Thing 7 - Garage Band for iPad

For me, at this time, the most useful feature of GarageBand is the ability to capture the spoken word. Although the musical features are also fabulous (and lots of fun!), I don't know enough about music to use them with students. On the other hand, the music teachers might…but that is an endeavor for another place, another time.

I could see podcasting as being very valuable to students, even at the elementary level. It is widely held that in order to be able to explain something, to teach it, you must know it. What a fantastic way to assess understanding - having the student explain the steps to solve! And in Language Arts, GarageBand would be amazing! Just imagine, poetry in the author's own voice! 

Ah yes, with all of this wonderful-ness there had to be a catch, didn't there? Not to sound like a broken record but getting the fabulous-ness OFF of the iPad again seems problematic. Although the You Tube video linked in the class has been removed "due to multiple reports of third part copyright violations" a quick search of You Tube did provide a video from a teacher who is using GarageBand for podcasting. The thing that I am most excited about - creating authentic work and sharing with an authentic audience  - is exactly what he was doing! His students were creating podcasts which he then uploaded to iTunes and they were listened to not only in the US but around the world in different countries by actual people  - not just grandma because she is, well, grandma.

Ah, there's the rub - how do I get this stuff, these wonderful, authentic creations, off this darn-diddly-arn iPad. How.do.I?

 Today, right now, I don't have the answer. And frankly, I fear the answer will be "out of hours, at your home, using your own equipment, you know the not locked down stuff."

Sigh.

Maybe that is the answer today, right now. But I am holding out hope that soon, it won't be.