Podcasts

I adore audiobooks. They are the best way for me to get my reading done a lot of the time. I’m one of those people that can multitask while they listen. And I’ve gotten to the point where I can speed up the sound.

But I can’t do podcasts.

I know! It’s so weird! You’d think with my love of audiobooks, I’d be down with podcasts. But I’m not. When I was working on my undergraduate degree, I would listen to Jenna & Julien’s podcast because their banter kept me awake (I had to drive a lot). My husband listen/watches to a few comedian podcasts - Joe Rogan, Your Mom’s House, and a couple of others. Brandon Sanderson has a writing podcast with a couple of others that discuss writing techniques that is really interesting. A lot of these podcasts have video version on YouTube. If that’s the case, I feel the need to watch it instead of just listen. While I’m good at wasting time, I don’t want to spend an hour plus watching podcasts, you know. So unless we are on a road trip and my husband puts it on, I’m not listening to podcasts very often.

On the other hand, I totally see the appeal of podcasts and using them in the classroom. I’ve wanted to assign a podcast to students because it promotes listening, speaking, and writing, but I haven’t had the chance yet. My teammates don’t seem comfortable with the idea. I teach PreAP/GT and my teammate that also teaches GT doesn’t seem as interested in it. Hopefully next year I can give it a go. One thing I like about podcasts for students is that they don’t have to show their faces. A lot of students are self-conscious but with podcasts, they only need to worry about their voices versus their voice and appearance.

Audioboom

Didn’t get far with Audioboom since they wanted me to sign up for a subscription before
uploading my first episode. Based on first impressions, this platform is for those serious in becoming content creators. Your podcast will be distributed to multiple different listening platforms in order to gain a larger audience. You can even go in and adjust which platforms it is sent to. An option to upload a podcast is available, but it requests a link instead of a file which I thought was odd. It might have been because I don’t have a subscription. There might be more features with a paid subscription, but unfortunately I won’t be finding out any time soon.

Anchor.fm

I have used this before for other courses in this program. I haven’t quite uploaded anything from it because I found the app to be troublesome. However, using it in the browser window was much easier. One thing I like about Anchor is the ability to add transition music. There are several options to choose from where you can plug in transition music as you are recording or after. I uploaded the podcast Megan created, added the music, and then published. It was quite easy to do!

Podbean

In the past I have uploaded and turned all my podcasts assignments into Podbean. I have found it to be the most user friendly. The user is not required to sign up for a subscription, but there is a premium they could pay for if they wanted to. You are able to easily access your analytics to see how many times your episodes have been viewed. This gives you data to use in the future for what is working and what isn’t.

The profile page shows your analytics, podcasts you follow, and any live shows people might be putting on. It also allows people to comment on your podcast. This could be good because you can get to know your audience, but it could also be bad because of trolls.

Conclusion

You can find podcasts by searching through Spotify, YouTube, or there is an app my husband used to use call Podcast Addict. Podcasts tend to be split categorized. When I did the Middle School Magic, I heard about a new podcast that could be used in a middle school classroom that has to do with the quarantine. It’s called Aidan Tyler, Quaran-teen and they have new episodes every Tuesday. Here is the link: https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/quaran-teen

I prefer filming on my own and then uploading my file onto Anchor.fm or Podbean. These two platforms are easiest. To make your podcast a little more lively, Anchor.fm might be a better choice because it allows you to add music and provides a selection. Podbean helps give you data on your podcasts and views, and it allows people to comment on your videos. I think it also depends on what other equipment you have at home. For example, my husband has a lot of production software and equipment. He helped me edit one of my past podcasts (I have a habit of umming a lot!) and could provide music for me if he had enough notice. He also has a microphone that could help with the sound.

Partner Assignment

Megan W. and I worked on this assignment and created a podcast based on audiobooks. I typed up a script, Megan made edits and recorded, and I added music on Anchor.fm. I’ve embeded both the Podbean and Anchor.fm version from my own accounts. The references for the assignment are below.

References

Cahill, M. & Moore, J. (2017, March 1). A sound history. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the
Association for Library Service to Children, 15(1), 22–29.

Heid, M. (2018, September 6). Are audiobooks as good for you as reading? Here’s what
experts say. Time.  https://time.com/5388681/audiobooks-reading-books/

Lamb, A. (2018). Listeners’ advisory part 2: connecting audiobooks with today’s readers. Teacher
Librarian, 45(3), 62–65.

Moran, K. (2017, October 26). 7 ways audiobooks benefit students who struggle with reading.

          We Are Teachers. http://bit.ly/2QrR8UZ 

Young, R. (2019). Listen up: best practices for audiobooks in libraries. Reference & User Services
Quarterly, 58(4), 210–214.