Soundcloud is a social platform where you can make
recordings and share your recordings in networks. You can download the Soundcloud
- app to your iPhone, iPad or Android device for free. I think the free version
is still enough, even if you get limitations in uploading minutes, number
of people at your contact list and the amount of people you can share your
recordings directly to.
My perception is that the platform is quite
user-friendly and it is easy to make it work.
You begin by making a recording, and then you decide
if you would like to keep the recording private, share it with your friends or
share the recording to the whole world. If you want to share your recording, is
it easy to do that by connecting your Soundcloud account to for example,
Facebook, Twitter or a blog.
Soundcloud also gives you opportunity to connect with
other people. You can create groups, follow people you find interesting and
make written comments to other people’s recordings. The comment function can be
used in two ways. You can make a comment to the entire recording, or choose to give feedback at a
particular point in the recording if you want to highlight something specific.
I think Soundcloud can be useful for both teachers and
pupils.
A teacher can use Soundcloud to recording lectures and share with
pupils or upload to a blog. After listening the pupils can use the written
comment function to ask question or tell their opinion. Another way is to let
the pupils make recordings for the teacher to listen to. By allowing pupils to
record a discussion or conversation, the teacher can use the recording to
noting the pupil's ability to participate in and contribute to discussion.
Another advantage by using Soundcloud is that the
pupils can listen to themselves and improve their pronunciation. The teacher
can use the comment function to pinpoint at a particular word in the recording,
the pupil need to check the pronunciation of.
Pupils can also be asked to listen to a friend's
recording and practise giving feedback. By networking with other
teachers/pupils, your pupils can collaborate with students from another school
in Sweden or from another country.
Linda Bodin
I have never heard about Soundcloud before. I think that it sounds like a very good pedagogy tool. It stands in Lgr 11 that the most important thing of learning a new language is to use it in communication. Therefore it is important for the pupils to learn to communicate so that the person who listen can understand what you are speaking about, which means that the pronunciation also is very important. You give a lot of ideas for how you can use Soundcloud when it comes to pronunciation and communication. For example, that the pupils can be recorded when they communicate with each other, that they can be recorded when they speak for then listen on how there pronunciation is and that they can listen to another pupil's recording for learning to get feedback.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that you gives is that you can use the Soundcloud by put it together with Facebook, Twitter or a blog where the pupils can share their recordings with friends or other classes around the world. If the recordings are for private use only is that also a choice that you can make just like you are pointing out. Moreover you wrote that the pupils can stay in touch with other blogs, and give response to other people that they are interested in. You also wrote that it works to build groups. There is a good way to use Soundcloud for get in contact with other people. Furthermore I think it is interesting that you mention that you can record a lesson that the pupils can listen at afterwards.
Your blog about Soundcloud is very interesting. You give a lot of ideas for how a teacher can use Soundcloud in the class, which that I have not heard of, that was good to know so that I have something to start from. You also wrote that it is user-friendly, which I do think makes it even better.
// Maria-Pia Jansson