Tag Archives: podcast

Using iPads to make a podcast using GarageBand

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Make sure you have GarageBand on your iPad and it will help if you have a microphone that you can connect instead of using the built-in microphone on the iPad. (Maybe even some earbuds with a microphone that is nearer to your mouth.)

Open GarageBand on the iPad, click on the add song button (or the + sign) and select AUDIO RECORDER >  Voice. On the studio view select Narrator.
Right under the control bar (on the right) hit the + sign (Song Sections) and change it from eight bars to Automatic. Tap off the menu. In the control bar tap the wrench, tap “Metronome and Count-in“. Change it to No sound and tap off the menu. Adjust the input level (on the left side) to show as much green as possible and now you can record.

When you press Record, the ruler becomes red and moves along. Touch the stop button when you’re done recording that track.Tap the tracks view icon on the control bar to listen to your track.  Press play to preview and move the play head around to listen to different parts of your track if you need to.

(To add another track press the + on the bottom left of the screen. If you need to record your voice again choose “narrator” and check that the settings are as they were before.)

When editing you can move the tracks around by touching them and sliding them with one finger and if you want to zoom into the track you put two fingers on the screen and pinch them apart.

To see more options for different parts of the track you can double tap on the track and a menu option comes up which includes Split. If you swipe down somewhere on your timeline it will split the track. The yellow bars on the end of each region allow you to trim the ends of each of the recordings.

You can add music tunes as a background tracks. There are some built-in to GarageBand but it is possible to import your own tunes. Choose another track with the same settings then choose the Loops icon on the control bar and choose Audio Files, and drag in the audio file that you want.

To edit the music, slide the side bar (next to the track) over to the left to show the title of the track, the solo & mute buttons,  the metre and the volume.

Tap the microphone icon  and select Automation. On the top left of the screen slide the pencil over until the button is red. Click on the timeline to create automation points to create slight raises or decreases in the volume. When done slide the pencil to lock the automation points.

Listen to the entire episode to make sure you don’t need to do any more editing and then you can share your track. It will save into the “My Songs” folder. It saves as an .m4a file and so can be loaded onto Podcast Central on the London Grid for Learning.

 

Podcasting

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Children who struggle to get things onto paper may show how much they have learned and understood by recording their work onto MP3 devices, editing the sound file, adding a music sound track and publishing the podcast on a platform like Podcast Central on the London Grid for Learning.

What is a Podcast?

A podcast is a pre-recorded audio broadcast that can be downloaded from the Internet. They may be played directly on the computer,  or copied to a personal media player such as an iPod, or portable players, mobile phones, mp3 and other players.

Podcasting has become a significant method of communicating across the Internet.  Podcasts can be created and used effectively by users of any age, community or culture.

They have become a universal way of communicating with sound and vision freeing your audience f rom reading text.

Podcasts are (relatively) simple – the MP3 files generated by podcasters are relati vely easy to create and don’t require high-priced equipment,  allowing teachers to record without a large investment of time or money by the school.

You can use podcasting when you need a targeted audience to receive audio and video files as soon as they are published (maybe revision files for a college course)

Podcasting offers the opportunity to:

  • Show an understanding of elements of stories, main character, sequence of events & openings
  • Talk activities through, reflecting on actions.
  • Interact with others in a variety contexts negotiating plans, taking turns in conversations.
  • Use talk to organise, sequence, & clarify thinking, ideas, feelings, & events, exploring new words
  • Initiate communication with others, develop confidence in more informal contexts
  • Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas, speak in familiar group

And why use Podcasting with children with SEN?

Podcasting encourages children and young people to improve their speaking and listening skills by raising their awareness of their own voice and of their listeners.

It supports collaborative learning and teamwork by requiring children and young people to work as a team to create a podcast.

It enables children and young people to review, modify and refine their work and share it with others.

With the technology available, podcasting has the potential for releasing the imagination of young people, their teachers and parents/carers.

The pupils’ best efforts should be celebrated and put on show, just as would be done with putting paintings or other work on display on the wall.

One of the advantages of podcasts is that they can be accessed by the pupils’ families, and can generate external feedback to add to the process of pupils reviewing their own and their peers’ work.  The pupils’ best efforts should be celebrated and put on show, just as would be done with putting paintings or other work on display on the wall.

What sort of things could we record?

I have worked with different groups of primary and secondary children with special needs.

With one group we focused mostly on speech production and vocalisation and found  how the relatively straightforward work of recording and editing voice could be combined with publishing the children’s work in a new format as a podcast.

One pair of children made a podcast about Sir Francis Drake. Both had serious difficulties getting legible work onto paper, but their podcast was informative, interesting to listen to and demonstrated their learning.

One idea was to look at CBBC Newsround  decide on a story, watch any videos, read  the story together drawing out the key words, then reconstruct the story in our own words, perhaps from a different angle, in smaller groups  talk the story through, working out individual contributions from each pupil, and practising them, supporting each other to reflect on clarity, volume, speed of talking and other considerations.

Finally, they recorded their voices onto an easispeak MP3 recorder (you can use iPod or other voice recording device)

Using software like Audacity extraneous noises and teacher’s prompts can be cut out making the recording more fluent and easier for the listener.

In another blog post I will describe the equipment that may be used and how to make podcasts with very little equipment.