IntroductionIntroduction toto PodcastingPodcasting
JoshuaJoshua Stern,Stern, PhDPhD MillionsMillions ofof podcastspodcasts areare currentlycurrently availableavailable forfor freefree andand thousandsthousands ofof newnew podcastspodcasts areare createdcreated everyevery day!day!
WhatWhat’’ss thethe bigbig dealdeal aboutabout podcasting?podcasting?
WhyWhy hashas itit becomebecome soso popular?popular?
WhyWhy shouldshould youyou getget involved?involved? WhatWhat isis podcasting?podcasting?
“Pod” – a mobile playback device such as an iPod or any other MP3 player (a laptop or desktop computer also works).
“Casting” – derived from broadcasting.
Podcasting is the distribution of multimedia files, such as audio and video, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and/or personal computers.
Most podcasts are shared (syndicated) using the RSS format - Real Simple Syndication. HowHow isis aa podcastpodcast differentdifferent fromfrom aa plainplain oldold audioaudio file?file?
TheThe keykey differencedifference isis thethe distributiondistribution model.model. ThroughThrough RSS,RSS, anyoneanyone cancan subscribesubscribe toto andand ““catchcatch”” podcasts,podcasts, whichwhich willwill bebe automaticallyautomatically downloadeddownloaded andand managedmanaged byby aa ““podcatchingpodcatching”” programprogram likelike iTunes.iTunes.
SimpleSimple audioaudio filesfiles mustmust bebe foundfound andand downloadeddownloaded manuallymanually byby users.users. WhatWhat kindskinds ofof podcastspodcasts cancan II make?make?
Lectures for students to listen to at their leisure.
Guest speakers and special events.
Student study guides.
Supplemental materials for students.
Help online students feel more connected.
Ideal for Speech, ESL, Foreign Language, Physical Education and many more types of classes.
Have students create their own podcasts as part of your course.
Staff development and training.
The possibilities are endless! WhyWhy makemake aa podcast?podcast?
Students like it and are comfortable with the technology.
Information comes to the students, they do not have to go get it.
Audio and video files can be reused in future courses and also in online and hybrid courses (ETUDES-NG).
Ideal for audio and visual learners – adds variety to your presentation strategies.
Of great value to students with learning disabilities.
Students can review materials/lectures as many times as they want, at their own pace.
No more students missing lectures! WhatWhat dodo youyou needneed toto createcreate audioaudio podcasts?podcasts?
A personal computer (Mac or PC) connected to the Internet.
A microphone (built into new Macs, cheap to buy) or digital recording device.
Free podcast-creation software (GarageBand for Macs, Audacity or other for PCs).
(You do NOT need an iPod or MP3 player to listen to or create podcasts.) StepStep 11 –– beforebefore youyou beginbegin
Decide what you want to record. A live lecture Read from a pre-prepared script Improvise from your notes or an outline
Decide on a general format for your recording Intro music Introduction Segment 1, 2, 3… Thank you for listening Advertise your podcast Exit music
Collect image files you want to use to “enhance” your audio podcast. StepStep 22 –– livelive recordingrecording
Open your audio recording program.
Select a vocal track, press record, and begin speaking.
If you make any mistakes as you speak, just keep going! Mistakes can be cut out during the editing process.
Once you’ve finished speaking, don’t forget to press stop.
Save your recording! StepStep 33 –– editingediting
EditEdit outout anyany partsparts ofof youryour recordingrecording tracktrack thatthat youyou dodo notnot like.like.
AddAdd soundsound effects,effects, backgroundbackground music,music, introintro andand exitexit jingles.jingles.
AddAdd imagesimages toto correspondcorrespond toto youryour audio.audio.
SaveSave afterafter editing!editing! TypicalTypical GarageBandGarageBand screenshotscreenshot StepStep 44 –– PublishingPublishing youryour podcastpodcast
Select a Web server to host your podcast “feed”. You can easily publish directly to iTunes with a .mac account. You can publish to iTunes from a PC as well, but it is more complicated. WLAC plans to support your podcasts, so soon you will not have to worry about this step at all.
A “feed” is Web code which communicates the location and subscription information of your podcast to the world. In other words, your podcast feed is published in RSS format which allows users to subscribe to it.
If you do not care about allowing subscriptions to your podcasts, you can instead simply upload your audio files to your Website or online course shell. iTunesiTunes iTunesiTunes
ForFor bothboth MacMac andand PCPC users.users. iTunesiTunes isis byby farfar thethe mostmost popularpopular hostinghosting service,service, butbut othersothers areare available.available.
ItIt isis FREEFREE toto uploadupload podcastspodcasts (hosting)(hosting) andand downloaddownload podcastspodcasts (subscribing)(subscribing) toto youryour computercomputer oror mobilemobile device.device. WhereWhere toto findfind (educational)(educational) podcastspodcasts
Search iTunes
Education Podcast Network- http://www.epnweb.org Podcast Alley - http://www.podcastalley.com Learning In Hand - http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/find.html Podcast Directory - http://www.podcastdirectory.com Digg - http://digg.com/podcasts/view/education OpenCulture - http://www.oculture.com/ NPR - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php Learn Out Loud - http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory Pod Feed - http://www.podfeed.net Odeo - http://odeo.com
There are many other podcast directories available, just do a search for “podcast directory” in your favorite search engine. WantWant toto leanlean more?more?
Take part in the WLAC podcasting pilot program. Email me and we can set up a 1-on-1 meeting to help you get started designing, creating, and distributing your educational podcasts.
@ONE offers a terrific online course called Podcasting for Teaching. The instructor led course costs ~$50; the self-paced version is free. Go to: http://www.cccone.org/
There are lots of other free materials to help you get up to speed with podcasting. Just do an Internet search for “podcast basics” or “podcast tutorial.” THANKTHANK YOU!YOU!
JoshuaJoshua SternStern [email protected]@wlac.edu