This week, on Shrove Tuesday, the primary classes at my school celebrated Pancake Day. Because we made the pancakes together, this was another chance for me to check on the students’ ability to recall and retell a sequence of events. I decided to use Audioboo to record the students describing the process. I had seen references to this tool in a lot of places, but it was Chris Harbeck who really convinced me of its worth.
So, while the students were busy representing their learning with a picture, I took the students aside one by one and had them describe the process in their own words. Audioboo takes a while to load the first time you record something, but the sound quality is quite good and the site is uncluttered and easy to use.
In the past, I have used Vocaroo to do this, but because of this site’s increased popularity, recordings now expire after 5-6 months if you are logged in and after 1-2 months if you record anonymously. I’m hoping that the Audioboo recordings will be longer lasting.
The best part of making a “boo” (their word, not mine) is that an embed code is provided. The next day, each of the students copied and pasted the html from their boo into an article on their blog. The students are thrilled to again have their voice on their blog. Their parents have a chance to hear their child describe what went on in the classroom. And I have another resource as part of the student’s online portfolio to showcase during our parent/student/teacher conferences later this month.
Below is a screenshot from one of the students’ blogs, showing both the embedded Audioboo and her drawing of our activity.
We have also begun using Audioboo to record our reading fluency.
The real power of this tool may be with its use for students who have a disability of some kind and are not able to show what they know in a coherent way through text, but are able to clearly enunciate their learning orally. Audioboo gives them a way to do this.