No Child Left Inside

Questions

Covers Chapter 7, A Guiding Hand -- Keeping a Project Moving, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 113 to 124.

Collaborative Podcasting

You will create an informative Podcast, using Audacity. This podcast will identify and describe several aspects of your project to share with parents and others. Each team member will be required to discuss a different area of your progress. You will also be required to pull out at least two concepts from the textbook.

Requirements:

1. 3-5 minutes in length.
2. You must include several aspects of your project -- a different one for each member of your team.
3. You must include at least two concepts from the textbook
4. Background music. Your music must be louder at the beginning of the podcast then fade to a quieter level while you are talking and then increase after you finish talking and before your podcast ends.
5. The volume of your voice and the background music should be well balanced. It should be easy to hear your voice, while at the same time hear quiet music.
6. The podcast should be professional sounding and something that you would feel proud to use in your classroom.
7. You must use Audacity to create your podcast and export your finished podcast as an MP3 file BEFORE submitting in Module #8 in Blackboard eLearning System.

Procedure:

• Create a script or note of what each team member plans to say. This may be done individually but needs to be reviewed by other team members.
• Open Audacity.
• Go to the Project Menu and select “New Audio Track”
• Record your script. Make sure that you do not sound like you are reading and feel free to record yourself a few times until you get one that you really like. Minor ummms and pauses can be edited out.
• To edit minor ummms or pauses, use the cursor tool to highlight the area you would like deleted then press the delete key on your keyboard.
• Choose your music and sound effects.
• Click on the Project menu and “Import Audio”
• Once you have imported your background music, you can use the fading tool from the top middle in the tool selection area in the top left of your screen. Click once where you would like the music to start fading out and then click where you would like the music to be faded out. At the second point you can pull down and the second part of the track will get thinner.  Do the same for the end of your podcast.
• Your vocal track can be moved to fit in the center of your audio track by using the move tool in the bottom middle of your tools. Click anywhere on your track and move it left or right to fit into your background music.
• To insert a sound effect, you may first need to insert silence into your vocal track. You can do so by using the cursor tool to select where you would like the silence to begin. Then click on the Generate menu and select “silence…”.   A box will pop up for you to insert the length of silence your sound effect requires.
• Once you are satisfied with your project, click on the File menu and click “export as MP3”.
• Submit your MP3 file in Blackboard eLearning System in Module #8.

SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENT: Once you have exported your podcast as MP3, it needs to be submitted in Module #8 under Submission of Podcast -- each team member will need to submit the podcast.

DUE DATE: By 11:59 p.m., Friday, November 13, 2009.

NOTE: All assignments have specific due dates. Late assignments will lose 10 points for each WEEK they are late. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Podcast Rubric

Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

Free Music Web Site