This week I am beginning a new task with my Year 10 class. So far this year we have looked at photography, movie creation and coding. I wanted to finish the year with something that I am very interested in and will be fun for the students. I had come up with a couple of ideas; one was to create a TED Talk style presentation and the other was for creating a Podcast. I gave my class the choice and they (quite rightly) voted for Podcasting. Below is what I will be providing the students with as our starting point.

Definition:

A podcast is a digital medium consisting of an episodic series of audio, digital radio, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism and portmanteau derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as audio podcasts are often listened to on portable media players. Merriam Webster defines Podcast: a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Podcast,"  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Podcast&oldid=634757873 (accessed November 24, 2014).
For this task you are required to create an episode of a podcast on a topic of your choice. You will work in groups of 2-3 and produce a "high quality" recording using applications including Skype, Quicktime, Audacity and Audition. You will also use your laptop, microphones and headphones. You will also need to investigate methods of hosting a podcast for people to subscribe to. The podcast will need to be at minimum 15 minutes long and a maximum of 30 min. To achieve this you will need to plan at least one topic each and discuss for around 5 minutes. You will also need an introduction. As you will see that most podcast have a theme that they stick to for the whole epsiode ie movies, technology, health, fitness or even a tv show. If you have not listened to a podcast before you may find iTunes has many podcast in its "podcast" section. If you have an iOS device there is also a podcast app that will allow you to find podcasts. Some of Mr Brown's favourites are inlcuded: Serial - A real life investigation into a high school murder No Such Thing As A Fish - From the people who make QI, 4 interesting facts for the week Connected - A weekly panel discussing Apple and the impact of technology on our lives Analog(ue) - A show discussing how technology makes us "feel" Accidental Tech Podcast - A group of nerds discuss tech, Apple, programming and anything around This blog post (from Casey Liss - a famous Podcaster) explains the process used by some of the more professional podcasts.