15
Aug

PowerPoint? Not again, please…

By Mike Kinnaird 4 Comments
Categories: audio in the classroom, creative writing and media tools in education
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

It was a few years ago teaching in a further education college in the UK. I hadn’t been teaching long, recently out of industry, but having a media background was used to media-type stuff to get a message across.

So out popped this PowerPoint, lovingly created by myself for the assembled, mildly interested students. To say my hard work was greeted with boredom would be something of an understatement. You could taste the tedium, hear virtual snoring as one withering student eye looked at the screen for a nanosecond before returning to the ceiling.

‘Why do you lot always do PowerPoints. Not another one, pleeeeeeeaaaaase…’

The message hit home smartly.

It seems we (as in tutors generally at that time) ‘did’ PowerPoint’s. We all, apparently, thought it was cool to do so, and as a consequence these assembled students, went from class to class watching yet another groovy selection of transitions.

A clear example of how a media tool can be overused to the point of destruction. It was a lesson learned as far as I was concerned and raised all kinds of questions in my head. Here was a tool designed to interest and motivate, to put across information in a way slightly more interesting than listening to me drone on for an hour. And yet…

I rarely use it now and find myself unreasonably annoyed if I’m forced to sit through one at a conference etc. Hardly fair, but I’m now scarred for life.

Animoto. I’m reluctant to mention this just in case I am in a small way responsible for a rush in Animoto videos in the classroom. I think it’s great, but then I like Moviemaker too. I don’t care that some video buffs find it child’s play and clunky compared with higher-end video edit software. It is free after all.

And I’m forever surprised at how many people don’t realise they have it bundled on their PC. In fact my surprise is met with equal measure when looking at how many very young children are super confident with Moviemaker and happily churn out video-style presentations.

But for me, Animoto has hit my top spot, at least for now. Very music video-style in production, free to the education sector, and so, so easy to make. Basically a collection of stills with a music background that you choose along with text you add. I have found a way to dub on my own audio explanations instead of the music provided and it works well. They look great every time and students love them. Yes, the free-to-use education version does mean your photos are a tad blurred not matter how sharp the jpeg. But so what? It’s a free education resource you can then save as Quicktime, or whatever, for you to store away for as ,long as you need. I’ve yet to hear a student make a comment. Get in there now before the rush…

If anyone knows of other programmes for presentations, let me know. I can’t face another put down like the last one.

17
Apr

School Radio…what on earth for?

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: audio in the classroom, media tools in education and school FM radio
Tags: , , , ,

Online radio audiences have doubled in four years in the States…that’s 40 million people weekly. And of course, that doesn’t take into account the traditional FM/AM audience.

Not so easy to get accurate online figures for the UK, but there’s no doubt at all that radio is enjoying a buoyant time; 90 per cent of people in the UK aged 15 and over listen to the radio. And despite the yawn-inducing claims over recent years that radio is ‘so yesterday’ the audience is in fact climbing once more.

Almost a third of the UK population have listened online and the best part of eight million download podcasts – that’s according to the organisation that measures UK radio listening habits.

17% of Americans ages 12 or over listened to online radio in the past week, or about 42 million people, according to the latest in a series of studies conducted by Arbitron and Edison Research.

On a weekly basis, online radio in the US reaches 20% of 25-to-54 year-olds; up from 15% in 2008. Monthly online listeners are up to 69 million, or roughly 27% of the U.S. population. However, nearly half of the population, or 125 million, have never listened to online radio.

Lots of figures and lots of percentages but through the mists a clear path emerges.

The appetite for radio has not diminished; that’s a simple fact. The platform used to consume it may well have. So even looking at the US figures it is clear that online radio is growing sharply with a huge untapped market still out there. While the UK is further behind, it is still growing all the time.

So what are schools waiting for? That’s the point. Here is a perfect opportunity for schools to hit a huge range of buttons and all at the same time, so why aren’t they? Every Child Matters, personalization, global village, extended communities, student voice, increased IT skills, creative writing, citizenship, on and on goes the list.

Is it because there are still teachers that don’t get it – as in the integration of new technologies into schools – and so don’t want to, or is it simply because there aren’t enough hours in a day to do the flashy stuff? Well, I suspect the answer is a bit – or a great deal – of both.

School radio via the internet done well can be massive in terms of impact. School radio on FM via RSLs is again a hugely successful way of connecting with a local community. I’ve been involved in both on many occasions and the physical impact on students, never mind the quality or impact of what they produce, can be an extraordinary thing to witness.

The student that normally would rather do anything than sit in a classroom that now hangs around school and won’t go home. The disengaged student that is branded a nuisance in polite conversation that produces hour after hour of radio that attracts emails and texts into the hundreds.

It’s all feasible and it’s realistic. The trick over the years that I have learned is that Content is Key. Babbling away will always be just that. But quality content aimed at the target audience is the critical element. And No, that does not mean radio that the teacher likes, it means radio that the audience likes, appreciates, recognises as it’s own and is prepared to interact with.

I can’t stress enough how important content, and therefore the production element is, to making great school radio. So many times have I had (or heard about) schools buying radio kit and not having a clue what to do next. Most people wouldn’t buy a car and then realise they needed driving lessons. It’s not an after thought, it’s part of the process.

This is my plea – or pleas – for today. First; consider school radio. There is an audience way beyond your classroom and the impact you will have is lasting and extraordinary. Second; don’t go on air in any form until the content is sorted. What are you going to say when the mic is on? Who is going to say what and who is the target audience?

More another day. As a former radio professional I must say I am hugely satisfied to see my previous industry deconstructed in such a way that the No Entry signs have now been taken down and anyone – within reason, can take part.

If you want to know more – just ask.

post or mikekinnaird103@gmail.com

26
Mar

Primary teachers are going to blog eh?

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: media tools in education
Tags: , , , , , ,

So, primary teachers in the UK may be required to teach the finer points of Twitter and blogging and podcasting. At least that’s what it says in the news today.

Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain “fluency” in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.

You’ll have heard all this by now, which is great. I did notice one of the teaching unions rather sniffley point out that keyboard skills seem to be as important as handwriting skills in this new proposal.

Well I for one have de-skilled in the handwriting department. Even I can’t read my writing on occasion. Not that I’m particularly proud, it’s just a fact – I don’t write with a pen these days. I write using one of these things and have done for years.

So yes, like it or not, keyboard skills are increasingly important and some teachers are just going to have to accept that, along with their unions. My typing is strictly of the two fingered persuasion which does draw sniggers from any surrounding under 20s that happen to be passing. But I’ve survived years in newsrooms handicapped in such a way so I’ll not worry now.

Upskilling (nasty word but will have to do) primary teachers in these areas is not going to be an overnight option. At a recent party the conversion turned to ‘yoof’ culture – the whole Facebook, Bebo malarkey, and Twitter was thrown into the ring. Well, I can honestly say that there weren’t all that many of the assembled comfortably over 40s fully up to speed with what it was, never mind used it.

My wife teaches part time in a primary school. She looked at today’s news over a sandwich and found the sandwich much more intertesting. Now I am a big fan of using media tools in the classroom, somewhat obviously, and all this will get my vote.

It is a logical step, mainly because the vast majority of these kids will be at the very least aware and in many cases will have already tried some of the techniques outlined in their private lives. They are natural social networkers and remarkably skilled – well, remarkable from my generation’s outlook.

But the education hierachy in the UK hasn’t shown much appetite for giving trainee teachers all the relevant emerging technology skills in teacher training colleges, or even hinted that young teachers should adopt skills developed in their own time, in their classroom teaching.

I just hope that this won’t be another halfway, half-baked approach and that the government not only supports the proposal, but dives in head first rather than attempt to placate those still urging the good old days of the blackboard and chalk.

This is the age of information. We know that; it isn’t going to go backwards so why do some (and it should be quite clear that this is not everyone) hang on to what was, not what is?

Judging by the persuasive power of my wife’s sandwich – I think we’d better get cracking now. There’s a few people to be persuaded yet.

28
Sep

where have all the boys gone?

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: audio in the classroom, creative writing and school FM radio
Tags: , , , , ,

The call for volunteers to take part in a radio project at a school I worked at recently produced not one male.

Zero. The project had a limit of 12 students, simply for size and space, and it was all mid-teen girls that came forward. For some reason, I’m still finding that a surprise.  And yet it’s not the first time that’s happened. Radio used to be a boys toy, you couldn’t get girls anywhwere near the thing.  And I found that just as odd.

My first radio job was as a freelance station assistant at a BBC Local Radio Station.  I was 23-ish and the job no longer exists; they’re all broadcast assistants now.  Back then the desks in the studio were seriously complicated; or that’s how I felt.  No ‘easy to slide’ faders, it was all rotary knobs and mighty Studer tape machines.  Outside studios had to be plugged in the bay at the back of the studio like an old fashioned telephone exchange.  It was ‘mans’ work’ – apparently.  Cart machines, valves, chinagraph pencils…joy. Anyway…

I suppose that must have been the impression created.

All this serious fiddling about with cables and heavy duty control desks must have been put to girls at the time as simply beyond their mere female comprehension.  I can’t recall a single woman in front line presentation at the start of my radio career.  They were journalists or secretaries.   They made phone calls and cups of tea.

( Pic of an old Sonifex cart machine by Dave Smith)

Now all this sounds  unpleasantly patronising of course, but it was the way it was at the turn of the 1980s.  The BBC was run as a gentlemens club. Even the BBC’s flagship national pop station, Radio One, only tolerated one token female DJ, Anne Nightingale; far from ‘token’ she was a damn good DJ.

Now women, quite rightly, are well represented as DJs and presenters.

But quite why it is girls that are the first to come forward on th school radio projects I have worked on in recent years is a mystery.  Maybe it is simply confidence, and the more mature mid teen girl can handle everything so much better than the equivalant boy.  I also suspect that some teen boys are more aware than before of the sound of their own voice and importantly the cracking up of their voice as they bounce through the teen years.  It has been given as an excuse to me on more than one occasion by a boy alternating between baritone and soprano without warning.

Hurrah for the girls, I say, it’s certainly not a problem – just an observation.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed this too?  Please let me know.

08
Aug

Creating audio resources, Sounds Like a Good Idea! Just published.

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

My new book just published

Maybe this is the reason why I seem to have had so little time to write my posts of late – apart from the day job, the main thrust of focus has been on the above. Sixty two thousand words later and we have Sounds Like a Good Idea. Much of what I want to say here is expanded upon within this funky cover.

The book looks in detail at how audio can transform lessons of just about any kind – from maths, to geography, to history, to sports studies and of course media and English projects. It also explains how to use these new (and pretty simple skills in the first cases)  in both secondary and primary schools (elementary).  But basicaly it is a How To book and it’s there for the teacher aor trainer with no skills what so ever.

After 20 years bashing out radio for the BBC (before I began teaching and training) I pretty much got the hang of audio recording and mixing, so I felt able a year or so ago to approach a publisher with a view to writing down what I knew in a simple form – advising people not just how to achieve results, but on what sort of equipment to buy and crucially what NOT to buy.

These posts so far have all been about radio projects, but radio is only one part of the story. I much prefer to use the word ‘audio’ rather than ‘radio’ because audio can be used to help with revision in maths for students struggling with number patterns. Equally it can be used to really help students that struggle with everyday communication skills.  At the other end of the scale – just watch those gifted and talented students fly when they realise what is possible and just what they can do.

Video is a great way of getting a message across but even with today’s kit, it can still be time-consuming when spread overweeks of lessons.  And that’s if the PC has fallen over again under the weight of that gigantic file. The beauty of audio is that is directly relates to the skills students use – the mp3 generation swapping sound files.   They can start and finish a project within an hour.  Write a script for a radio commercial for a young audience, record it, mix it with some suitable music and FX. Done. In an hour.  And they are usually surprised at how much it sounds like a real radio product.  Try doing that with video and you’ll find that you can’t; neither will it look like a real video product.  This may be the YouTube crowd used to passing on the incredibly amusing roller skating goat video they’ve found, but when it comes to making that video product themselves – perahps a music video – they have high standards, and that video project can have disappointment built in.

I’ve tried video many times with students and certainly will do again, but starting with audio is a fantastic way of building confidence with a few quick hits and developing some transferable slills along the way that can be related back to video projects later, if that’s what you want.

In my head, I’m planning to write up a couple of ideas from the book within these pages to give a taste of it over the next couple of weeks – that’s the plan at least.

Back to radio for a moment and I’ve just been involved in another radio project with a small group of students – all girls this time and volunteers I might add, in their mid-teens.  More on that later and a bit about how one school is using audio I’ve recorded for them to help the transition from primary (elementary) schools to secondary schools here in the UK.  There are some podcasts to go with those stories and I’ll write that soon.

The transition project is particularly interesting even though it’s at the earliest stage.  One piece is a short item (around 3 minutes) written by a 15 year girl, directed towards 10/11 year girls making that jump between schools.  It looks at body changes, relationships (boy troubles!) and changes within the family.  I’m more than happy to say that even after all my years of experience, there is no way I could have written anything so good or so convincing.  And I’ve told her that.  Mainly because I’m not a 15 year girl as you may have gathered, so writing with that degreee of accuracy and crispness is a matter of personal experience.

When it’s available as a blog to listen to, I’ll let you know.  It is fantastic!  I just need to take out the commercial music she originally used because it started life as a school project. Changing the music will alter the feel slightly, but it’s worth it to get the piece out there in the public domain.

Please contact me if you want to know more about the book (or anything else) either through this page or PM me directly on mikekinnaird103@gmail.com

There are numerous links to the book offerring introductory discounts, from a number of sites, but you could try…

Play.com http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/5449582/-/Product.html?searchstring=mike+kinnaird&searchsource=0

Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b/026-4990495-5013211?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=mike+kinnaird&x=0&y=0

ecampus.com http://www.ecampus.com/book/9781855394483

Blackwells http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Sounds_Like_a_Good_Idea/9781855394483

Or talk to me on Facebook – which ever you prefer!  :)

24
Jun

Emily, school radio break show. And no punches pulled…

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: school FM radio
Tags: , , , , ,

emily-mixed-mp3

You’re quite right.  You clicked on the link on the last page and nothing happened.  So this at least should work.  Looks like I’ll have to upload the audio seperately until I work out whether I can embed or not.

Anyway…

This is a quick chat with Emily.  She is now a veteran at presenting breakfast shows on school FM radio stations – at 17 years old.  She had no previous experience, was simply sat in a chair and the red light switched on.  She speaks to leading politicians, senior police officers and business leaders.  And do you know what?  They take her seriously – mainly because she asks proper questions.  No punches pulled with this girl.

I asked her what she got out of all this…For more go to http://mikekinnaird.podOmatic.com

RSS feed http://mikekinnaird.podOmatic.com/rss2.xml

<a href=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mikekinnaird”><img id=”btnTalkShow” border=”0″ alt=”Listen to Mike Kinnaird on internet talk radio”  src=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/img/180x60_ihaveatalkshow.gif”/></a>

24
Jun

To pod, or not to pod?

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: school FM radio
Tags: , , ,

Mike Kinnaird\’s podcast

OK this is an experiment.  I’m attempting to embrace the world of podcasting with students.  One step at a time.

I’ve created a page on a podcast site  – podOmatic – that has the option of creating education podcasts. Dead easy to do.  However, the trick is, can I embed this into this blog site?  Not sure.  Looked around the ‘help’ bits and haven’t found the answer.  So you may well click on a link on this page to be greeted with silence or something that can’t download.

I want to pursue this though because I really do think there is something in this, not just as an audio publishing tool but as a classroom tool…just not sure what it is yet.

Anyway, let’s publish this and see what happens.

16
Jun

They’re doing that live? You’re kidding!

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: creative writing and school FM radio
Tags: , , , , , ,

The look of fear in their faces has to be seen.

So there we were, all twenty of us – nineteen were under ten years old, and then there was me; age not disclosed.

These primary school (elementary) children were up and ready for some serious radio broadcasting.  Creative writing  obviously, but packaged as scripts, cues, running orders, jokes, poems, questioning, entertainment news and facts about their local areas.

And by the look on their faces they had everything under control.  They knew there were going to be ‘live’ with their own one-hour programme on a short term school radio station.  They knew what they wanted to put in their programme, so all that needed sorting were the timings.

It was then that the first smell of fear drifted into the room. 

The headteacher pointed out that we had some young musicians with us who were ready to record their playing for the programme.

You have brought your recording thingy with you, haven’t you?

Well, as I had no reason to, the answer was going to be no. ” They can do it live…”   The children smiled and simply got on with the rest of the planning while the headteacher’s faced dropped  and changed several shades over the following seconds.  While she had by now (just about) accepted the concept of her team broadcasting by at least speaking live, the thought of anything even more variable and complex adding to the mix was nearly too much.

To cut a long story short – it worked. 

But then it was always going to.  Not only did it work for that group but the two other primary school teams of under 10s also pulled it off, with considerable skill it must be said.  And that previous teacher wasn’t the only one with a doubt or two in their heads prior to the start.

The point to all this is simple enough.

So many children now, even very young ones, are totally at ease in these situations.  So for those teachers faced with a similar situation, the advice must be, don’t panic too much.  I’m saying ‘too much’ because we should always keep a lead on this to some extent, but equally we should also accept that what we may find utterly scary, can be just another day in the office to the children.

Live radio with a real audience was for these children, and for many others, the perfect way to express what they can really do. Creative writing at a genuinely accessible level.
01
Jun

Heat Rays FM

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: school FM radio
Tags: , , , ,

 

65 plus students on live radio-130 people altogether and almost no-one has had any training. Good idea!

Only just got around to this blog with a few things getting in the way.  Like writing a book and radio projects like this one.

We’ve tried four of these FM radio stations from school now because we have our own purpose built radio studio, but this was by far the biggest and the most scary.  Sixty five Year 10 students, that makes them 14 years old basically, with a handful of 16 year olds and a couple of seasoned 18 year old pros.

What possessed me to think this was a good idea.  I mean what kind of halfwit unleashes all this lot, untrained as they were on to  live radio that can be listened to by human beings.  Seriously barmy. 

I’ve had to offer what training I could during the weekly lesson times when they popped up in my media classes.  They had to plan, prepare, consider playlists, find the tunes (bearing in mind the target audience) find a guest to interview live on the day or pre-record. They grouped themselves into small teams of three or four and I in turn, worked out a schedule across the two week broadcast time.

One hour, each group armed with MySpace, MSN, Facebook and a text number for the audience to communicate with. And they did.  But we knew that would happen following the previous quickie- four-day broadcast last Christmas.

 

That, as you can see for yourself, was called Festive FM (well can you think of anything smarter at Christmas? It’s not easy you know, this name stuff) and this current version  reverted back to Heat Rays FM, a name dreamt up by students the very first time we did this.

So this time we have all these students plus 20 primary (elementary school) children – again all live on the radio plus assorted staff, hospital radio volunteers and members of the community that fancied having a go.  Don’t forget the 20 plus students taking part live twice over the two weeks from Florida – a mere eight hours away by Boeing 777.  Skype made that happen with the team in America gathered around a computer mic.  

That was seriously fantastic, so I’ll scribble more on that another time.

Suffice to say this project, for me at least,  was 12 hours a day of mania before I could switch on the overnight service generated from a second computer.

But you know what?  It did work.  Schools can broadcast can happily on FM if they can pay the hefty price tag for licences, transmitter hire etc. Boy does it work, even with that number of students.  It’s not the kit that’s the clever bit, it’s the content.  A microphone is useless if you don’t what you’re going to say…

As for the students, they took it in their stride. Well they would do wouldn’t they, even the eight year old primary kids sang live, played instruments live while their headteachers chewed what remained of savaged fingernails.  I’ll have to do more on content later, studios and the like.  Oh, and plug the book I suppose.

Not out yet, so no panic. 

Better get back to writing a zillion end of year reports. Joy.

 

 

 

 

03
Jan

Just press record…

By Mike Kinnaird 0 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

You’re just going to have to bear with me for a minute here…I’ve only just found Edublogs and finding my way around.

So this is a bit of a test for now.

This will be a blog and an occasional rant if necessary about using audio in education, the Cinderella of media tricks for the classroom.  I am the number one fan of using audio for so many reasons that I haven’t the time right now but I’ve got quite a bit to get off my chest in the coming scribblings.

Back soon when I’ve worked out all the buttons. 

Until then, if you use audio in classroom or would like to know how and what on earth you can do with it, then you could always get in touch. 

Let’s just see if I can post this first.  Walk then run etc.