SHS: Podcasting in an Audio Production Class

Jim Honeycutt, Media Teacher at SHS, challenged the students in his audio production class to listen to and create a review for a favorite commercial CD recording. All students used GarageBand (on the Mac) to produce a podcast of the review. Working with GarageBand allows the insertion of images in the podcast. The sample below by Steve and Will is a review of the 1996 alternate rock album, Beck! Odelay. It is 17 minutes and 53 seconds long.

Jim said, "It was a terrific project for me since students who are not necessarily musicians are now able to create something using audio tools and derive a good deal of personal satisfaction in doing so." He also noted that many skills are used in the creation of these podcasts, including research (in this case, about the musical groups), capturing of images, organizing the information, synthesizing it into a logical presentation and using technology (in this case GarageBand) for production.

Podcasting has many relative advantages. Using tools like GarageBand and Audacity, students can practice their research, writing, synthesizing and presentation skills with a final product that can be posted to Blackboard, a wiki, or a teacher's FirstClass account.