Bonus Episode - The "Why" behind Blending In

Episode Music Credits: Old Love Instrumental by Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers, 100% Clearance through Musicbed

Normally, I chat with innovative educators who are integrating EdTech, but on this special bonus episode of Blending In, I answer some questions posed by my previous guest, P.E. teacher Aaron Coyle, about why I started the Blending in Podcast in the first place! I talk about what inspired the podcast and how this amateur podcaster made the Blending In concept come to life!

During the episode, after discussing the inspiration behind the podcast, Aaron asked me what tool I was using for editing episodes, and I mentioned using WeVideo because it is a platform that I’m currently piloting for my school district. To give you a little more technical detail here about my podcast production process, I use my school district Zoom account to meet virtually with my guests and record the episodes which automatically save to my school district-issued Lenovo Thinkpad. While recording, I use a Rode mic (NT-USB Mini) and Edifier wireless headphones (W800BT+) supplied by our amazing IT department to get decent sound quality.

Since I’m utilizing the podcast as a way to provide an opportunity for professional development to teachers, I have permission to use my district access to the above mentioned tools and platforms for production purposes, although some costs to produce the show have been covered by me. For example, I operate Blending In through a separate Google Account and website domain outside of my school district account; therefore, there are minor costs associated with that. Also, the music… After speaking directly with musician Joe Hertler, about the sound I wanted for the podcast, he suggested an instrumental version of his song “Old Love”, and I personally purchased a license to use his song from MusicBed.com.

After recording an interview with a teacher, I upload the recordings, any sound clips, and the music for the intro and outro into WeVideo for editing. Once the editing is complete, I export the audio file of the podcast and upload it to a free podcast hosting platform called Anchor. I am able to distribute my podcast to additional platforms like Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, and Google through Anchor. As I post new episodes, I update my website to include the shownotes, add the episode to my YouTube Channel, and I promote and share through my social media networks. I design all the graphics for the podcast on Canva, which is a platform that i LOVE and is FREE for educators to use! Although I don't use the Adobe Creative Cloud much (yet), we mentioned it in this episode as a pretty dynamic tool and is something I would like to delve into one day!

If you are interested in learning more about the production of the show, I’d be happy to connect with you. You can email me at contact@blendinginpodcast.com or connect with me on social media!

Do you know an innovative educator who should be a guest on the Blending In podcast? Nominate them HERE.

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