How Many Teachers Does it Take to Put Together a Padcaster?

So many pieces to lose

So, how many teachers does it take to put together a Padcaster? Answer, 3 and more than that is even better.  For my Pro-D last Friday, I joined up with fellow Synergy cohort, Kayla, and another teacher to figure out how to use this Padcaster and all the wonderful projects we could have with the class.

First step, put all the little pieces together.  We enlisted the help of Josh from Padcaster to help us assemble it all.  Well, this 8 minute video turned into a 2 and a half hour session. I highly recommend using this Padcasters'.  When I first opened up my Padcaster package, all of the equipment, screws, odd rubber bands, and little baggies were very confusing.  The how-to video did a great job showing me how to use each of the parts and what they are for.

The Stick Mic and its mount

Then we had finally put everything together and we were able to play.  I have to give a shout out to the stick mic and the lapel mic. We decided to test out how well they work. We very much had the "is this worth it?" question running through out heads. Well, they are.  The mics are able to isolate the speaker from all the other sounds in the room where you are recording. We also used a small room that was quiet and it took away the hollow, echo-y sounds from the room. I did not get a chance to use the boom mic, but I hope that it also helps to drown out the background noise. 
                       

Another great feature for the Padcaster, is the Teleprompter.  It can use any phone or iPod to connect to it. The other teachers I was working with thought to use an old iPod that the students could use. You need the ParrotTeleprompter App, thankfully it is free. The app allows you to create your own text and you can adjust the size of the font and how fast the text will run. Perfect for all reading levels  in the classroom.


Now that I have taken the time to set up my Padcaster, I need to take it all down and return it to my class. Thankfully there are some handy carrying cases to store all the pieces.  However, the green screen will not fit back into its tiny round sack. Ooops.