Yes. The one and only classic written by Mary Shelley, poor soul. There are varying attitudes toward ole' Frankenstein. It's true that the language is a bit difficult, but the story is fascinating.
In one attempt to engage the students' attention, we spent some time researching and creating a "Mad Scientist Podcast." At first, I wasn't a huge fan of the assignment. There were too many variables that could go wrong but as we are approaching the end, I am finding that it's a great assignment.
Pros:
- Use of technology
- Relevant
- Easy to personalize
- Easy to be distracted from the main purpose
- May be difficult for some students to connect back to the text
The program that we are using is Garageband, courtesy of Apple. (Hello, mac district!) There are a couple of other programs available like Audacity which are free. Garageband is pretty user-friendly, plus, here is a handy how-to. Garageband for Dummies or a more advanced version: pdf. We spent a couple days in research from a short list of given topics. Then the students sketched out a script and recorded what they learned, uploading it to the class wiki when it was finished.
Reflection:
I like this assignment because it's easy enough to tailor to whatever text we are studying. I think with a couple of tweaks and bugs worked out that it can be a very effective, entertaining assignment.
Any experience with podcasting? Usage in the classroom? Pros or cons that I missed out on?
