Month: March 2025

For my audio playground 5 I decided to use my graduation cap and gown as my costume for the podcast. I chose this because graduation was a big part of my life and was a really fun and bittersweet time for my friends and I. I clearly remember the day like getting ready with my friends and taking a bunch of pictures with my friends. I remember the happiness that day brought, and I felt like this podcast would be a good way for me to remember the day. For me, the prompt given for this podcast was to describe a costume, whether it be an old halloween costume, a special outfit you have, your prom dress, or even your graduation dress, cap and gown, and shoes, which is why I decided on my graduation cap and gown. My idea for my response to the podcast was to explain my cap, gown, and dress in a way for people to understand and maybe even be able to imagine, which is why I described the color of my dress, the color of my cap and gown, and I spoke about how the red on my cap and gown symbolized the colors of my school. I also described how my friends and I decorated our caps and gowns, which reflected what our plans were for the future. This was also a special day for me so it was also a way for me to remember the memories and excitement graduation day brought because it allowed me to reflect on everything that I had achieved in the last four years, a time for me to look at how I’ve grown, and it was the last time my high school class and I would all be together one last time before we all went separate ways.

I did my interview with a nurse who I’ve worked with before. I did this interview over break because it was really the only time she’d be available to do it. She’s busy right now so I decided to do it quickly with her over break would be best. I did it quickly with her at the end of her work day, I recorded it on my phone since that was the most convenient for us at the time. 

Questions for interview:

1. What inspired you to become a nurse?
2. What area of nursing do you specialize in, and why did you choose it?
3. What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your role as a nurse?
4. How do you handle difficult situations in your job?
5. What skills do you think nursing students should focus on the most during their clinical rotations?
6. What are common mistakes nursing students make in clinical settings, and how can they avoid them?
7. What do you think is the most important lesson nursing students should learn before graduating?
8. What advice would you give to a nursing student feeling overwhelmed or struggling with confidence?
9. What advice would you give to someone who’s studying for the NCLEX?
10. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new grad nurse who’s surrounded by experienced nurses and is feeling overwhelmed about all the work?

For my expert interview I am interested in interviewing a nurse, specifically a nurse I have known for a long time and one who my family is very close to. I want to do my interview with her because I have worked with her so I know how she is as a nurse and I’ve seen how she interacts with her patients and their families, which is an extremely big and important part of nursing. I think this is another reason why she would be a good option for me to interview because I know she has good skills as a nurse, and I know her patients like her. I want to do this interview with her because I also want to be a nurse and she has given me some good advice before, so I feel like it would be useful to my future to sit down and actually have a full nursing discussion. I plan to ask her questions about how she became a nurse, advice to nursing students, as well as what advice she would give to a new grad nurse because it’s extremely difficult to be a new grad nurse and work around other nurses who have been doing their job for years. Part of nursing is learning something new everyday, so going right from nursing school to immediately being a nurse can be extremely stressful and difficult. As well as being a nursing student. It’s an extremely stressful and difficult major, so I’d like to ask her about advice she would give to current nursing students because she was once in our shoes and understands the stress we’re under. I plan to create my questions around the topics I listed above, and show her ahead of time so she can think about what she feels comfortable sharing and think about any advice I might ask her to give in the interview.

For my family interview podcast, I interviewed my cousin Lauren, a sophomore at Penn State University. We talked a little bit about why she chose early childhood education, and who inspired her. She talked about growing up in Pennsylvania and graduating from a school that had a lot of students. She explained how in bigger schools like her old middle school and high school, it was easy to go unnoticed, but her teachers always made an effort to make meaningful relationships with their students. She talked specifically about one teacher who had a meaningful impact on her and contributed to her wanting to pursue a career in early childhood education. (Having a hard time trying to get my embedded podcast to save)

For my audio playground 3, I decided to tell my story as a list of what I want to do over the summer. Although I enjoy winter because of my birthday and the holiday season, summer is my favorite season, and it’s a time I get to enjoy with my friends and family before we head back to school in the fall. It’s a time where I can take a break and relax, and work at a slower pace than I would when I’m in school. I enjoy being able to go swimming at the lake with my friends, go on vacation whether it’s to Maine to relax on the beach, or to Pennsylvania to see my cousins who live there. I always enjoy the late nights with my friends having fires or barbeques in the evening while it’s still light out, sunsets on the beach, the fresh fruit that comes with summer like watermelon and fresh berries, and drinking refreshing drinks on the beach and playing in the ocean. Along with all of those activities, I enjoy all the festivals and events that happen in the summer, especially July 4th. The fireworks and late nights at the waterfront with my friends, eating summer foods and being tan, while watching the fireworks. For my music, I used a sound off freesound.org called “Summer” by TicTac9. I chose this sound because my story for the audio playground 3 is a list of what I want to do this summer. I felt like the music was kind of upbeat and felt like summer compared to some of the other sounds, and the sound was made for summer. My plan for this audio playground is for people to understand that it was a list of what I want to do this summer, and the audio was meant to make it sound more like summer. It was upbeat and exciting, like the music I’d listen to on the beach with friends or family.

In our workshop this morning for the rodecaster demo, we were taught how to use all of the equipment and what we could use it for. She gave us an opportunity to make a quick “podcast” as a group about a topic we all decided on. We chose our topic and then made a 10 minute podcast to get familiar with the equipment. We could clearly hear each other with the headphones on, even the more quiet noises that our phones wouldn’t pick up, we were able to clearly hear through the headphones. This is one reason it would be good to use them for a future podcast. You are also able to use it even if you’re interviewing someone by zoom or by phone, which is another good reason to use it in the future for an interview or podcast. For those of us who live out of state, it’s not as easy for us to interview someone in person so it’s convenient that we are able to also interview someone by phone and zoom. Another good reason to use a rodecaster for an interview is because you can have up to four microphones, while also collecting clear audio that sounds professional. Even though they might be a good, convenient option for some people for a family interview, for our shorter podcasts they might not be as useful. Another reason someone might be on the edge about using one of these, is because at first they might be tough to figure out how to use because we don’t have any experience besides what we learned in those 40 minutes. Overall, I think they’re a good alternative than our phones, it just might be tricky for some to use them.

For my audio playground 3, I decided to tell my story as a list of what I want to do over the summer. Although I enjoy winter because of my birthday and the holiday season, summer is my favorite season, and it’s a time I get to enjoy with my friends and family before we head back to school in the fall. It’s a time where I can take a break and relax, and work at a slower pace than I would when I’m in school. I enjoy being able to go swimming at the lake with my friends, go on vacation whether it’s to Maine to relax on the beach, or to Pennsylvania to see my cousins who live there. I always enjoy the late nights with my friends having fires or barbeques in the evening while it’s still light out, sunsets on the beach, the fresh fruit that comes with summer like watermelon and fresh berries, and drinking refreshing drinks on the beach and playing in the ocean. Along with all of those activities, I enjoy all the festivals and events that happen in the summer, especially July 4th. The fireworks and late nights at the waterfront with my friends, eating summer foods and being tan, while watching the fireworks. For my music, I used a sound off freesound.org called “Summer” by TicTac9. I chose this sound because my story for the audio playground 3 is a list of what I want to do this summer. I felt like the music was kind of upbeat and felt like summer compared to some of the other sounds, and the sound was made for summer. My plan for this audio playground is for people to understand that it was a list of what I want to do this summer, and the audio was meant to make it sound more like summer. It was upbeat and exciting, like the music I’d listen to on the beach with friends or family.

Interview Intro Script for family podcast: 

“Hello, and welcome to my podcast, where I interviewed my cousin Lauren. We talked about our childhood and memories growing up together.” 

Interview Outro Script for family podcast: 

“Thank you to my cousin Lauren for participating in my interview, and thank you for listening. Today’s music is…”

Status report on interview progress/plan for family interview:

I plan to interview my cousin, Lauren, in person, so I will be using my voice memo app on my phone. I have made my questions, which just ask her about our childhood and memories together, and also about her interests since she’s a sophomore in college, majoring in early childhood education. Although I ask her questions about her college major, I plan to mainly make this interview more about our childhood memories growing up together since we’ve always been so close. That’s my main plan, but if I decide I like hearing about her college major more, I might decide to lean more towards her college life and future goals after college, since that’s her goals for her future, and I don’t know much about that.