Podcasts

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Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to "up the ante" in your library.  Not only can you create one yourself and share it with your students, but you can teach the students to create their own as well.  Podcasts can be another alternative to writing those old boring research papers.  Students can add music, splice their voices, conduct interviews...the list goes on!  Most podcast platforms make it extremely easy to produce your own podcast, which makes it even more enticing to use when it comes to learning in your library.  But there are some things you need to be aware of before you just let your students run wild with their podcast making skillzzz.   Since the platforms are open to anyone on the internet, students have the possibility of coming across some inappropriate podcast content.  Therefore you as the librarian, need to make sure your students know how to properly search for certain podcast and hopefully stray them away from any harmful ones.  And as always, make sure you use discernment on whether podcasting is right for you and your library users.

I came across three podcasting platforms that I want to share with you!  They are called Garageband, Podbean, and Soundcloud.  I've created an easy to view pros and cons list for you.  Here they are:


GarageBand  

Pros:
- Great for entry level podcasts
- It's FREE!
- Supports third party plug-ins, meaning you can record your podcast on Garageband and then       transfer it to another platform, like Podbean.
- Professional interface
- Easy to record and mix music
- User friendly layout of the soundboard
- Easy to undo your work if you make a mistake

Cons:
- Doesn't have a huge array of instruments to choose from when creating music for your podcast.
- It's only created for Mac's



Podbean


Pros:

-Makes it easy to add your podcast to iTunes or GooglePlay.
-Friendly beginner set-up.
-They offer free and premium plans depending on your needs.
-Has a mobile app.
-You are able to download podcasts and listen to them offline.
-Allows you to track listening statistics

Cons:
-Enough presence to get a podcast started, but not enough to hold an entire large business of podcasts.


Soundcloud  


Pros:
-2 hours of recording time available
-Can upload your own music or pick from millions of song choices
-Has a trending playlist, so you don’t have to search for very long if you don’t want to
-Can listen to podcasts offline
-Dashboard is set up like Pinterest boards
-There’s a app for Soundcloud or you can play it through GooglePlay

Cons:
-Busy website layout, may be confusing for some.
-Doesn’t provide editing or recording software

What Would Lindsey Do?

My partner Kelly and I chose to use GarageBand and Podbean to store our podcasts. Those platforms seemed to be more user friendly. Plus we've both had a little experience with GarageBand before, so it seemed fitting to keep the same platform, just enhance our skills a bit. If you want to learn more about the library realm, please click HERE to listen to our podcast concerning the controversial topic of genrifying a public school library!

Other Educational Podcasts!

If you're looking to find some other educational podcasts to listen to, here's a small list to get you started:

https://www.bookclubforkids.org/ by Kitty Felde, book club podcasts for teachers and kids alike
http://talkswithteachers.com/podcasts/ by Brian Sztabnik, podcast meant to inspire ELAR teachers
https://booklovefoundation.org/podcasts by Penny Kittle, founder of the BookLove Foundation and literacy guru. Several episodes also include teacher and writer Kelly Gallagher, known for his Article of the Weeks. 
http://freeteacherpd.libsyn.com/podcast with host Michael Werner who speaks with experts on all different PD topics, but mostly specific apps and programs

Comments

  1. Kara HarperApril 20, 2020 at 8:53 AM

    Nice job! We used podbean to create our podcast. Garageband can be a little overwhelming but I am betting that students would be able to figure it out much faster than I would be able to...and most likely be able to teach me.

    ReplyDelete

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