Great idea getting students to choose a topic that will interest others… here I was thinking of encouraging students to create podcast about something related to their course… it’s hard to let go of old ideas!

Here’s an idea too: the assigment could actually be “handed out” as a podcast… that way the facilitator gets to demonstrate the end result as part of the introduction (as well as learn themselves ).

I didn’t actually work from any notes with regard to introducing Audacity but rather did a quick demonstration (about 15 minutes) of recording, basic editting, and tweaking volume/quality and then got the students to ask questions (in an ideal world I would have asked them to make a 2 minutes recording and edit it, but we didn’t have a computer lab to work in at the time). So, sadly, I don’t have any notes as to how I ran the session. (Also, these students had already done some basic video editing in previous courses, so it was introducing the program not the processes. If I were to do a broader introduction, I’d probably use the “official” Audacity tutorials as a starting point and direct the students attempting more advanced use to the Audacity Wiki.

As for the student podcasts, I think most of the students listen to most of each others (with one exception due which was to do with a topic choice which didn’t appeal to most of the group). I suspect because they all covered areas which appealled to each other (The Simpsons, video games, and a humourous parody of Australiana) there was little challenge in encouraging them to engage with their peers. That said, it was quite a small class so there wasn’t a lot of listening required.

I think if I was doing podcasting with a large class of, say, thirty or more, I’d probably make a 10% assignment where they listen to two other podcasts and offer constructive feedback to each other to encourage a least a minimum of engagement (and I still think they quite enjoy listening to each other, so I’d imagine far more would listen to a wider selection than required by assessment).

When you used podcasting last year, you mentioned that you thought learners could come to grips with Audacity with a 1-2hr workshop. I was wondering if you’d be willing to post/share the activites/steps that you used in your workshop?

Thinking of doing something similar in a few weeks.

BTW: I love the idea of learners creating podcasts, more for the ‘constructionism’ than the social constructivism – the fact that learners create/construct a learning experience of their own… As for the social constructivism – how many of your students listened to all the other students podcasts? Were you able to encourage this? Or did you end up being the main audience? I reckon that could be hard?