#397 – Tech in the Writing Process: Publishing

#397 — Tech in the Writing Process: Publishing

AVID Open Access
13 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Paul Beckermann 0:01 Welcome to Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m your host, Paul Beckerman.

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 0:05 Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 0:16 The topic of today’s episode is tech in the writing process, publishing. Well, we’ve come to the final episode in our series of tech in the writing process. It’s time to say congratulations. You’ve planned, written, revised, and polished your writing, and now it’s time to share the results of your hard work with others. While you might decide to publish in a print format, digital tools open a really wide array of new opportunities for publishing. Not only are there many free options, but publishing digitally often can expand your audience beyond your classroom to your school, local community, or even the whole world. Of course, before you share out student work, be sure to check with all school, state, and federal guidelines for sharing student work and make sure that you’re in compliance with any restrictions. If you’re in doubt, it’s best to err on the side of caution and keep that work within your classroom.

If you determine that it’s okay to share more broadly, you can open up authentic audiences, which can be very motivating for students. It makes the work real and important beyond a grade on an assignment. Suddenly, personal pride and audience reaction become the most motivating parts of the work. Here are a few of the digital formats you might consider having your students publish to.

Number one, an essay. This is the most traditional output format, and there’s definitely a place for having students produce essays. That said, it might be the least authentic format and also the least motivating, unless the essay will be submitted to a contest of some sort or be shared in another space besides the classroom. Sometimes essays are shared at school programs or with a local newspaper that can be motivating for students.

That brings us to number two, newspapers. I’ve already mentioned local newspapers, and these can be great options. I remember having my junior and senior creative writing students submit poems about graduation to our local newspaper. You wouldn’t believe how many of those students clipped out those published works and displayed them with pride at their graduation parties. If your local paper isn’t an option, you might consider school publications. It’s great when students share their work with other students in some way.

Number three, website. Websites have become super easy to create. Tools like Google Sites, Weebly, and Wix offer free options for students to design and publish professional-looking websites. Again, you’ll want to check on sharing permissions and local restrictions, and based on what you learn, you can either post these sites live on the web or choose a share setting where only those with the link can view them. This allows teachers to still grade them and other classmates to review them, as well as having parents join in and view them.

If you choose number four, a blog. Blogs are very similar to websites, but they tend to be a bit less formal. They’re great options for students to share ideas, opinions, and things they’ve learned. Seesaw is a really nice closed classroom option that teachers can use to keep younger students safe and still be able to blog as a group. Older students might choose something like Blogger, which also has a setting for restricted audiences.

Number five, a podcast. Sometimes writing is meant to be heard rather than read. That’s where podcasts can come in. Students still need to do the writing, but that writing is then read aloud and shared via an audio recording. This process brings in the added benefit of having students practice their oral and expressive reading skills. There are lots of free audio production programs available online, and many learning management systems have them integrated as well. A couple simple online options include Vocaroo and Online Voice Recorder. Those feature one-take recording with no editing. If you’re looking for more robust editors, you might consider GarageBand, Audacity, Soundtrap, or Beautiful Audio Editor.

Number six, radio shows. This option is a spin-off of the podcast approach. While they may have many similarities, some students might be more motivated by one format or the other. Both options offer the possibilities of having a host and a guest, which nicely facilitates an interview format. This collaboration can be powerful. You could even have students interview each other about their writing. This takes the experience to another level and brings in self-analysis and reflection.

Number seven, video. Like recording audio, students could share their work in video format. This might be for a school news broadcast or a video collection shared within the classroom. The videos might be integrated into a website and serve as part of a mash-up of several sharing options. iMovie is free for Apple users, and Clipchamp comes on Microsoft PCs. CapWing and WeVideo are options that work well on Chromebooks.

And number eight, books. You could go a couple different directions with this one. You could use the technology to design the book and then print them out as a physical copy. Another option is to publish as an eBook. Book Creator is a fantastic option if you go this route. In both cases, the outcome of a published book can be very motivating for students.

All right, so let’s say you’ve chosen your format and you’re ready to publish. Before you do that, take a moment and do one final check. When we’ve been working on a project for a long time, we can become attention fatigued. We might find ourselves more interested in being done than we are in catching one more minor imperfection. If you find this happening to you, it’s probably time to take a break and put the project aside for a while. Then come back later, even after a day or two, and look at it with fresh eyes. You’ll be amazed at the details you notice.

A related strategy is to use a screen reader like the Read Aloud Google Chrome extension to hear your work read back to you, or you might record yourself reading the text and then listen back to it. This new way of experiencing the content can provide a novel and fresh perspective. You’ll probably pick up things that you didn’t just by reading it silently.

If your work includes hyperlinks, click through your project randomly to test them out and make sure that everything is working as you intended. It’s also a good idea to test out digital publications in different browsers, since they each behave slightly differently. Similarly, view it on different types of devices. Some sites automatically reformat the view for computers, phones, and tablets, while others do not. For the best user experience, you want to make sure that your work looks good and functions smoothly on all types of devices.

There are a few other considerations to be mindful of as you and your students are preparing for this final publishing stage. These key tasks will not only make sure the rollout of your content goes smoothly, but it’ll also make sure that it looks polished and professional when it’s released.

Number one, think about the format. Is your writing formatted correctly for the output method you’ve chosen?

Number two, what about fonts? Are the fonts you’ve chosen easily readable, and do they match the taste and expectation of your audience? Fancy script type fonts can be fun, but they’re hard to read, as are text colors that don’t contrast well with the background. Avoid those light text on light backgrounds or dark text on dark backgrounds.

Number three, what are the technical requirements of the platform you’re using? Be sure your work is compatible with those specifications.

And number four, check your share settings. Based on policy and what you’re allowed to do, determine the share settings for your digital work. Will they be open to the world or shared with the more closed and controlled community? Part of this process should be reviewing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act or COPPA and school district guidelines. You’ll also want to check to see if your school requires parental permission to publish student work on the web.

All right, now it’s time to publish your work. This is the moment you’ve been working toward. It’s time to unveil your work to a real audience. This might mean distributing a printed copy of your work, or it might mean clicking the publish button on your website or online publication. However you’re sending your work out into the world, take pride in it and feel good about the hard work you poured into this project. You know the saying, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it really make a sound? The same thing might be said of writing. If no one reads what we’ve written, did we really say anything? After all of your hard work, it would be a shame for no one else to read it.

Therefore, consider how you can amplify what you’ve written. If you wish to keep the publication within closed school networks, consider how you can advertise it among your colleagues in their classrooms. You could collaborate with other teachers around how to best get the message out, or have your students hang up posters with QR codes or short URLs on them. This can be a great way to display work at parent-teacher conferences or open houses. That way parents, guardians, and family members could use the built-in QR scanners on their cell phones to quickly scan and see the work.

There are many QR generators freely available online. One that I really like is called QR Code Generator. If you choose to create a short URL to more easily share your work, Bitly or B.I.T. dot L.Y. is one good option. With a free account, you can create custom URLs that are shorter and much easier to remember.

If you’re working with older students and you have permission to publish beyond the walls of your school, consider advertising on social media. Of course, once again, before posting in a social media realm, be sure that you have permission to share student information in this way.

Once you’ve published your work, you’ll likely get some sort of feedback. The feedback that you receive on your finished product will be different than feedback received during revising, editing, and the polishing stages. First of all, it might come to you through different channels. While peer editors are probably people you already know, viewers commenting on a YouTube video will likely be complete strangers. At times, you may want to consider turning the comment feature off. You’ll need to determine how broadly you want to open that feedback loop. Also, because your work on this project is finished, the feedback that you received now will inform your next project, not this one. Nevertheless, it’s still exceptionally valuable and can help you grow in your craft.

And finally, take some time to reflect. Self-reflection should not be a one-and-done event. It should happen all the way through the writing process, and it should happen again now that the project is finished. Think about and reflect on the input and reactions from your audience. How do they respond to your work? Reflect both on the process and the product to determine what worked for you, what didn’t, and what you’d like to do differently next time. To make the most of the reflection and feedback experience, consider what that feedback means to you and how that will impact future work.

As you look back on the writing process, you’ll see that you can leverage technology to help you power up and improve your writing at each stage. There’s no need to use every tool at your disposal, but it’s very helpful to find the ones that work best for you. Writing is a personal and complicated activity. What works for one writer may not work for another. Fortunately, there are many digital options available from which to choose. Try a few out on your next writing project and experience the potentially transformative power of technology.

To learn more about today’s topic and explore other free resources, visit avidopenaccess.org. Specifically, I encourage you to check out our article collection, Power Up and Enhance the Writing Process with Technology. And of course, be sure to join Rena, Winston, and me every Wednesday for our full-length podcast, Unpacking Education, where we’re joined by exceptional guests and explore education topics that are important to you. Thanks for listening, take care, and thanks for all you do. You make a difference.