Podcasts, talking tins and more... (Week four)

This session we learnt about speaking, listening and digital imaging. ICT can be used in subjects such as literacy for speaking and listening.

Schools are increasingly using Podcasts and other forms of ICT to engage pupils. Podcasts are audio radio or videos that are recorded and can then be downloaded or streamed, they are also seen as verbal or video blogs. "There is a great deal of educational potential with this technology. Teachers might consider creating their own educational podcasts or children themselves could create a podcast" (Allen, J. Potter, J. Sharp, J & Turvey, K 2007 p.221) Pupils can create podcasts for their school and their family and friends can listen to them. The children can create shows on anything they want (school policy permitting) and often spend a lot of time putting a show together. It is a good way to reinforce literacy skills as the children have to think about the same things that they would for a piece of writing such as, who is their audience and what language and content would be appropriate for that audience. For example, although many of the shows may be for their peers or family, they may be asked to create a show specifically to teach younger pupils about a specific topic. Another bonus about podcasting is that the children can get feedback on them from peers, teachers, family and friends. Feedback is important for pupils for confidence and self assessment. Some podcasts however, are better than others so it is always a good idea to show pupils examples of a good podcast and effects that can be used so they know what is possible with theirs. Podcasts can be used to support pupils with dyslexia or other SEN as it allows them to express themselves without the need to write.

There are a number of ‘talking’ equipment such as talking photo albums, talking tins and talk time cards. These are all similar in that it allows you to record your voice or sounds and they are all good for developing and supporting speaking and listening skills. The talking photo albums can be used in classrooms to create photo sequences and presentations and can be used by the teacher for activities such as word recognition. A voice or sound recording can be made for each page and as a result, these are sometimes used to help pupils with their letters and sounds as it enables pupils to see letters alongside hearing their sound without requiring a teacher/TA to repeat it for them. They are also good for SEN pupils when visual or audible information is wanted for regular reference for example, daily routines.

Similarly talking tins also allow children or teachers to record and playback their own voice or messages and so can be used to record short instructions. These were initially created to help the visually impaired identify the contents of their tinned food! As a result these have limited recording time of either 10 seconds or 40 seconds. Although these are also re-recordable some models have a ‘lock’ feature so that if you want to keep a recording for an amount of time this will make sure it is not recorded over until you want it to be. These can be attached to various surfaces around the school and as a result have been used as part of display boards to make displays interactive.

Talk time cards allow children to either insert a picture or draw on it using dry wipe pens and make a recording to go with the picture or image. These are available in different sizes so can be used for a variety of activities. These are not only used in literacy but can also be used in maths for topics such as number bonding, art, drama and D&T.

All of these are good for pupils with visual or hearing impairments. All are re-recordable so affordable for schools and all can be used for not only literacy but other subjects such as modern foreign languages will be able to benefit from these.

We also looked at digital imaging and video in this session and programmes that can be used in schools. We looked at photo story where children can take pictures using a digital camera and save them on the computer, then they can use the pictures to create a story using photo story. This can be used as another method that children can use to create story boards. Web cams and video cameras are also increasingly being used in schools, these can take pictures but can also record video. They can easily be used in science lessons for various topics and investigations such as to monitor and capture the growth of plants.

We also looked at digital blue which is a programme that allows children to create movies and moving animations. They can record themselves acting or make characters using play dough and by recording them using a digital blue camera they can put the clips together to create a moving scene.

Reference:
Allen, J. Potter, J. Sharp, J. & Turver, K (2007) Primary ICT: Knowledge, Understanding and Practice 3rd Edition Exeter: Learning Matters.