For this year's educational visit to Brittany I will be attempting to send voice messages live to my blog from my mobile phone or netbook using iPadio. This morning I chatted with Mark, CEO and founder of the free phlogging tool about the idea and he assured me it should work without a hitch.
This is great news and I look forward to trying to follow in the footsteps of other teachers who have inspired me in recent years with their smooth moblogging experiences and engaging use of technology outside of the classroom. Have a look at the Musselburgh Grammar S2 France trip blog for a great example and in particular the podcasts they made during the visit to see what I mean.
One of the organisers and CDT teacher at the school, Suzanne Watson told me in an email just how easy it was to post while away,
"There was nothing technical about our France blogs. We simply took away with us an ipod and a voice recorder plug in. Each day one pupil would record our events. I did had to convert the sound track to mp3 as it saved as an mp4 file on the ipod but I just used free software I downloaded from the internet.Once I had it as mp3 I simply uploaded each file the same way as I would upload a word file for example. The way its displayed on the website is just the way wordpress displays these types of files. Fortunately each of the hotels we stayed in had wifi so I was able to use my own laptop for the process."
To use iPadio all you have to do is register your mobile phone number on the site, then, ring the London number 02033842843, enter your 4 figure pin, record your message and press the hash key. Job done. If you want to use a different mobile phone, landline or Skype, simply ring the same number, enter your registered number and then proceed as before. Once you hang up, your phlog will be sent automatically to your account as an mp3 file and your RSS feed will be updated so your subscribers can download the latest episode.
Since Vodafone decided to abolish their roaming charges this summer, calling from France should cost the same as in the UK as long as you sign up to their passport scheme. But check the small print!
You can also add a player to your blog if you wish. Unfortunately there isn't a listen again option, so you need to be sure of what you want to stay. However, if you do make a mistake, you can just go to your account and delete the message from there.
For those who may be interested in listening to my future phlogs, here is my home page and RSS feed which I will be updating in a couple of weeks time when we set off. Wish me luck!
Oh, by the way, I'm sorry I coughed at the beginning of my message. I think I must have had a phlog in my throat ;)
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