Sharing Part 2

This week was fun! I really enjoyed creating a podcast in Garage Band! I actually posted it to iWeb and if you go into my Online Timeline Journal Site, you can press 'blog' and hit 'podcast Oct. 25th' and you will be able to see it! (see: http://web.mac.com/lindabradford2002). I also downloaded Jing, and enjoyed creating a couple of short screencasts highlighting President Uchdorf's General Conference talk, as well as Brother Wirthlin's. I also used this application to take screen shots of various pictures that I had in a powerpoint presentation that I've created called, "Art and the Master" since I was unable to pull those images out of powerpoint. These screenshots became the images that I included in my podcast!

Also this week, I created a YouTube and TeacherTube account. I downloaded my podcast to iTunes, and found some interesting articles on the educational uses of podcasts.

The educational article that I found to be useful was a London Learncasting Presentation at: http://ajax.acue.adelaide.edu.au/%7Eallan/London311005/index.html. It is basically a powerpoint presentation with bullet points on each slide detailing some important information to remember about podcasting. They highlight the idea that a podcast should be interactive not just a one-way 'broadcast'. They present reasons for using the audio medium in education, and then list the advantages of using audio in teaching. Some of these advantages included: providing new ideas to learners who won't or can't read, providing a trigger for group sharing of ideas, incorporating voices of experts, users, clients, to an audience, including contributions from people (in the form of verbal interview) that would be unlikely to write, and providing variety in learning.

I then listened to a podcast about how to create an effective podcast. You can link to this presentation at: http://audio.sxsw.com/podcast/interactive/panel/2007/SXSW07.INT.20070313.Podcasting.mp3

This was a great little podcast. I actually took 1 1/2 pages of notes! The five main points stressed in this podcast were: (1)Know and show respect to your target audience...spend time to include tools in your podcast that will include a blog so that it can be interactive, (2)Use good equipment that is appropriate to your need, for example, if you are conducting a 'man on the street' interview, use a dynamic microphone that will not pick up as much of the ambient noise associated with that type of interview. However, if you are conducting an interview in a closed setting, you would want to use a condenser microphone that would be sensitive and have a better signal. Apparently, a microphone called the SM7 is of broadcast quality and would be great to use if your podcast needs to be of a professional quality. (3)ALWAYS BE PREPARED in your podcast... in other words, script it. It can seem off the cuff, but a great podcast is always (as Dr. Yanchar would say) 'pithy' and insightful and uses the time efficiently. A good podcast would last from 10-15 minutes, and would be well edited. Use of storytelling is an effective tool, as well as the use of leading questions..."What do you think about..." "How do you feel when...". Always leave your audience wanting more. (4)Consider using theme music to begin and end your podcast. Use an 'intro' and an 'out-tro' in your podcast. Introduce yourself, and pre-announce. It would sound something like: "Coming up later in the podcast will be...but first we will discuss..." then be sure to thank your audience for their time and interest. If there are additional podcasts to come, 'bait the hook' or give your listeners some 'hook' to look forward to...I thought all of these suggestions were very worthwhile!

As far as the use of podcasting, screencasting, or video on the web to share the Gospel, I found two very compelling sites. One is found at: http://www.bookofmormonpodcast.org/Login.asp
and gives you the ability to have the scriptures download automatically in whatever formate you selectn and in whatever segments you would like (ie. Please send one chapter per day from the Book of Mormon to my iTunes account). This seems like a great way to set and meet scripture reading goals!

Another great site can be found at: http://mormonwoman.org/2008/03/20/sharing-our-voices-creative-expressions-of-faith/. I was particularly impressed with this site which allows you to contribute prose, poetry, music, multimedia presentations, and has a link to the Mormon Videos on UTube. I will be spending more time investigating all that this site has to offer in the future! All in all, this was a very enlightening week in my personal progress in technology!