Thing 5: Audio Tools - Synth

One of the things that I have been looking to do for the past several years as a teacher is create audio content for my students. Since I teach English language learners, and also feel that this could benefit any learner, I have been trying to find ways to create auditory notes or recaps of class for students to revisit in an online platform. What I had done in the past was create voice-over PowerPoints that students could view or review when they finished other work in our school computer lab. However, they would need to download the PowerPoint and understand how it works, and they had to be on devices that used that feature or PowerPoint, and PowerPoint itself. Students that had time to access it in the computer lab were thrilled by it, as the auditory explanation and reading of content often made understanding easier than them struggling to decode academic language above their proficiency level in an attempt to review what we had learned in class. Aside from this tool, I had no other ideas as to what existed, and even after asking many colleagues if they knew of any ways to do this more effectively, no one seemed to know. I am thrilled that the auditory tools are a component of this professional development because I was thrilled to explore a new platform. I chose to use Synth. I noticed that it did not work with Internet Explorer, but that it did work on Google Chrome. I like that it can be used on the website or on mobile devices and gives you that choice when you first enter the website. I was able to sign in with Google, which is perfect for students as well, as each student in our district has a Gmail account that can be used in this way. It asked for my name and year of birth when signing in. In exploring the website, I appreciate that it provides multiple ways for my content to be shared. I can share podcasts with a weblink, code, or an embedded code. I chose this website to try because I love that the words get put up on the screen, to help my students pair the auditory with the written word. I currently cannot figure out how to broadcast the text with my auditory, but I will keep trying. In setting up my first ever podcast, I now feel that I understand what a podcast is, verses a thread. I started my podcast with an introduction of myself, and then realized that I could create threads within the podcast, that would serve like a table of contents with small pieces of specific information for students to reference. I really like this setup because then students can target what they need to listen to. It would be difficult for a student to listen to an entire review lecture about ancient civilizations from global history class, but they could easily choose to listen to a small auditory recording about the use of irrigation in river valley civilizations and how it was used for farming. I love how this is set up with threads, and am excited to get started by making podcasts for my students to reference, especially for regents review!

 

Enter podcast code KNMJFAU at https://gosynth.com/s/c/sxnxeo