Podcasting in Education Donna Eyestone City College of San Francisco Broadcast Electronic Media Arts

A combination of iPod and broadcasting. Some say “pod” = portable on-demand You can selectively subscribe to audio content over the Internet. It can then be automatically added to a mobile device, like an iPod or other MP3 player. It can also be used to distribute video or other media-rich content for iPod (aka vodcasting, enhanced podcasts, PDFs, etc.). What is Podcasting

A little more detail A Podcast is RSS content that you’ve subscribed to, and is delivered via the Internet, then captured by a program known as a “podcatcher” or a content aggregator, such as iTunes or Juice.

It’s a little like TiVo Podcasting lets your students listen to or view your course content whenever they like, and on the go with a mobile device, like an iPod or other MP3 player.

And it’s popular Google hits on “podcast” Aug. 1, ,000,000 Nov. 7, ,000,000 Sept. 20, ,200,000 June 28, ,000,000 Oct. 18, ,000 Oct. 3, ,750 Sept. 30, Sept. 28,

What Podcasting isn’t Not web-based downloads There ’ s no “ casting ” or automated delivery when your students need to manually download your media. It doesn ’ t make the content less useful, just less convenient to get.

Enables new ways to learn Lectures and other audio content are easily made available Portable access to course material (coursecasting) Guest lectures, speaker or concert series Include rich media material to complement written text (pdf) Review for midterms, finals, missed classes

Enables new ways to learn Assists auditory learners Eases learner anxiety about “ missing ” key information Assists non-native speakers of English Great to immerse foreign language learners Provide feedback to learners Enables instructors to review their own teaching

Let’s check it out!

That’s great for individual faculty - but what about your entire college?

Use on campus Admissions/Departments Self Guided Tour Introductions to a department or student groups Interviews with faculty and current students Capture the interest of potential students Marketing/Community Speaker series Concert series College newspapers and radio stations Keep alumni and donors engaged/connected

iTunes U Rather than each faculty member at a campus creating their own podcasting presence, a college can sign up to be an iTunes U campus and create a unified environment for their students. Scalable - so you can grow into it Easy - to - use and administer - no XML needed! Apple hosts your files You control who can access specific content It ’ s FREE

Get Ready Let’s make an audio podcast!

Overview 1. Planning, Preproduction, Storyboards 2. Write Script / Prepare Outline 3. Test Recording Equipment 4. Record Audio 5. Edit Audio 6. Compress Audio 7. Generate XML for RSS feed 8. Upload files to Web Server

Step 1 : Planning Select appropriate content narrow focus, not a lot of facts and figures Determine your instructional goal provide motivation, integrate concepts, overviews, supplemental material, etc. Design your content case studies, personal stories, dialogs with opposing views, etc.

Step 2 : Recording & Editing Use Audacity (or other) audio editing application to record. Record your podcast. be yourself, talk naturally, express your passion. Incorporate your podcast into your course. is it required, optional, value-added or review, etc. A USB headset mic works great for recording spoken word. can use internal mic on laptops if needed. Compact flash recording devices for higher quality. Can even use the audio from a DV video camera. If desired, edit your audio file to remove mistakes or long pauses. can add extra audio here for stings, intros, background music.

Step 3 : Compression MP3 provides excellent audio quality at low file sizes. MP3 files are “ generic ” and can be played anywhere Use the LAME MP3 encoder to export your.WAV or.AIFF file from Audacity as an MP3 file. Can also use iTunes to convert files to MP3 format.

Step 4 : Write XML You wrap your media files in an RSS feed to create a podcast. You can either write your own XML (start from a template) or use an online RSS feed generator. You have one channel, and each new MP3 file is a new episode. You just add a new to your one.xml file each episode.

Step 5 : Upload files Using a FTP program, like Fetch or SmartFTP upload your.MP3 and.XML files to a regular-ole webserver. You do not need a streaming server to make a podcast. Any computer server that is connected to the Internet and is capable of serving up web pages is capable of being your podcasting server. The MP3 files you create can be used both as a subscription-based podcast and individually downloadable from your CMS.

Step 5.5 Accessibility Provide a transcript of your audio in PDF format or embed it right in your MP3 metadata You can either put a link to the PDF on a website, or as its own podcast episode You can type it yourself after the fact, or use your script Use an online service and pay for transcription Try out a “ speech - to - text ” application, like Dragon Naturally Speaking Seek assistance for ideas and resources from your college

Step 6 : Subscribe Once your files are on a web server, try out your channel by subscribing to your feed using a content aggregator, such as iTunes or Juice. If you want, you can “ register ” your feed with iTunes (or others), so it ’ s easily “ findable ”. You can use links (URLs) that send people right from your web page (course) to iTunes and your specific podcast.

Step 7 : Repeat Be consistent! Release new episodes regularly so listeners don ’ t forget about you! Try to make episodes that are about the same duration, in the same tone of voice, etc. Usually better to release 5 mins weekly rather than 60 mins every other month.

Need more? Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio and Video Podcasting M.W. Geoghegan, D Klass

Get Podcasting! Donna Eyestone City College of San Francisco Broadcast Electronic Media Arts Department or search “Donna Eyestone” in iTunes for “how-to” podcasting movies written just for educators