I hit the jackpot today regarding information about free audiobooks. Lit2Go is a project created by the University of Southern Florida. Their website is loaded with audiofiles of books that are in the public domain and therefore free of copyright issues. They have hired professional readers to ensure that the files are of high quality. Teachers can download the MP3 files directly to their computers or to their iTunes library - and they are iPod ready! In addition, teachers can download the associated text as a pdf file that can be printed out and highlighted and annotated. As an option, students can choose to read the text directly from the web. The website also provides support materials and worksheets for each book as well as other resources including free clipart, and maps. The presenter encouraged the audience to think about making the audiofiles more interactive. He showed us how we could use Audacity or GarageBand to alter and expand the audio file. Adding sounds and pictures to the audio track requires students to think more deeply about the text and also seems to help with memory and recall.
An interesting idea offered by the presenters ...ask the students to strip away most of the audio file leaving only those vocabulary words that are new to the student. The student can then use GarageBand to add an image illustrating the meaning of the word. By adding to the vocabulary audio file over the course of the year, the students will create an
eportfolio of their vocabulary development. Students could also listen to the resulting enhanced podcast to reinforce their personal learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment