and anyone in your library or school community. You could do morning announcements, agendas, tips, and tell or share stories. They can be an exit ticket for a lesson given or students could summarize lessons learned and ask questions within. Students can become reports and share what they have learned in any social studies or history assignment. The list goes on and on. First you have to find a good platform to use with your students I tried out three and here is what I found.

PodBean

PodBean is very user-friendly.  I the past I have mostly used it on my computer. This was the first time I downloaded the app and I have to say the set up wasn’t too difficult.  All you as a user have to do is tap on the microphone within the app and it starts recording.  Sound Effects like music can be added and turned lower or higher anytime during the recording.  You can listen to, redo, edit/cut, and save the podcast from the app.  When you’re ready to publish, just do it! It was pretty cool how simple it was compared to how difficult I was making it in my mind, but then the web-based version is pretty simple so I should have known better.  The sound quality of my phone was great compared to recording from my computer. When you create your account, you have options for subscription types but the free option is great for starting out. You are also able to search and follow other podcasters. With a good number of topics for Librarians to follow. This program would be great for recording anything school-related like how-tos, reflections, informational, skits, programs or for assessment. Easy to use and simple steps would make if fun for our students.

I‘m trying out:

Bedtime Stories Podcast Fairytales and Folk Tales from the Lilypad for Kids: Stories told. Short stories students can easily reflect on or go to sleep to.

Adventure of the Month – Kids and Children: Stories told. These stories last up to 45 min.

I Shake My Head: Two ladies telling funny stories about their lives and things around them

Soundcloud

Soundcloud seems to be more for uploading music and creating playlists compared to what I know as a podcast. Uploads can be made public or private.  Users can search different topics like education, books, or the library. Soundcloud was not as easy to navigate as Pod Bean and the set up didn’t mesh well with me. This may be because I have used another podcasting platform more so it might be that I need to come back a few times to learn more about it. I don’t see this program as something to use in the library. Many if not all of the playlists I found were very well produced and our library is not equipped for this. I do think that Soundcloud could be good for our music teacher and his after-school Ukulele club.

I’m trying out:

Neon Pajamas: Ben the Librarian, the first album I opened seemed flowy and easy to listen to which could be good for working in the library when no one is around but you want to have some sound.

I will also be looking into The Homework Out and Amped section of playlists since I need to start working out and they were very motivating.  Just watch out for language if you have little ears listening because most playlists don’t let you know that there is adult language included.

Audioboo

It’s an app that connects to the web-based program. It took me a second to figure this out when doing my research because there is a podcasting platform called Audioboom which is super easy to use and has many similarities to PodBean that makes Audioboom a great option for being your podcasting platform. Audioboom and Audioboo are one in the same just used with different tech resources and yes, the spelling threw me. Within Audioboo, you can do up to five minutes per recording for free. Using this site would be easy for teachers and students to share information and create. Just like PodBean you are given the ability to post/share your podcast on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook or your Blog.

I’m trying out:

Otis Jiry's Scary Stories Told in the Dark: A Horror Anthology Series: My student’s really love the one book I have in the library and I think this podcast may make them super happy to hear.

Final Review

After exploring and playing with different apps, I will keep using PodBean.  It is really user-friendly, and I could see my students using it easily.  Having limited time in the library I would want to have students be able to work outside of the library on the podcast. PodBean and Audioboo seem to be able to do this easily, but like I said before PodBean has been easy to use and I think my students will like it. One thing I think would be fun to try would be setting up a Podcast booth for students to share what they have been reading. I know my students will definitely need to practice with any program so they can become familiar with it, but creating a podcast could be really fun. This would get my students excited about talking about books! 

Here is an informative podcast about adding Maker Space or a Space Maker to your school library that I did with my classmates Yaneth Solis and Caitlin Moore: