Podcast

I did a podcast about my photoperiod project. I recorded what is printed on the photoperiod packet. I thought this way students can review photoperiod for whatever learning style they have - audio, visual, etc. I have used audacity a lot in my communications class, where they students add voice, pictures, sound, and video into movie maker. They produce very cool projects. I will say that audacity is very touchy, and many students have lost their work from it freezing up. I guess that's what happens when it is free software:).

ITunes U

Before today, I did not know that Itunes U existed. It's neat to find out about another resource to get podcasts from. Again, it's always helpful to take stuff from other educators. I listened to a lecture on stem cells from Stanford University. Basically the professor makes a podcast of all of his lectures and posts them here. It is so cool that a junior high or high school student could listen to a lecturn from a college, especially Stanford! Not only are these lectures able to provide useful information for both the teacher and student, but it is great for students to see what college classes are like. I think this could be a great resource. I just don't know when I will ever have the time to search all of these great resources to find stuff!

Voice Thread

This is not the first time I have seen voice thread. I offered it to my 8th graders as an option for their energy presentation. But this is the first time I have really used it myself. One major issue that I had and that my students had is that it charges you to record your voice after a certain amount of phone recording. I had a microphone to use so this wasn't a huge issue for me, but it prevented a lot of students from using it. I really liked that I could search for other voice threads. It is great when you can use presentations that people have already made. Why do the work if someone has already done it? I also like that people can make comments so I can see what people think of the presentation. It helped me find a good voice thread and weed out the bad ones. The voice thread I like was http://voicethread.com/share/444414/. It would help my students review the parts of a bacterial cell.

My voice thread is found at http://voicethread.com/share/855550/
I recorded my voice for this power point - it could help students who have trouble reading or need to review it. Students often learn better if they hear it aloud, so this would help when they are at home and reading it.

I think I would like to try to use voice thread for some of my science presentations like the energy presentation or the atom presentation. It would be a great option for students who don't like to get up and speak in front of the class. They could just click play and we would still get the same information.

Here is my embedded voice thread: