Today I will share with you my experiences with podcast, for this Blog I connected with two other librarian candidates to create an informational podcast using Podbean. I included our group sample podcast and have also evaluated following three podcasting tools.
As a group we created a Podcast – School Library’s Role during COVID-19. We divided up 9 task and created a script using Google Docs and then recorded it and I have included PodBean link below:
School Library's Role and Resources during COVID-19: This podcast contains information regarding the resources and services available for students, teachers, and staff from the school library. It also contains directions and precautions for the returning of books and when collecting the technology for virtual learning.
I have also included a recording from my favorite podcast creator and recorded another simple podcast using Anchor on my Mac computer:
https://anchor.fm/
Anchor
· 100 percent free
· Extremely simple
· Unlimited file uploads
· Record from and app with up to 5 people
· You can activate sponsors and gain revenue
· Play with Google play and Spotify
· Background music available and free
· Photo lead in for free
https://www.podbean.com/
PodBean
· Offers plans from free to $99 a month
· In the last 10 years has had 7.3 Billion + downloads
· Easy to use
· Enterprise podcast
· Great for beginners with online instructions available
· Can use with your smartphone
· $99 plan has unlimited with admin access
· Premium bandwidth at an extra cost
buzzsprout
· The highest rated podcast on websitetooltester.com
· Easy to use
· Free plan with 2 hours of podcasting but deletes after 90 days
· Embedded video player
· Video instructions
· Highest plan has 12 hours but after that you pay @2 per hour
· Gives statistics on the podcast
References
Development, P. (n.d.). Free Podcast Hosting - Starting a Podcast in 5 Minutes: Podbean. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://www.podbean.com/
The easiest way to make a podcast. (2020). Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://anchor.fm/
Josep. (2020). Tool Tester. Retrieved 2020, from websitetooltester.com
Podcast Hosting, Promotion & Analytics. (2020). Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://www.buzzsprout.com/
For this Blog I will share with the readers three evaluations of Cartoon and Comic design websites. I have arranged them in order as to the site that I visited first. The second one called Pixton was my favorite. I have listed the links to each of the cartoon creator websites below my cartoons. Please take time to go to these websites and try them for yourself!
https://fotojet.com/features/misc/photo-comic.html
My evaluation of the cartoon application called fotojet is that it is fun to use, but the name implies this comic creator is created using photos that are uploaded. The comic was extremely easy to use. The templates available offer great shapes of panels and provided variety to the look of the graphics. The cartoons were easily saved and uploaded to my computer desktop. The speech bubbles were unique shapes and the text could be changed, but I could not figure out how to size them down. The photos gave me a bit of trouble when I inserted them, but maybe it is because I have too many photos in my library. I really had fun with this one.
https://edu.pixton.com/educators
My evaluation of Pixton was that it was my favorite to use because it offered characters that could have different expressions, hair styles, hair color, skin shades and clothing could be changed. This comic application was extremely easy to use, and I know that my students would love to make comics with the variety of designs available. I had no problem saving and uploading my designs. The only downside to this provider, was that most of the extension cost extra or you needed to upgrade the plan.
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
My evaluation of Make Beliefs Comix was that it was my least favorite because the website appears busy and confusing, and that made me feel overwhelmed and nervous to look at it. The comics were fairly easy to create but I was not impressed with the speech bubble selections. The comic were not as easily saved and shared as the other two formats. The best thing about this site was that it offered many resources for education such as writing prompts, vocab skills, collaboration ideas, foreign language practice, making comix diaries, and free lesson plans.
Method of Sharing with teachers, schools and the school district:
The three comic applications were entertaining and engaging. I have already shared these applications with my library co-workers within my school district and they are all on board with sharing these as a professional development activity. I am a member of a Facebook for librarians and I have shared my cartoons and the links for the websites on my page. I will also create a flyer that can be emailed to my teachers in the school and I intend to share the links for these applications and websites. I may also create a screencast to train the teachers and students on the ease of use and share with them these great tools for learning.
The following is a book that was created using Book Creator by myself to reflect on the digital technology that I learned and used in a clas...
