Welcome

Podcasting is a vibrant and exciting area. Many schools now regularly host and update their own podcast station and pupils are increasingly familiar with the downloading of podcasts.

A podcast is an electronic record of an event or response, often in the form of an audio recording but sometimes “enhanced” by the addition of still or moving images. An essential aspect of podcasting is that the podcast is available electronically to other users.

Podcasting offers teachers and learners the opportunity to record, collate, share and discuss their ideas, responses and learning in an immediate and exciting way and it is this immediacy we wish to tap into with this project.

This project is designed on the principle that podcasts are ephemeral methods of recording that are not necessarily designed as perfect finished products in the same way that a radio broadcast or print publication might be, but recognizes that this may be an issue for schools that the pilot needs to investigate.

The purpose of this project is to explore and evaluate the following issues:

• Requirements in terms of hardware and software
• Training needs of teachers and pupils
• Management issues regarding podcast production within schools and subject areas
• The sharing of podcasts between and within schools in Halton

To facilitate this we will provide pilot schools with a media case. This will be given to the school on a long-term loan. A condition of the loan is that the equipment is used to produce a podcast with pupils on a shared theme which will be added to our podcast station. In addition, we want schools to submit a podcast produced within a specified area of the curriculum eg maths.

We hope that this will enthuse schools and departments to produce further podcasts: as long as the basic requirements of the loan are met schools are free to use the equipment in other ways. In addition, the CLCs would hope to work with schools on setting up internal podcasting stations and projects.

The aims of the project are:

• To provide equipment for pilot schools
• To provide schools with the training and support necessary to use the equipment within the curriculum
• To provide the infrastructure to share outcomes between schools in the form of a dedicated podcast station
• To evaluate issues connected to podcasting: content monitoring, internet v intranet publishing, access to podcasts, photographic content, quality of finish.
• To work with pilot schools to agree a framework for a Halton- wide version of the project should the pilot meet agreed success criteria.