Thing 7: Podcasts and Screencasts

I do not have a microphone on my computer nor do I own a SmartPhone or Tablet that can have a microphone App. This topic really made me realize how I need to update! I read and listened to the article "Student-Created Sequoyah Book Reports, AudioBoo, iPads and QR Codes" and was very impressed about how 21st Century this library and the students are. My school library does have newer computers for students to use but the webcam/microphone has been disabled. Our IT department is able to re-enable it for classes working on assignments requiring audio/video.Listening to the "Isinglass Teen Read Award Nominees Book Talks" gave me ideas of how I could use podcasts in the high school library for book talks and reviews.(Another idea for my book club next year.) I looked at some of the screen cast programs mentioned in the article "Screencasts Turn Students into Digital Teachers", and I am going to mention this to the math and Science teachers. I think it would be helpful to students to have a screencast made for difficult Algebraic problems as well as demonstrations of how Physics formulas work.It would be kind of like making our own "Khan Academy". I have a digital camera that is able to record short videos, so I tried to make my own screencast using the camera, but the quality was so poor I am not going to post it here. I ended up making a screencast using Screenr, but there is no audio. It was very self explanatory, and I would really like to try it with a microphone! I added this screencast to my library webpage to assist students in searching the library catalog.Here is the link to it: