Karen’s Mashups

Sorry for the brief hiatus, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be back with a new mashup soon. I’ve had a few other exciting projects consume all my time the last month or so, but stay tuned!

This show highlights podcasts for learners with special needs.

There is new information coming out all the time about learning disabilities, brain research, universal design for learning, and more. Podcasts are a good way to keep up with it all and to connect with others who have share an interest in specific issues.

Our classrooms are filled with ever-increasingly diverse students. Static and often inaccessible educational resources like textbooks are not appropriate for many learners. The accommodations that can be made to increase accessibility are good not only for special populations but for ALL students. The principles behind Universal Design for Learning could revolutionize educational success for many learners.

Included in this show are:

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This time of year, many schools are focusing on preparation for high stakes tests. All students can benefit from improving their study skills and learning how to prep for tests, even if it’s just for regular end-of-unit tests or quizzes. There are a variety of podcasts available that can help students with this, and we’ll be featuring several in this show.

(For the moment, I’m going to put aside my feelings about the current state of testing and test prep, but if the frenzy of test prep makes you crazy, here are my thoughts.)

Another way to use podcasting for review and study purposes is to create your own studycasts. These can be audio or video versions of information you’d normally cover in a printed review packet. For some students, audio or video is more engaging and accessible. Another idea is to have your students create their own studycasts at the end of each unit. In the course of doing so, they will master the content and hone their own communication skills.

Included in this show are excerpts from the following:

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April is poetry month, so we’re celebrating poetry in this show. Poetry is always a fun area to study because there is so much variety with something to please everyone.

Because so many schools enjoy creating podcasts and other multimedia presentations from poetry and other literature, I thought it would be a good time to do a quick review of copyright and to talk about Creative Commons.

Anything that under traditional copyright (which includes any created work, even if it doesn’t have a copyright notice and even if it’s on the Internet) is protected from reuse or distribution by others without express permission. All of the clips included in this podcast are used by permission of their creators.

Works that you can use without permission of the creator are those that are in the public domain (older works or ones created by the U.S. government) or those that are licensed under Creative Commons or other alternative license agreements. Creative Commons lets the creator keep copyright while giving others the rights to share it. The creator chooses what rights are shared. For example, a no derivatives license (CC-ND) means that the work can be used or redistributed but not changed. A share-alike license (CC-SA) means that the work can be reused or changed but that any resulting work must be shared under a similar license.

A great way to let others share in your work is to license your original writing, photos, or web site under a Creative Commons license. (Check out my Open Ed site for more information on this and lots of great open resources, including music, clip art, photos, video, and more.)

We also have a special offer from one of the contributors to this week’s shows. The recording of “Casey at the Bat” is from TeacherVision’s National Poetry Month podcasts. Please visit TeacherVision.com for more lessons, activities, printable books, and worksheets, and receive 25% off a one-year TeacherVision subscription when you use promotion code TVKMU.

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