The Latest and Greatest: Educational Podcasting at Pioneer

The Latest and Greatest: Educational Podcasting at Pioneer

Written by Alice Knotts

Thursday, 20 January 2011

GEAR UP students are working together to pioneer the development of podcasting in education. Last spring GEAR UP sent Chris Plucker, one of Pioneer Middle School’s most dynamic and tech savvy teachers, to attend a daylong seminar on podcasting sponsored by TechReach in partnership with WSU GEAR UP. Podcasting in Mr. Plucker’s classroom has made it possible for GEAR UP students to gain firsthand experience in using up-and-coming classroom technology, and has given them the opportunity to learn to work in collaboration on time intensive, scholastic media projects. This fall marked the beginning of Mr. Plucker’s first full semester using podcasting. He began the year by challenging his students to work together to create original podcasts. All of the reports had to be written, performed, and edited by his students. Mr. Plucker’s classroom has now moved on to a new approach to podcasting in which his students have chosen clips from animated movies to reenact using their own voices to perform as the characters. Students work together in small groups, each student voicing a different character. After completing the recording of their scene, the small groups divide into sub-groups. Each subgroup must then complete a section of the podcast by editing and producing their own audio version of that scene. Some of the movie scripts the students have chosen to use in their podcasts are The Incredibles, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Finding Nemo. “All in all, the podcasts have been a hit with the kids,” said Mr. Plucker in an interview earlier this week. “I’m glad GEAR UP has given me the chance to introduce my students to such cutting edge classroom technology.” Here is a link to one of Mr. Plucker's class podcasts. The podcast is a small group class-report on the sport of baseball. It was written and edited by the students voicing the report information.

Last Updated ( Friday, 21 January 2011 )