Thing 05: Audio Tools

Thing 05: Audio Tools

I was really excited to tackle the reading and resources in this module. On a professional level, I am trying to overhaul a back library office for adults, and turn it into a production studio for kids. Although a major focus of the studio will be video work, a fairly large minority of the studio will be for recording audio. Just this past Friday I received my first shipment of equipment for the studio - and the very first thing that I received was audio equipment. I have dreams of students being able to own the studio and produce meaningful content. I also have dreams of teachers rethinking their assignments to be more 21st century, and for them to include digital components to their learning goals for students.

I’ve been having students help me unbox the equipment and test it out. Everyone wants their chance to be behind the microphone and to make their very own recording. Here’s a funny one, under ten seconds, that was made recently. I’ve entered into preliminary conversations with students about creating our own school-wide podcast channel. This has elicited some really fun conversations about content and hilariously themed shows. I am going to have to take a lot of time and do some fairly intensive research about school podcasts and everything needed to make them. There’s also the 800 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to producing content with minors under 13 and posting their work to the web. This is an administrative conversation/consideration that needs to happen as well.

My familiarity with audio from years back is using the software Audacity. Shockingly over time, Audacity is still around and is just plain user friendly and easy to use. Tangentially related, when I was a first & second year librarian I had students create audio book reviews. Then each book review mp3 file was linked into the Library catalog. Students could listen to each other’s reviews and I was able to expand the number of audio reviews into the 200-300 range over the span of a few years. It was one of the most satisfying projects that I’ve ever worked on with students - there was a ton of value in it and the audio book reviews had a positive impact over time. As type this and reflect on the project, I’m not sure why I stopped doing this with kids. I guess that I just got bored with it over time and sought a different challenge. 

I really like Flipgrid as a tool for students to capture audio/video. The website is really easy to use and allows anyone with a device to make a contribution. I’ve been impressed with what I see come out of 1st & 2nd grade classrooms.

I am most intrigued by Synth. It looks like a full audio version of FlipGrid. If I ever get my recording studio running at full steam, I can see Synth as a way to have teachers organize & archive class audio content and have students listen and respond to each other's work.

I was really engaged with all of the resources from this module. They were incredibly timely and I will have this page bookmarked as I move forward with my dream of building a production studio for kids. It’s going to be one thing to purchase the equipment and have the capacity to record - but the superior piece is to have the instructional resources and knowledge to empower students to create engaging and meaningful content.