Increasing equitable access to KQED Youth Media Challenges with free Soundtrap for Education licenses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2021, SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- A unique partnership between public media station KQED in San Francisco and the collaborative audio-making platform Soundtrap is enabling teachers to engage with students across the nation to share their voices beyond their classrooms. Now, all teachers and students participating in KQED Youth Media Challenges will get a free license to Premium Soundtrap for Education through June 2022. The Spotify service empowers students and teachers to explore creative sound recording in all subjects, for all ages and ability levels. The partnership with KQED increases equitable access to digital tools and makes it easier than ever for any student to participate in making media.
Leon Sykes, a teacher at Fremont High School in Oakland, CA, had his students use Soundtrap for a KQED Youth Media Challenge by creating personal narratives in the style of KQED’s Perspectives. One student’s piece about being the eldest child and having to grow up fast has been selected by the Perspectives team for broadcast on air. Sykes says of the project, “Our students had the opportunity to find their voice. Creating media with KQED empowered them to want to ask the important questions and talk about what’s most important to them. Audio recording was new for my students, and Soundtrap made it easy because they could simply log on and use it on their smartphones, rather than download a new application. Students were able to get a transcript of their recording which helps those who may have difficulties typing or reading their scripts aloud.”
KQED Youth Media Challenges provide middle and high school teachers with a set of standards-aligned media projects, for multiple content areas, that support students in key media literacy skills like narrative and argumentative writing, creative problem solving and media making. The Perspectives and Podcasting With The California Report challenges focus on audio production, while other challenges invite students to make video and graphics. Students submit their media projects to a public showcase hosted on KQED Learn. Selected student media submissions may also be aired by KQED or other public media stations across the country.
“KQED has an excellent reputation in the education space supporting teachers and students around media arts,” says Michael Bell, Head of Global Sales, Soundtrap for Education, “and Soundtrap is excited to partner to amplify that work. In coordination with KQED Youth Media Challenges, Soundtrap will make the tools available for all students to share their voice with the world.”