Christine Hawryluk, Final Thoughts

Can't believe the term is already over and exams are just left. The thing that I can't believe even more is that I created a podcast. Never in a million years did I imagine myself doing something like this.

I am, surprisingly, very happy with how the podcast turned out. I did not think I would be this happy with the final outcome. For the first time, I feel I did a very effective job of creating this podcast and editing all my segments into one final outcome. I also enjoyed creating this podcast, since it was on a topic that was close to heart. This podcast has also helped me become more comfortable with recording and being more comfortable with people reading my work.

I cannot think of anything that I would change, except to force myself to not get frustrated so easily. 

The one piece of advice that I would share with a student who is just starting this course is to follow your guideline for the things you need to do. Stick to that timeline, just like I did, and do not fall behind; this will make a lot of things easier. Also, believe in yourself and don't doubt yourself. Keep positive!

This course has been very enjoyable and I have learnt a lot of things. Enjoy your summer!

Sara Siddiqui W14, Final Thoughts

I am quite satisfied with the way my podcast episode turned out. If I had more time or the chance to go back and do something differently, I would spend more time editing my podcast, as editing was a lot more difficult than I had imagined. It required a lot of dedication, and attention to detail. However, it was a great learning experience and doing this project allowed me to be comfortable with sharing my work with others. One piece of advice I'd offer to a student starting this course is that one should definitely try to follow his/her podcast timeline, as it really helped me to stay on top of the due dates, and focus on the process of research rather than merely the final product. In doing so, it will help you to follow guidelines and produce a project that has not been rushed or done last minute.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I am fairly happy with the way my podcast episode has turned out. I really feel as though I did the very best I could with the amount of help I got. I did do the majority of this projects on my own and it definitely was a big task for just one person. I wish I did have just a bit more time to complete it because that would have allowed me to edit more closely. I realized afterwards that I should have adjusted the volume of some of the recorded sections of my podcast, as they sounded lower in than others. Unfortunately I just did not have the time for this. I am however happy with the way it sounded especially in regards to how I spoke. I rehearsed my script as much as I could to ensure I could speak as naturally as possible. I think I accomplished this for the most part, so I am quite pleased with this aspect of my podcast.

One piece of advice I'd offer a student just starting this course would be to start as early as possible on each assignment so that in the end, there is plenty of time set aside for just recording and editing. I really did not realize how long this portion of the project would actually take. You especially need time to play around with whatever recording program you are using, to become comfortable with it and learn how to properly use it. I had never used Audacity before- or any recording program for the matter! I had to learn how to do everything on my own through the watching of YouTube videos- which was actually very, very time consuming and ended up taking away from recording and editing time.

I would also strongly advise them to work with someone they know for sure is reliable. This assignment requires a very great deal of time and effort and if you don't have someone to put forth that, the task just becomes more difficult and stressful! Quite often you can only really rely on yourself- so if that mean's working on your own, so be it!

Overall, I am happy I had the chance to complete a project as such. I learned a lot and I didn't expect to have  as much fun as I did!

Final Thoughts by Daniella Sousa

I am very happy that this podcast is finally over. It was a very time consuming and an extremely frustrating project. I found myself wondering why I was even making a podcast because I wasn't in a digital media class. All of my research and written work was completed ahead of time, but composing the podcast was difficult. Living in a house with 8 people makes it very hard to find somewhere quiet to record, and you can't record in the library because you can't make any noise. I also had technical difficulties with my computer --crashed so I had to reboot the whole system. This was very frustrating since I had all of my research and my transcript completed, but I had to ask for an extension because I could not record my podcast. I think it would be a lot better if we just had to compose the transcript with all the research and not have to physically make the podcast. Plus most of us are amateurs at recording and editing sound and don't have the proper recording tools, so it doesn't sound as good as it should.
On another note, I feel happy with the outcome of my podcast because a lot of time was spent on it. I feel my research was thoroughly done and I had a lot of interesting facts. I have learned a lot about smoking advertisements through this project. I do, although, wish that I had more knowledge of how to edit sound and I wish I had better recording tools so my podcast could sound more professional.  The advice I would offer on anyone taking this course is to educate themselves about recording softwares and start recording early because you my run into technical difficulties like I did.

Final Thoughts

I'm pretty proud of how my final podcast turned out. I'm nowhere near the best when it comes to editing things on software, but I think I managed to make it sound as best as I could. Given the obstacles I had in the midst of this assignment, I don't think I would change anything. But maybe I'd allow myself a tad more time to really understand the software. Perhaps if I gave myself an extra few days for that my podcast would've turned out a bit better. 

To students just starting this course, I offer this advice: START EARLY! It's so important in this class to start ahead of time because you need all the time you can get. This is a cumulative class, so you must take the time to really plan out your research days and the days you will need to write up a transcript and such. I'd also advise to have some fun with this. After a while, it didn't seem too much like work. It was kind of fun! As long as you stay on task, this may actually be a pretty fun course!

Thanks for a great semester. I learned some new things about podcasts and recording software, and of course about research (mostly databases which became very useful for other class already!). 

Shanice Grocia W:14

Overall, I am actually quite pleased with how my podcast has turned out. I took a lot of time developing the transcript and implementing clips and sound recordings to produce a podcast that was not only informing, but I think quite compelling as well.

If I had more time, I would probably go back and fix any audio where my voice sounded a bit 'far away' (maybe I wasn't speaking into the microphone properly) and perhaps include an intro and outro where I introduce the podcast as the show I am emulating (Freakonomics) before going into my chosen topic.

The one piece of advice i'd like to offer future students in this course is would be to NOT leave researching to the last minute. Research is a process that is time consuming; and if done well, will give an in-depth perspective that is well rounded as well as useful. If done last minute, there may be holes or neglected issues that will be ignored in the podcast, and therefore, offer a narrowed topic.

So to do well, research well!

It's Over

Hello Jennifer Andreae and class,

Considering I have no previous experience with creating podcasts, I am surprised by how good and semi professional mine sounds. I'm happy that I was able to research a topic that I'm genuinely interested in. I was able to discuss the economic, political, and social aspects of music in a way that is accessible to listeners, in comparison to theses and books written on the topic. This assignment was a nice break from the typical string of essays I'm used to doing. 

If I had a couple of more hours I would have changed the fading for my music, at parts the transition into dialogue isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be. I'd also think of a better title.

What's one piece of advice you'd offer to a student just starting this course?

I feel like I've answered this question at least three times, in response to some similarly phrased question. Don't mind my sass, I am just overly stressed and tired. My one piece of advice for future students would be to get as familiar as you possibly can with your chosen recording software. I am not, as I've mentioned before (in a similarly phrased way), very technologically capable. I had to rely on someone to help me save and convert my podcast to the correct file. Short story shorter, said person did not save my work, and actually lost it in the process. So I had to rerecord, reformat and reedit my entire podcast... on the day it was due. Also, don't procrastinate. Like one of my blogger's friends said: procrastination is an art, sadly one that doesn't pay well.

The End of the End

I am generally quite happy with how our podcast out-turned. Our podcast process was much like a journey, like The Lord of the Rings, in that we began bothered and bewildered, visited dark and rank places to perform our research, and resurfaced with a large and evil burden lifted from us and most of our friends long gone. If I would change something about our podcast, if 'twere possible to travel back in time, I would tell the neighbours to stifle themselves, and try to get a good rest the night before. To anyone who is taking this class in the future, I have one piece of advice: bring a pen.

Final Thoughts...

I can’t believe WRIT 2300 is already over…  Creating a podcast episode was quite the experience, but I learned a lot!  Hopefully, my podcast episode will help someone with homophone confusion!

Since a podcast is aural, I had to structure my script in a particular way.  So, when I talked about the differences between the homophone sets, “there/their/they’re” and “to/too/two,” I had to constantly remember to spell out the words to ensure that my listener does not get confused – which was quite tedious.  But other than that, I think my recording process went well.  And, since I had no prior experience with creating a podcast, I was pleasantly surprised and happy with how my podcast turned out!

However, the editing process was not as simple as the recording process.  I had never used Audacity before, so I spent a lot of time practicing and figuring out all the different editing features.  In particular, my recording had static in the background, thus I spent a while trying to figure out how to edit out the static.  After a while, I discovered the “Noise Removal” feature and since I recorded my podcast in chunks, I spent a lot of time trying to ensure that the tone remained the same throughout the whole podcast, after I removed the static.  Hopefully, the tone sounds good – at least, I got rid of the static!

Perhaps, if I had the chance to go back, I would have spent more time focusing on the music I used at the beginning and end of the podcast.  I tried my best to make the music fade in/fade out when I was speaking, but I was having some problems with the “Envelope Tool.”  Therefore, I would have structured the music differently if I had more time.  Other than that, I’m happy with my podcast!

My advice to future students:  Remember that the podcast is a big, term-long project, so try not to fall behind.  If you stay on track with all the due dates throughout the term, then creating a podcast won’t seem as stressful at the end of the term.  Also, practice with the editing features of the recording program ahead of time.  If you know where all the editing features are beforehand, then hopefully your podcast will turn out the way you want it to in the end.  Finally, try to have fun – choose a topic you are passionate about because you will have to be dealing with that topic all term long... 

Good Luck, future podcasters!

- Camellia  

Final Thoughts....

Overall, I am happy with the way my podcast turned out. If I had more time I would probably spend it developing the music that I composed for the podcast a bit more. I would have also tried to give myself more time for the editing of the podcast; that took more time than I thought it would. I was a bit annoyed with the Free Audio Editor because it kept crashing while I was using it. Luckily, I’ve developed the habit of constantly saving my work so it didn’t affect me too much. I would also use a different recording program…preferably one I could use on the computer instead of my phone because the transfer and conversion of the audio files took up a lot of my time. Other than that, I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

For students starting this course, the best advice I could give is to do everything on time. The regular, required blog posts kind of force you to do that anyways, which is good, but a podcast is NOT something you want to leave until the last minute. It’s not an essay…too much can go wrong.

This is probably my favourite course to date…despite my early concerns about creating a podcast. I hope future students benefited from it as much as I did and I’m happy to say that I’m not as worried about creating a podcast anymore. Yay!

Final Post: Looking Back

My podcast, I am happy with it for the most part.  There is always room for improvement but for my first attempt I am pleased with how it turned out.

If I had the opportunity to go back and do things from the start, I would probably begin to decide to record my audio at least three days in advance and spend more time doing the editing.  Editing takes time and to get the best results (I think) adequate time should be spent on this area.

Here is another bit of advice that I would offer anyone who's in the beginning stage of this course.  Be sure to spend some time in advance getting familiar with the recording software that you have decided to use for your recording.  I used Garage Band and even though I was familiar with the software prior to taking this course I still needed to review a few tutorials on YouTube.  

I hope this helps, and I wish everyone the best.

Final Thoughts

I  have  finally  submitted  my  podcast  episode  and  I  am  quite  satisfied  with   it. I  am  also  a  bit  relieved  that  it  is  finally  over. I  worried  about  the  outcome  from  the  day  i  started  to  the  day  i  finished  it. 

If  i  had  the  chance  to  go  back  and  do  things  differently, I  would  definitely  chose  a  different  topic, maybe  one  that  would  be  easier  to  conduct  research  on. If  I  could  do things  differently  with   my  present  podcast, I  would  start   very  early, try  to  be  ahead  of  the  class  if  possible. Time  management  proved  to  be  a  very  difficult  area  for me  in  this  assignment  and  in  this  course   generally.

One  piece  of  advice  I  would  give  to  any  student  just  starting  this  course  is, be  on  time. Do  the   blog posts  on  time, do the  work  for  the  assignments  on  time, do  everything  on  time, because  this is  not  a  course  that   can  be  rushed  through  at  the  last  minute. 

I  am glad   to  have  come  to  the  end  of  this  course. It  was  interesting, but  also  really  tasking. I  might  even  take  more  writing  courses  in  the  future. 

End of the Journey

Hey everyone,

I can’t believe this semester is already over. After finally submitting my podcast, I feel relieved. As fun as it was to make, finalizing it was really stressful. To get every single portion perfect was challenging for me, especially since I’m a perfectionist.

Overall, I must say that I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think that after fixing the volume for the speaker’s parts, the podcast flows well. I did however, change the program I used. Although I was planning on using audacity, I changed my mind last minute and decided to work with Garageband. I’m glad I chose to use Garageband because it was really simple to use and perfect.

If I had the chance to go back and do things differently, I would have chosen my podcast speakers earlier. Although I chose my speakers in advance, I realized later that I did not have enough speakers and scrambled to find my last two. Because of this, my podcast sounded a little off balance when I played it all together. For the last two speakers, I had to record their stuff at a different location using a different recording device. Because of this, the podcast sounded a little off when their parts came up. Despite my editing, it was clear that the parts were recorded somewhere else.

One piece of advice I would offer a student just starting out the course is to start the podcast uploading sooner than later. I was a little time crunched towards the really end because even though I finished my podcast on time, the uploading and creating an account on Soundcloud took a bit of time. When I created my account on Soundcloud, my primary email never received the confirmation email, making it impossible for me to upload my podcast on time. I waited 15 minutes, but in the end, I still never received it. I had to change my email and confirm it there.
Thanks so much for reading my blog. I’ve had a blast writing these . Good luck with exams and the rest of your assignments everybody! Happy studying!

Final Thoughts

Hello everyone.

Well, we have made it to the end of the course. All of our podcast recordings and transcripts have been submitted. I have to say, based on the few podcasts that I have listened to that were posted in the tutorial blog, that they were all a great success. Personally, I am pretty pleased with the finished product of my podcast, considering the fact that prior to this I had no experience with the Audacity Program or podcast recording in general. If it were not for the assistance of a classmate during this project, I am fairly certain my podcast would have been an unmitigated disaster. One aspect of the podcast that I am not happy about is the fact that I had to cut out some of the material due to the time constraints that were imposed.

With that being said, there are quite a few alterations and changes I would have liked to have made if I had more time. I would have preferred to implement more sound effects during my podcast, as this would have heightened the overall listener experience. I also would have liked to have conducted a few more ‘takes’ to ensure that the tone and pitch of my audio were flawless. There were a few parts during which my caller in the podcast struggled with a couple of words and said it twice over. I would have desired to re-record those parts in particular. If time were not a factor, I would have much preferred to have rented studio-quality microphones. This would have improved the overall sound of the podcast.

            To be wary and distinguish between credible and not-credible sources, as well as good and bad sources, during the research process, are crucial pieces of advice that I would give to any student just commencing this course. If a student does not have legitimate sources, this weakens the overall veracity of the podcast. I would also advise any student to view some YouTube tutorial lessons as well as reading an online manual on the overall production features of Audacity before attempting the podcast assignment. Students should familiarize themselves prior to using the program for the podcast assignment.

 All things considered, this course has been extremely helpful, as it has broadened my skills in terms of researching and creating a podcast through which I can enhance and add to my Professional Writing portfolio.

It has been a great ride and a whole lot of fun!

Adelina Ruffolo, W14: Final Thoughts

Good Afternoon,

      After listening to our podcast I am happy with the way it turned out. A great deal of hard work went into the creation of this podcast. I think that our topic was good, our tone was good, we had a good pace and the audio clips we used applied well to our topic.

      If we had more time the only thing I would use that time for is becoming better acquainted with the audacity program. Seeing as neither myself nor my partner has ever used this program or one like it before, we did the best we could with the time we had. I don`t think I would necessarily change anything.

 
      If I could give one piece of advice to students starting this course, I would tell them to start thinking about every step in advance. Planning and preparing are important factors to do well in this course because you need to plan a topic and learn how to use programs you may not be familiar or comfortable with. This course is a lot of work and requires a lot of attention. Research is important and knowing how to do proper research is useful.

Final Blog Post

As I reflect on my podcast episode, I can say that I am pleased with the way it turned out. We used a Blue Microphones Yeti USB Microphone, and that experience alone was very cool. I'm also proud of our music choices; they're quite varied, and we chose to do that in order to convey the diversity of the contexts in which we discuss our topic.

If I had more time, or the guts, I would have asked my downstairs neighbors to keep it down. After spending so much time padding the walls and appliances in my kitchen (to avoid sound bouncing back into the microphone) it was a little irritating to deal with their noise. Perhaps this was in part due to the fact that they were partying, while we had to work. Oh well...

I have two things to say to the student just beginning this course:

Start your research early and don't get overwhelmed. Speaking as someone with a full (overflowing) course-load, you don't want to get stuck with a topic you don't care about, and have this unique experience become a chore. Working with a partner definitely helps, in all kinds of ways, so if you can work with someone else, do it.

Practice early- both recording yourself and using recording software. The blog prompts help to keep you on the ball but nothing really prepares you for all of the problems you will run into the way starting early will. If you start early, you can resolve your questions early.

As they always used to say, friends: this concludes our broadcast day.

Contributing to this course and to this course blog has been an unforgettable experience; thanks WRIT 2300.

Jessica

Bariah Qadeer, W14, Final Thoughts

Hi Everyone!

We’re done!!! We made it and that’s the part that we should be most proud about!

I think that my podcast turned out good for someone who has gone through this experience of creating a podcast for the first time. However I don’t like how my voice sounds – this is something that always happens to me! Even when I listen to my voice in family videos, I find it annoying myself! Nobody else says anything but I feel that myself for some reason.

If I had more time to work on this assignment, I would've tried to pick a topic that was really close to me because I feel that I would've enjoyed the whole process of this course much more. Nevertheless, I found my topic interesting as well and I am glad I researched this topic because I found interesting information. This is the pleasant aspect of research that you’re never left empty-handed. At the end there is something that you learn.

I would suggest to future students to refer to our blog posts because they can really act as a guide on how to complete each part of the assignment and how to obtain successful results. It would be even better if each student in the future chooses one of us and follows our posts from the beginning to the end. I think it would be smart for future students to choose one of us based on the criteria if our podcast topic is of their interest. This advice leads to another inter-related advice which is to choose the topic of your interest because you have to stay with that topic for four months and remember that research takes time so don’t give up!

On that note I am glad that I had this online experience in a course because nowadays many courses are online and I have gained some confidence to take an online course. So I would like to thank our course instructors for this experience!

And congrats to everyone for completing their podcasts! 

This is the End, My Friends

Wow, so here it is: my actual last post of the semester. Huh.

In all, I'd say I'm definitely happy with how my podcast turned out (and kind of ridiculously proud that I managed to wrestle Audacity into submission... I know, doesn't seem like a hard thing to do since it's supposed to be the Microsoft Word of recording software, but me and technology don't often get along, so I take my victories where I can get them). Probably if I had had the time to go back and do something differently, it would've been to try and sound a bit more lively in the podcast recording. I think I was so caught up in concentrating on enunciating all my words properly and speaking slow enough that it wouldn't all mesh together when played back that I didn't pay enough attention to my tone. I don't think it was too bad, but it probably could've stood to have a bit more pep in it.

One piece of advice for the newbies coming in: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE IN THIS COURSE. If it's the same next year as this year, there is a lot that needs to go into this final podcast, for the whole process. Research and nail down your topic early, figure out how to use the software as soon as possible, and tackle it head on. Just, keep on top of things from the get-go, and you'll do fine.

So I guess this is it for me, then - best of luck to everyone finishing up, and adios. It's certainly been an experience.

The Final Blog

Hello

            Personally, I’m not unhappy with how my podcast turned out, but I wish it were better. I had planned on incorporating my own composed music but my piano wasn’t cooperating with my computer and before you know it, it’s 11:59pm. Then looking for music late notice without worry of copyright infringement is suicide. When I find something I like I can’t use it or I have to pay some absurd amount of money.

            If I had a chance to go back and do something differently, I would probably change topics. Although I was interested in finding out information about the polar vortex, it wasn’t a strong area of knowledge for me to present on. Other than that, just figuring out the music a little earlier and everything would be all right.

            I have to say though, my family seems to wish for my academic demise as I asked for quiet while recording but my brother is coughing as if he’s an 80-year-old smoker and everyone else is walking in and out of the house. If I could change recording places, I would. So if you hear someone hacking in the background, or someone kicking their shoes against a door, just know I removed what I could.

            My advice to anyone starting this course is figure out your music beforehand and just enjoy the experience. It’s a fun project when everything goes right.

                        Thanks for reading

                                                Christopher Chin

Freedom is Mine and I Know How I Feel

Overall, from spending weeks at the library and trying to juggle other assignments as well I think we did a pretty good job! I mean it could have been better with proper sounds effects but other then that I wouldn't have done anything differently. We had quiet the few laughs and overdosing on caffeine that made this Pod-Cast a memorable experience. 

My piece of advice to offer is do not give up! It is easy to give up when you are having technical difficulties while recording, editing, and uploading the Pod-Cast. Just keep trying especially by asking your peers for help because they can be very helpful when comes to figuring out how to pave way through technical difficulties like knowing how to upload the Pod-Cast to the Blog. 

Anyways, like my title says Freedom is mine and I hope everyone enjoys their summer break!