Russell Stannard applauds Audioboo
I have always been a big fan of podcasting. I regularly download podcasts about my hobbies: French, Chinese, technology, playing the guitar and singing. However, it wasn’t until recently that I came across a tool that works really well, has few barriers to entry and does all the things that podcasting tools should do. This is Audioboo. I am already using it with my students as well as for my own podcasts. Within five minutes of reading this article, I am convinced that you will be up and running with it, too.
The background
Podcasts are generally regular series of audio recordings, rather than one-offs. They use ‘push’ technology; this simply means that when you subscribe to a podcast, software like iTunes and other RSS feeds will download it onto your computer immediately a new one is produced. If you use Audiboo, anyone subscribed to your podcasts will immediately receive them: they will be ‘pulled’ down from the Audioboo site right onto the subscriber’s computer. You don’t have to do anything.
How does it work?
Sign up for free at http://audioboo.fm. You can upload recordings or make the podcasts directly on the Audioboo site itself. You can even download a free app that allows you to make the recordings on an iPhone and then load them onto the site. Just go to ‘My profile’ and click on the ‘New Recording’ button to make a new recording. (You can also choose to upload something that has already been recorded if you wish.) You will be able to see a list of all the ‘Boos’ you have made. When you click on ‘Got your mic ready?’, the site will ask you if you can run a small plug-in. Click on ‘Yes’, as this allows you to make the recording, then off you go. Click on ‘Start Recording’ and begin. You can pause, start again, stop it or do whatever you like. You have five minutes, which I find is just about right for me and for my students.
Once you are happy with your recording, click on the ‘Happy? Add a title’ button and add a title and tags. The title and tags are really important as they will help people to find your recordings. For example, the title of my last Boo was ‘Is the pedagogy driving the technology or vice versa?’. The tags I used were: ICT, Technology, ELT, Pedagogy, Constructivism, Methodologies, Autonomy and Access to content. Make sure the tags and title describe the content of your podcast well. Now click the ‘Publish’ button and your recording will upload onto the site.
What can you do with the recording?
Anyone who goes to the Audioboo site will be able to search and listen to your Boo, and anyone who has iTunes can search and subscribe to it. You can send the ‘link’ of your Boo to anyone you want to listen to it. You can even grab the ‘embed’ code and place it in a blog, wiki or website. It is really easy to share what you have done.
How can you use it in class?
Teachers
There are many ways in which teachers might use a podcast:
- It could be a regular listening feature that you upload each month or each week and where you talk about things students can do to learn English.
- It could be a summary of each lesson and the things the students should revise or go over.
- You could use it for classroom feedback. After you have marked the students’ essays, you might make a quick recording in which you go over general problems that came up in their written work.
- You could use it simply as additional listening content for the students and each week or month talk about a different topic.
The great thing is that podcasts are portable. Students can download them onto their iPhones and listen to them wherever and whenever they like. They can play them right from the Audioboo site, but they can also download them if they have subscribed to your Boos.
Students
Once you are confident about using Audioboo yourself, show your students how to sign up and make their own podcasts (remember the tool is free). Here are some ideas:
- Each week one student from the class makes a recording in English, talking about their hobby. You will need to provide some scaffolding questions, such as How did you first get interested in your hobby? When did you start? How long have you been doing it for? Why do you like it?
- Each week a student talks about their favourite place to visit, what they would consider to be a good night out, their favourite film, etc. The topic really doesn’t matter. The idea is that you build up a collection of recordings done by members of the class. Get them to think of the topics so that it is their classroom podcast.
- Set up speaking activities and get the students to do recordings of them at home. They can tell a story, talk about a great holiday, their favourite band or why they love or hate Facebook. Again, the key thing is that they are doing a speaking activity and they will find it more interesting if it is a topic they have chosen themselves.
Listen to my Boos at www.teachertrainingvideos.com/podcasts.html.
Watch videos to show you how to work with Audioboo at www.teachertrainingvideos.com/audioboo/index.html.
Russell Stannard is a Principal Lecturer in ICT at the University of Warwick, UK, where he teaches on the MA in ELT. He won the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Initiatives in Information and Communications Technology in 2008, TEFLnet Site of the Year in 2009 and a 2010 British Council ELTons award, all for his popular website www.teachertrainingvideos.com.
This article first appeared in issue 74 of English Teaching professional, May 2010.
