Podcast and Online Discussion

I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Break. :)

Reflection on Podcast:

I knew what podcasts were from discussions in other classes, but that was the first time I’ve made a podcast myself. I wasn’t looking forward to this assignment because I hate the sound of my voice on a recording, but it ended up not being too bad. I used Audacity to make it. The first time I recorded myself, it didn’t sound good because I think I talked too close to the microphone. I decided to do it again and compare the two recordings, and the second time sounded much better (I held the mic a little farther away from me). I noticed when I was listening to it, I could hear a strange sound in the background. It wasn’t constant like static or anything though, but I’m not sure how to describe it. It would come and go while I was talking. I have no idea where it was coming from because there wasn’t anything playing in the room or the rest of the house (television, radio, etc). Maybe my house is haunted… :) After I was done recording, it took me a while to figure out how to make it a mp3. I forgot it was something that had to be downloaded separately from Audacity.
I think in one of the articles it said you can put images and videos into the podcast too. I didn't do it for this assignment, but I'd like to try that sometime. Visuals could really help what's being presented in the podcast.

Reflection on Online Discussion:

Between the two social networking sites, everyone seemed to lean more towards Facebook instead of Myspace. However, I think we’re weary of using these sites because of safety and security, and because of the whole "crossing the teacher-student line" (and of course these things are understandable). Some people shared some other social networking sites that might be better choices than Facebook and Myspace for educational uses.
Looking back on leading this discussion, I think my questions may have been a little too similar to each other and I apologize for that. I wish I would’ve noticed that earlier, but everyone seemed to be able to work around it okay. If I ever lead a discussion again in the future, I’ll need to be more careful about that.

Progress on Website

So far I think my website design is going okay. I think for now I'm going to use a hierarchical structure to make navigation easier, although in the future some parts may become linear (such as the actual walkthrough lessons). I'm not quite sure how I want to set up my Q & A section yet though. I want it to be a page where students can easily post questions (maybe some kind of message board). I wonder if I have to put a link to a social network, or is there a way to actually put a message board on the webpage? I didn't really want to have to make students sign up for a social network if they don't need to. It would be nice if there could be a board where anyone could post a question to it for everyone to see (kind of like Moodle, I suppose), but it would be right on the Q & A webpage. Well, I know for sure I'd put an email address on the page too in case students are more comfortable asking questions that way (if they just have individual/personal questions about something, etc).

Podcast due March 21st.