The Assignments:
The rationale behind these two types of assignments is that they are the most widely used reasons that students podcast. Many adults as well for that matter. The first assignment is a descriptive one that gives you the opportunity to enrich a story using the audio enhancements of music and sound effects.
The second assignments presents the problem of two people using microphones along with the hiccups of dialogue; pauses, interruptions, mic management, etc. By working with these issues and others, you will be much better posed to both repeat the task on your own when necessary, and feel comfortable problem solving when students take over podcasting.
Assignment 1: Person Podcasting
1) Choose a person famous for something. This is different from a famous person, but either will work. To avoid bottlenecks, it is fine with me if I’ve never heard of your chosen person.
Assignment 2:
First, some reading...
- Chronicle.com: Four mistakes I made when assigning podcasts (please read the comments following the article as well)
- Dr. Pastore's Class: Podcast Assignment with links (for more ideas)
- MoodleCommons.org: Podcasting (and much, much more)
- A list of world-class podcasts: 15 podcasts your brain and ears will love
Now on to the task.
The gist of this assignment is an interview with you. Yes you. The good news is the interview can have scripted questions, and you, of course, are in charge of the final editing of your words.
First, think of an educational or technology related topic about which you would like to be interviewed. The narrow the topic to a series of question prompts that would guide you as well as keep you on topic. Then enlist the help of another person who will 1) introduce you, 2) prompt you with questions, 3) add avenues for you to elaborate or clarify (can/should be scripted), and finally 4) wrap up the interview using standard pleasantries and protocols.
The total interview can run between 5 and 10 minutes. No more, no less.
The interview should then be edited as you see fit (delete what you don't want, mute the coughs and throat clearings, etc.), and feel free to recapture more audio, or make second takes during the interview.
A tip I have for you when speaking into a podcast mic is that since you can quickly edit out any errors, when you make one, just give the mic a tap with your finger, then remain silent for a couple seconds. This act will give you a visual cue that something needs your attention during the editing phase. A spike in volume will appear in the soundtrack followed by a flatline. Just go to that point, listen to the mistake, and then delete the unwanted sounds.
A word of caution: One of the major powers of the podcast in education right now is how easy and quick one can make a podcast...that is unless you expect perfection. You can do most of the work in less than an hour, yet spend five hours in search for perfection. The problem is that if you don't get done while still excited about podcasting, you'll never do another one. So unless you are in a contest, or the podcast is mission-critical to your very existence, close enough is good enough.
