Sunday 20 November 2011

Thing 18 - Jing / screen capture / podcasts

I've now jumped back from Thing 22 to cover a couple of tasks which I skipped over. Jing, like Prezi (as I talked about in Thing 17 ) is something which I hadn't used before & so I had a little play around with it. I can't download it onto the school computer, otherwise I could have tried making an instruction sequence for the pupils to learn their way around the library management system. Having said that, the system does already have very clear instructions for pupil use including optional spoken instructions, so I guess I would only have been playing! At my place of work (not the school - that's voluntary) we are not allowed to access the internet other than the intranet (even in non-work time) so that puts paid to any experimenting there. There is, anyway, a very large I.T. department & lots of training exercises on the intranet for brushing up on the systems which we use at work. So, sorry Jing - I really did try to get to know you, but it's very difficult (I find) when you don't have any practical use for the task.

Now, podcasts sounded fun & I've downloaded Audacity with a view to following up a few ideas. I have listened to podcasts in the past & enjoy the medium of just concentrating on listening to something & escaping from the visual bombardment which we are subjected to daily. O.K....yes, I am a Radio 4 fan...I confess! I took some time out to listen to the arcadia@cambridge seminar series (as recommended in the blog for Thing 18 ) which was really interesting, & I'm looking forward to checking out the University of London Careers Group podcast too.

I had an idea of making a series of podcasts for the pupils at the school I volunteer at (again, I could have issues with using certain programmes on the school computer). Each podcast would introduce them to the first chapter of a book that is in our library &, hopefully, encourage them to go & read the book, & then lead them on to the next podcast in some way (still working on the details!) like a kind of trail or treasure hunt. I think that I took a little inspiration for this from following this week's UKLibchat on gaming & gamification.

My second idea was connected to the local natural science society of which I am a member & with whom I am involved in cataloguing their museum collection. Each week the society hosts two lectures by either guest speakers or society members on a wide variety of subjects including astronomy, archaeology, geology, history & geography. The society does have a website & is always looking for ways to encourage new membership, & I think that uploading podcasts of the lectures would be a great way to: a) archive the season's programme & b) generate publicity & develop outreach. The AGM is coming up so I'm definitely going to suggest podcasting as a great way to show off the society's activities.

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