Friday 26 November 2010

AudioBoo to Posterous: Audio Podcasting from the Classroom

For a while now I've been using Posterous in class and in training sessions to help show teachers and students just how easy it can be to create a blog.
(Basically, all they have to do is send an email to post@posterous.com with the title of the posting in the subject line and the text they want in the email along with and media as attachments and within minutes they'll get a link back to their published posting.)

No, though with the combination of Posterous and AudioBoo, the process of publishing audio directly to the web within minutes has just got easier too.
AudioBoo is a great free platform for publishing audio online. You can either go to their website and start recording straight away, or you can download a free app either to your Apple device or Android smart phone.
The site really does enable almost single click publishing once you have registered and set up your profile, but better than this it can be synced with a Twitter account, Facebook profile or blogging account so that any materials you record go directly to your network.

Publish directly from the classroom
I've found this really useful, particularly as I have the app installed on my iPad. This means that I can wander round class recording my students and then click a button and have their recordings published directly to my blog with seconds.
Then I can go to the blog later and build review tasks around the materials or students can go to the blog pages and comment on each others' recordings.

With students
Having this ability to instantly record and publish students' speaking can be very powerful, particularly when using a task based approach, as students are often reluctant to review and repeat speaking tasks that they have already done once. However, knowing that their speaking will be recorded and published gives them the extra motivation to repeat tasks, focus on what they have learned and concentrate on achieving a level of accuracy.

Setting all this up is very simple. Once you have your Posterous blog account, register on the AudioBoo website, create your profile then go to settings and click on 'Post to other sites'. There you can decide which services you want to synchronise your AudioBoo account with. Then you just start recording and publishing.

AudioBoo and Posterous together can help you to build a powerful and versatile publishing platform for your students work and they are both free, so why not give them a try.

I hope you find them useful. Here you can find speaking activities to use EFL / ESL with students.

Related links:
Best

Nik Peachey

4 comments:

Awave said...

Hello,

I am a student teacher in the U.S., and consequently am new to teaching and blogging and just about everything. In reading your recent blogs I am almost awestruck at the technological possibilities you seem to find everyday for ELL students. And then on top of all those possibilities there are resources like your blog to not only directly point out the technology but also clearly explain how they can be applied. Frankly, it seems a little too good to be true. So I'm just curious where the sticky spots are that you have seen for teachers and students in using some of this technology for learning.

It's hard not to get excited about the idea that in experiencing more technology students are able to continue the learning they need in our modern world without language holding them back while simultaneously pushing their language skills further. Are the sticky spots just in finding the resources and figuring out how to apply them and your blog is already addressing those issues? Or are there other aspects of applying technology that a teacher should be aware of as they attempt to implement it into classroom curriculum?

Thank you.

Nik Peachey said...

Hi Awave

To be quite honest, the biggest sticky spots in applying technology to language teaching within the classroom and within the school environment itself is the admnistration of the school. Most of the common problems I have are:
* Blocked sites
* Insuficient bandwidth
* Computers that are NOT multimedia (no sound card or speakers, no microphone, no webcam)
* Restricted software (Internet Explorer only)and a very long process to getting new software approved and installed.
* No ability to download or install the hundreds of really useful browser plugins that are offered through Firefox.
* Plugins that are installed such as Flash are not up to date and only a network manager can up date them.
* Old and poorly maintained data projectors that have blurry images.

This is just a start to a list that could go on for pages. The sad thing is that most of these problems are human created and are not failings of the technology, but they are blamed on the technology or the teacher trying to use it.

Sadly, we still have a long way to go before we can truely recognise the potential that technology offers students within the classroom, so for now I do my best to provide them with activities that they can do outside the classroom and struggle to change the minds of the people who have control over the technology in the classroom.

Best

Nik

Helen Davies said...

Hi Nik
I got really excited about this idea and it was just to let you know how non iphone users get on.
For the time being (though apparently they're working hard on it) the audioboo android app does not function .
After lots of gloomy searches on net I've just tried using the standard voice recorder on my htc phone and with a useful "share" button, managed to post direct to my new posterous site !!!
So I'm looking forward to testing this in the classroom with my pupils (even though mobiles are strictly forbidden in my school - I shall have to swear my pupils to secrecy in the interests of improving their English ......)
I hope this might help non iphone users to make the most of posterous.
cheers
Helen

Nik Peachey said...

Hi Helen

Yes. I think Android as an App platform is generally still lagging behind quite a bit. You do't have to use a phone or mobile device though. You can use a laptop or desktop to record in your classroom as long as your audiboo setting are configured to pubish to posterous.

Anyway, good luck with the project and I hope your school soon 'gets real' and starts allowing and encouraging mobile use in class.

Best

Nik