So, I successfully taught 100 students how to podcast in 20 days. They made 30 projects, and it was a huge success.
However, there were some pitfalls. Since this is voluntary summer school, students are absent more frequently. There were a handful of projects that did not get completed. Next time, I’d like to have a workflow with an end result of a finished product (even if a student is absent). I would also change how I assigned parts of the podcast. I gave them the giant assignment, and said it was due in 3 weeks (7 meetings with me). Students would be more successful if I broke up the assignment into smaller pieces (choose a country, write a script, find 10 pictures, record your voice, add music, make an iPhoto slideshow, export).
I differentiated instruction in several ways. Younger students had to find less photos, and write a smaller script. If students were new to computers (some couldn’t right-click), their audio track was just their voice. Music-oriented students created a custom soundtrack and added their voice to the soundtrack. Students with slideshow experience customized transitions, and rearranged photos to be aligned with the audio track.
I’m going to try using Podcast Producer next session to streamline the workflow.
