NEW From Brisk: 

Turn Content Into A Podcast, 

Then Boost It For Maximum Engagement!

@LisaBerghoff

Holy Cow!  (said in the voice of Harry Caray) I feel SO fortunate to be living in the edtech world right now. Ten years ago when I started this new position, I never could have guessed that we are now in the reality of figuring out how to leverage the power of AI to help students. At the same time, we are frantically trying to figure out how to teach responsible use. Meanwhile, the technology keeps barreling along with incredible speed. I have heard many say that the most important skill our students need for the future is the ability to be adaptable and to deal with change. This is a bit ironic because educators are notoriously bad at dealing with change. We tend to enjoy predictability, and the feeling that we have control. 

I hate to break it to you but predictability and control is all an illusion in life. The sooner we can lean into the idea that change is the most predictable constant, the better off our students will be.  You must admit, some of the changes are exciting the possibilities can be encouraging. 

That's why I am thrilled to tell you about a new feature in Brisk Teaching that will turn your content into a short, engaging podcast.

What Is The Brisk Podcast Generator?

The Brisk Podcast Generator will take your content and turn it into a podcast with 2 AI voices. The podcast comes with a transcript and both the podcast and transcript can be translated into over 40 languages. Since we currently have the district premium version, you get to choose the length. Options are 1-2 minutes, 4-5 minutes, or 9-10 minutes. The free plan gives you up to 2 minutes of audio. 

How Do I Get Started?

The same way you use Brisk to create other content! 

1. Start with your content- Google doc, article, PDF, website, etc. and click on the Brisk extension. 

2. Click on Create and choose podcast, or you will also see podcast under "popular tools".

3. Adjust the language, grade level, how long you want it to be, and any standards you would like to align it to. This is also where you would enter a prompt. Mine just said- "create an enaging podcast for my high school students". But you may want it to focus on a particular piece of the text or you may want to enter a specific learning goal here. 

4. Click Brisk It

To share it with your students, just copy the link and post to the LMS. 

You can also download it and share. 

How Do I Locate The Podcasts I Already Created?

To access any Boost activities or podcasts, you can click the red backpack icon from the Brisk extension. You can also go to https://app.briskteaching.com/teacher_home to get to this dashboard. At the top of the screen you will see "My Podcasts", click there to access all of your previously created podcasts. 

Why, And When Would I Use This? 

We know, through the UDL framework, that offering multiple means of engagement and representation of information. The podcast feature from Brisk does both of these. Giving students an opportunity to listen at their own pace, in their own language, and at a level that you deem appropriate, is important. Also, mixing up the modalities for student learning makes it more interesting and novel. 

This can be a wonderful way to introduce a new unit or lesson. By listening to a short podcast on their own, students can get information and come into class with some baseline knowledge. Conversely, this can be a wonderful tool for review before an assessment.

What Do I Do Next? 

The next step is to Boost it! Create an entire activity by clicking "Boost It". Then, your students will listen to the podcast and interact with the ai chatbot to ensure they understand the concepts. Remember, you can always customize the learning goals to steer the chatbot in the direction you want to make sure your students are having an experience that will support their learning. Not sure what Brisk Boost is? Here is the link to the post that will tell you all about it. 

Ready to give this new tool within Brisk a try? Want some help getting started?

Let me know. I'm happy to work with you on this!