Engaged Learning with Technology
Creating an Academic Podcast
Subject and Level: Elective 8th grade
Learner Description - Heterogeneous group of 8th grade students.
Overview -
What will be taught? - Students were taught how to create a podcast. The podcasts were then posted to Mrs. Teramoto’s school webpage.
What will students do and learn? - Students wrote a script using 8th grade Language Arts standards then recorded the script onto the computer using the Audacity software. Students learned to use the program Garage Band to edit, add jingles, and add sound effects to their recorded piece.
Rationale - Purpose for the unit as a whole. The WHY questions.
Why would you teach this unit? – We decided to teach this unit to introduce students to a new technology and to show them a different way to learn or review material.
Why would this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit? - Students were self-regulated and were able to define their own goals. They created a piece that other students watched and had the opportunity to ask classmates for feedback to determine if they achieved their goals.
Why is technology an important component of this unit? – It allowed them to explore different learning methods or modes.
Why is this project authentic/meaningful and challenging for students? – It was meaningful because the students’ podcasts were posted to the website, and students from other classes were able to view their projects. It was challenging because the software programs were new to all the students. It was also a challenging project as students needed to write in an effective manner in order to get their point across.
Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social - The WHAT questions
What new attributes (knowledge, skills, attitudes) do you expect students to gain? – We expected students to learn how to use several new software programs. Students also continued to develop their teamwork skills as they needed to work in small groups.
What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addressed? – This unit addresses:
Goal 11A – Students who meet the standard know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry.
Goal 13B – Students who meet the standard know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology, and society.
LearningActivities - The activities required to achieve the goals.
The HOW questions.
StudentAssessment - Enables student and teacher to measure student's attainment of goals.
What are my scoring characteristics? (What do I want to measure? What is an important outcome of this unit?) – Final completion of a academic podcast.
What will indicate that students are novices, practitioners, or experts? – The academic accuracy of the podcast will indicate the student’s level.
How will I measure and communicate student progress on the goals? – We did several checks at various stages of developing the podcast. For instance, we checked the scripts before proceeding onto the next step. We checked audio tracks in Audacity before continuing onto GarageBand. We did a final check before posting the podcasts to the webpage.
How can students be involved in establishing goals and criteria for the assessment? – The goal was to create an academic podcast. The students had full autonomy to choose a topic and design the script, pictures, jingles that would best enhance their podcast topics.
How will the assessments be implemented to ensure that they are generative? Seamless and ongoing? Equitable for all students? An authentic task? – Students completed project markers and were assessed as those were completed. Students were also assessed at the completion of their final product.
How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills? – The final podcast demonstrated if the student was able to master the technology and whether that student has an understanding of the subject matter covered.
Management
How will you manage student work individually and in groups? – Students needed to create their own portion of the podcast and then organize each part into a logical order under a general topic/heading.
What resources will you need to do this unit? – For this unit, we needed access to computers, software programs (Audacity, GarageBand and iMovie), microphones, headsets and cameras.
How will the room(s) be arranged? – Students worked in small groups of 3-4 people. They needed to sit/work together, and they needed one computer per student.
Where will equipment and materials be located to promote maximum use? – One computer per student was used. The computers are located in the computer lab which we reserved for the quarter.
Where will students need to work and how can they be accommodated? – The students were able to work with their groups in the computer lab where they had a quiet environment for recording.
How will students with special needs be helped? – This unit allows students to explore different venues or modes of learning and should therefore meet the diverse needs of all students.
Unit Evaluation
What will I need to do, be aware of, and/or gather while teaching the unit in order to answer these questions:
What was effective? – We know that the unit was effective since the students were able to produce an academic podcast that could be used in future classes as a reinforcement tool.
What wasn’t effective? – The laptops were unable to support our software needs for the unit. The school’s cameras and headphones also posed a challenge for the students as they were not always working properly.
What will I do differently next time? We could have students create quizzes or worksheets to help viewers stay on task during the presentations. Next time, we would order CDs to store the podcasts and not use server space. Also, we would like to record using microphones in order to capture better quality sound.