Audacity in Education

Uses

 * In 2008 as a result of feedback on use of Audacity in the classroom, we started adapting Audacity to be easier for younger students to use. This is still work in progress.  Feedback/help/suggestions are very welcome.
 * We are interested in how Audacity can be used to teach children about waves and frequencies, well before they study it formally in physics.
 * We are aware of Audacity being used in preparing language learning lessons and want to improve it in that area.

If you want to discuss this, either leave a message on the talk page, or contact James by e-mail.

Here are some uses of Audacity in education.

Birmingham City University (UK) Technology Innovation Centre
Audacity is installed in one of the big computer laboratories in Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) of Birmingham City University as requirements for Digital Music Processing module teaching. Students are encouraged to investigate the Audacity source code and compare their MATLAB assignment to be able to understand the algorithm of HowAudacityWorks.

East London University (UK) Multimedia Production Centre
Audacity is currently installed on over 60 Apple Macintosh workstations and is used primarily in conjunction with GarageBand by students of radio journalism who do not require, nor want to deal with, more technically challenging applications (such as Logic Pro) for performing simple audio editing. It's mainly used for the following:


 * Sample rate conversions of audio files to be imported into GarageBand (GarageBand won't convert files that are of a different sample rate to that which it is operating, but simply plays them back faster/slower).
 * Click removal via the Draw tool.
 * Quick and straightforward transfer of recordings from other media (MiniDisc etc) where complex multi-track editing is not required.

Red Hat High Summer Science Camp (USA)
Red Hat High is a summer Science Camp that introduces older children to web programming and various aspects of digital technology, using mainly open source software. Audacity is used on an audio course teaching basic music and audio production tools and techniques.

Universidad Veritas - Escuela de Cine & TV / San José (Costa Rica)
At Universidad Veritas we use Audacity (ver. 1.3.5) in our "Sound Techniques I & II" courses to introduce students to digital editing programs. The advantage is that students can use the program both at school and at home due to the free license and simplicity of installation. Using Audacity only, students have to create a "sonorama" where they tell an acoustic story.

Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) (Egypt)
The Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) school reform project in Egypt includes Audacity as a recommended digital resource. TILO is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The aim is to support the introduction of technology into teaching and learning at about 190 primary schools and 85 technology-oriented public experimental schools (dubbed as "Smart Schools").

Links for teachers

 * Audacity for Podcasting
 * Audacity for Teachers - Installation and Basic Editing - video + written instructions for basic Audacity use
 * Audacity for Physics Teaching - Compiled from work done in England with with pre-service and in-service teachers, this site draws together a collection of classroom activities for teachers of physics across the age range 11-19. Includes details for experiments that can be used to measure the speed of sound in a lab with just a set of cheap headphones as well as various data-logging activities where Audacity is used as a timer.

Free-Eds
Free-Eds.co.uk collects together free teaching resources in all subjects, including lesson plans and worksheets produced by UK charities and museums, and relevant software. All material has been reviewed and is ready for teachers to use. The Music section contains free music teaching resources for national curriculum teachers of key stage ks1/ks2 (primary) and ks3/ks4 (secondary). These give ideas both for classroom teaching and GCSE revision. Audacity is listed in the pages for all four music key stages.

Bowland Maths
Bowland Maths is a set of downloadable materials offered to all schools in the United Kingdom free of charge, courtesy of the Bowland Charitable Trust and Department for Children, Schools and Families. It contains over twenty extended "case studies", each showing a practical application of maths. DVDs of the material are available but must be purchased for use outside England.

One of the case studies called My Music by Carla Finesilver uses Audacity for some of the activities. This is a cross-curricular project for maths and music departments. Students learn some of the maths behind music by analysing the similarities and differences between different genres of popular music. Particular attention is paid to measuring tempi in different tracks, then interpreting and presenting the results.

More Educational Resources
Not directly using Audacity, but could be useful for teachers planning lessons involving sound:


 * Sound in the sea
 * Acoustics of speech and hearing
 * Musical processing with Labview
 * glossary of audio terms
 * Audio open educational resources