Podcasting: a New Medium for Distance Learning
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Podcasting: A New Medium for Distance Learning Christopher Essex Indiana University Abstract The recent popularity of podcasting provides the distance educator with a new medium for delivering content to online students. Podcasts are audio programs delivered to users via the Internet, often on a subscription basis. Instructors can present via podcast much like they would to a face-to-face audience. Students can access the podcasts while they are living their busy lives. The process of podcast creation is described, and tips for successful podcasting are provided. Introduction Distance education has too long been tied to text as the primary means of delivering instruction. From the old correspondence days through today, the vast majority of information communicated to the online student has been in the form of text, whether it be web pages, Acrobat PDF documents, or even text-heavy Flash files. As an experienced distance educator, having taught a fully online course since 1998, I have always felt that this was a stifling limitation. Why couldn’t I speak to my distance students as easily as I could to my face-to-face students? This past year, I have experienced using podcasts as the way to break through this wall of text. Definition of Podcast A podcast is a digital audio recording that can be downloaded from the Internet. Since the first appearance of the term online in February 2004 (Wikipedia, 2005), podcasts have become a hugely popular medium for news, information and entertainment. It has been estimated that 4.8 million people downloaded a podcast in 2005 (Bridge Ratings, 2005). Podcasts are designed to be delivered to the recipients on a regular basis, and to be downloaded to a device upon which they are played. While the name obviously suggests the Apple iPod, an external, portable USB or Firewire hard drive with additional hardware and software to play digital music files, podcasts do not require iPods for delivery. They can be played on any device that supports MP3 files, which includes any modern computer and most if not all portable digital music players. 140 million such devices were sold worldwide in 2005, and it is projected that this number will more than double to 286 million by 2010 (In-Stat, 2006). Therefore, access to podcasts should not be a problem for most distance education students. Another important aspect to podcasts is that they can be made available by subscription. The instructor creates a text file in a relatively easy-to-understand XML format, called an RSS file, also known as a feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and RSS files are often also used with blogs and wikis, as well as news websites such as CNN (http://www.cnn.com). The RSS file is composed of basic information about the podcast series, such as title, publication date, length, a short summary of the content of each episode, and most importantly, the web addresses for each episode. The RSS file is uploaded to a web server along with the podcast’s MP3 file. Subscribing to a podcast is as simple as entering the address (URL) for the series into a podcast aggregator, also known as a podcatcher. Some browsers now have built-in support for these RSS files. Another popular way to subscribe to podcasts is through Apple’s iTunes program, which incorporates a podcast aggregator. Integrating Podcasts into Distance Education In the past, I have provided my online students with a large amount of reading, including the course text, selected websites and scanned-in articles in the format of Acrobat documents. I would also provide content to them through discussion forum postings, email and announcements via the learning management system (LMS). I was dissatisfied by this, however. Often, I would find myself assigning an article or website page that was more-or-less what I would say about a subject, but not exactly, and wishing I could directly speak to the students, as I would if we were meeting face-to-face. Podcasting has allowed me to do this. Of course, I could have typed out an essay on the subject. But speaking is faster and easier for me than typing, even with today’s voice recognition software. Podcasting allowed 136 me to present content to my distance students in much the same way as I would if they were sitting in front of me in class. Podcast Production For recording my initial podcasts, I used the built-in microphone and speakers in my Apple eMac. For software, I used iMovie to record and edit the audio, and iTunes to convert it to an MP3 file. I did this because I was very familiar with the iMovie program, which is of course designed for use with video, but can also edit and export audio tracks. For recent episodes, I have used my new Apple MacBook Pro laptop, again with a built-in microphone and speakers. For software, I used Apple’s Garageband 3 (http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/), which has been updated to include features specifically for podcasting. For interviews, I have used both Skype (http://www.skype.com), in combination with Audio HiJack to record the session, and iChat which interfaces with Garageband directly. But podcasts can be created using any software that will allow you to record audio and export it as an MP3 file. Many Windows- and Linux-based podcasters use the Audacity audio editing program (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) along with the LAME mp3 encoder (http://www.edhsonline.org/other/audacity/program/lame_enc.dll) to record their sessions. If your computer does not have a built-in microphone, or if you want to upgrade for better sound, you may wish to purchase an external microphone or headset. Garageband has a couple of especially useful features for the podcaster. One is easy access to other sound files. You can import audio files from your iTunes library (though of course copyright issues must be addressed) and Garageband also includes its own internal database of sound effects, jingles and stingers (small snippets of music and/or effects), such as are used by radio disk jockeys, which are all copyright-free or “podsafe.” Other sources of “podsafe” music include: the Podsafe Music Network) http://music.podshow.com/) and Podsafe Audio (http://www.podsafeaudio.com/). Another advantage of Garageband is its integration with iChat. An audio conference in iChat can be recorded in Garageband, with each side of the conversation separated into its own channel, for ease of editing and stereo effect. Usually some editing of the audio file needs to be made. Coughing fits, cell phone rings, pauses for thought, words like “um” and “well” and network congestion-based sound glitches all need to be taken out, in order for the podcast to seem professional. An answer may go on too long, or the subject may go off on an irrelevant tangent. Sometimes it may take an interview awhile to really get started. Even if you are simply presenting a lecture recording, you should edit out anything that is not meaningful communication. Once the audio file was in MP3 format, I uploaded it to our university’s web server, and created a link to the file from the relevant page on my website. It is worth pointing out that podcasts do not require streaming software to be installed on the server, since they are meant to be downloaded. Since I wanted students to be able to subscribe to the podcast series, I also created an RSS file to provide aggregators with information about the podcast. I did this by hand, but there are programs that will create the file for you, such as Podifier (http://www.podifier.com/) or RSS Publisher (http://www.rsspublisher.com/). At my university, our LMS has recently gained an integrated podcasting tool, which creates the RSS file automatically. If you wish your podcast to reach an audience beyond your students, you may want to publicize it. One way is to enter it into the iTunes podcast database, or to submit it to a directory site with an Education section, such as Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_genres.php?pod_genre_id=7), Yahoo! Podcasts (http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?t=1&p=education) or Educate (http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/index.php). This procedure may seem somewhat complicated at first, but once you have produced a couple of podcast episodes, it shouldn’t be that time-consuming. If you only plan to podcast once a month or less, you may want to create a brief job aid for yourself, a paper document describing the basic steps of the podcasting procedure using your hardware and software. Tips for Podcast Creation for Distance Education Here are some specifics I learned during my first semester as a podcaster: 1. Get to the point. Podcasts should be small packages of unified content, easy to take in during a short walk across campus, a session at the gym, or a commute to work. Chunk your material into thirty-minute-or-less podcasts. Make a Part 1 and Part 2 if absolutely necessary for a specific topic. Remember, student time is as valuable to them as your time is to you. 2. Enjoy yourself. Just as with an in-class lecture, if you show some humor and/or personality during the podcast, students are more likely to continue to listen to you, and have a better attitude and higher motivation level 137 towards the course. But don’t go overboard; don’t get silly. As the Spinal Tap guys say, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid.