KleinPod: Podcasting in Klein ISD

I got notice that the Ed. Tech. Department is following up with the podcatching issue and that I’ll get more information in a day or two.

My wiki is currently still blocked. Looks like worst case scenario is that I’ll be doing all the grunt work and uploading the content. My students have been working so hard and they are really taking this seriously, so I’m going to give them their voice. I just don’t know when I’ll have time to do it. I barely have time to grade papers, let alone transfer information from the LMS wiki to a public wiki. Using the wiki as an editing tool is going brilliantly, however! Students are choosing whether or not they are good at editing for content or editing for mechanics, and I am letting them utilize their strengths. In fact, I may split the class into two groups and let them deal with the wiki that way.

I’m scared that this pilot isn’t going to accomplish all that I wanted it to accomplish, and it makes me wonder what I could have done differently this summer to prepare. I would have pushed harder for a podcaster to have been approved earlier, but I really don’t know all of the steps that are needed for that process.

I’m now three months into the school year and haven’t started anything yet. I have created my own ramshackle curriculum because there is nothing available and the people who have the material aren’t responding to e-mails.

I tried to go to NECC last summer since it was in San Antonio, but there was no money in the school budget and I did not personally have the money at the time. I even offered my services to one of the people who helped organize the event in order to help cut down on the conference costs, and even though I was initially met with support, I never heard anything further.

No one really seems to know what it is that I am doing, and I am starting to feel a little lonely. I’m worried that my name keeps coming up at meetings and that I’m being seen as a troublemaker. Peggy (my principal) keeps reassuring me that the reason that I am having so many roadblocks is because I’m utilizing technology in way that has never been utilized in Klein ISD, but I never realized that this would be so exhausting.

There was a Web 2.0 meeting yesterday in which the podcasting roadblocks were discussed, so I decided to head down to the Educational Technology department and see what was going on.

Mark, my usual contact, had taken half a day off, so I nosed myself into Rosemary’s office where she was talking with Melanie. They invited me to pull up a chair and tell them exactly what it was that was going on in the classroom.

We prioritized a list of needs and they are going to get back to me on Monday with some suggestions and guidelines for letting people know about problems when I encounter them.

The school wiki was unblocked today, but the log-in page is blocked, so the students still can’t log in to edit the wiki. I don’t think that will be too big of a hassle, so my main concern was that we need to get a podcatcher that the students can use. I suggested two options:
1. All students get (an edited?) version of iTunes, or
2. Each student gets a different product (iTunes, PodcastPickle, etc.) and tests it out so that we can make a decision on a standard product for the district.

Everyone seemed agreeable and happy, and I left the meeting happy.

I am SO glad that I decided to use the PBWiki instead of Wikispaces as I had originally planned. PBWiki allows the teacher to set the control level for students, so while my students can edit my wiki, they can’t join other wikis or create their own. That’s good, because while practicing with the LMS wiki today (it’s starting to work!), the students were already trying to figure out ways to use it to chat. I told them that there was no real reason to mess up the wiki to chat because I already had a chatboard for them. Once they realized that, they stopped clogging up the wiki with “DUDE! JOE IS AWESOME!” posts.

I shudder to think what would happen if they had free reign on Wikispaces.

Once again, I am so grateful that I am doing this with a small number of students.