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Podcasting

By Millie Jeffries

Podcasting

Historical Background

What is a podcast? Podcast is a digital media file that is circulated over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on a portable media player such as MP3’s, iPod’s, or on a personal computer (Wikipedia, 2007). Podcasting is a new type of online media delivery which was coined by Adam Curry (Wikipedia, 2007). Curry is one of the web's modern pioneers and of fame as an MTV VeeJay (Wikipedia, 2007). Podcasting's primary purpose was to allow persons to distribute their own "radio shows," but it rapidly became used in different ways.

"The term podcasting derives its name from Apple's iPod; but, to create a podcast or even to listen to one, you do not need to own an iPod, or any portable music player" (Ipod, 2007). Of course, like anything else, you need to have special software that will enable anyone to download and read your file. Podcasting is an automated delivery of an audio file that can be easily downloaded through a special delivery of an RSS Feed. "Podcasting is an automatic system whereby multimedia computer files are moved from a server to a client, which pulls down XML files containing the Internet addresses of the media files. Universally, these files contain audio or video, but they can also contain images, text, PDF, or any file type" (Wikipedia, 2007).

Podcasts can be downloaded automatically with no extraordinary effort on your part. A person can download and listen to podcasts with a diversity of devices, such as computers, MP3 players, PDA’s, and even cell phones. It is very simple to download podcasts and transfer them to any of your listening devices, but to fully enjoy what podcasting is about, you will need to download special software in order to listen to them. Free software is available for Windows, such as Audacity, Juice or Doppler. Free software is also available for Mac, such as Audacity, Juice or Podcast Maker. Mac is in the process of launching a new software called Transistr for podcasting. For cell phones users, Mobilcast is being developed, which will allow people to find and download podcasts on cell phones (Wikipedia, 2007).

Podcasting is becoming more popular in the education field because they allow students and teachers to share information anytime and anyplace for anyone with a computer or an MP3 player. If students are absent from class one day, they can download a recording of the missed lesson in podcast format. Podcasts can also be used educationally by teachers or administrators to share their curriculum, assignments or other important information with parents. Podcasting is now being used to share lesson plans; official and unofficial audio tours of museums; have conference meeting alerts and updates; and, by the police departments to issue their public safety messages.

Relevance to Education

So how is podcasting relevant to education? Think of it this way. Podcasting can be a powerful publishing stage that addresses all kinds of learning styles, it is extremely mobile, and it can deliver information in a flash. Podcasting can be used by anyone and by everyone. Educators are faced with challenges in keeping up-to-date with the developing technology. Podcasting would be an excellent way to keep up those trends. Students are already in the digital age from the moment that they can speak and walk. Why not keep up with the trend and take the “not so good” education from their ears and replace them with “good” education. Will they know the difference?

Think about some of the ways that podcasting can be beneficial to education: teachers creating assignments for absent students; parents keeping up-to-date on school activities; tech support giving quick tips to administrators and teachers; school board podcasts their meetings to increase community awareness, these are just a few, and the list gets longer.

Even though you may need a feed reader in order to hear or see a podcast, there is some free software that will help with the audio and video of the podcasts. This definitely helps alleviate costs that the school district may accrue in purchasing this software.

Other possible uses include opportunities to assist struggling students. Listening to podcasts would allow students who need repeated instruction the opportunity to listen as often as necessary to pick up the concepts. Students who are not proficient in the English language would have the opportunity to replay the lesson to catch words and phrases they missed or are not familiar with. Other students can search for podcasts to provide missing background information they need to help make their understanding more complete. Since the feeds are on demand, students will be able to access podcasts whenever they want and wherever they want as long as the students have sufficient bandwidth to download the files. Podcasting is an excellent source for distance learning as well as for self-paced students. It is also a good source to tape guest speakers lecture and share with other teachers on campus. (EPN, 2007)

As well, there are disadvantages to podcasting. It is not possible to have two-way communication when using podcasting. Podcasting does not allow for audience participation in its usage. When searching for podcasts on their own, students need to be aware that not all podcasts are professionally made as far as accuracy or quality of information.

Even with its limitations, podcasting has much to offer to the students, parents, administration and faculty, when used wisely.

Glossary of Terms

Broadcasting – sending the same information to several recipients at the same time.

Digital media – devices like MP3, iPods that allows anyone to hear or see text, images, sound, speech, video, etc…

Internet – is a group of computers that allow communications with each other from all over the world.

MP3 – is an audio file extension used to transmit music over the internet.

Portable media Players – is an electronic device that stores and plays files in different media formats.

RSS – Really Simple Syndication – it is also known as Aggregator or Feed Aggregator. It is a web feed formats used to publish information and be able to share it with other web sites.

Streaming – it is used to transfer data so it can be used in a continuous stream. It is used mainly in audio and video recording.

Syndication Feeds – are files that are formatted in XML and are shared with different websites.

TalkShoe - it is a podcasting service and directory that combines recorded conference calls with proceeds sharing for show hosts.

URL – Uniform Resource Locator: it is a way for specifying addresses that identifies a particular file, (http://), on the Internet.

Webcast – it uses the internet to broadcast live or delayed audio or view transmissions. Another word for webcast is Netcast.

Webserver - a computer program that hosts web pages such as HTML documents and linked objects such as images, videos, etc…

XML – Extensible Markup Language. It is a computer language designed especially for Web documents.

Start-up Costs

Creating an audio podcast is technically a free process. If you already own a computer that has Windows XP and is internet ready, you are almost there. Besides the computer and internet, which all school districts have at this time, you will need to have a microphone, headset and speakers. The needed software, such as Audacity, Lame Encoder and Feedburner, are free to download to your computer. If you are in the education field, this is an ideal package that your administrator will like. If you do not have the necessary equipment, the following will be an estimate on how much it would cost to create an audio podcast.

Computer

$ 800.00

Internet Access

$ 30.00

(per month)

Microphone

$ 30.00

Headset

$ 50.00

Speakers

$ 20.00

Free Software

$    0.00

Estimated Total

$930.00

Like everything else, prices will range according to your needs and wants. As far as the software, even though it is free, there are other software that will do the same thing but at a small price.

Free Software:

Audacity                    -- http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net

Doppler                     -- http://www.dopplerradio.net

Free Burner               -- http://www.freeburner.com

Juice                          -- http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php

Lame MP3 Encoder   -- http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php

The time needed to create an audio podcast will depend on the lesson or lessons that the teacher assigns the students. Creating an audio podcast is the most important step as it lays the foundation on what will be discussed with no additional cost to the school system.

Key-players, gurus, experts

Dave Winer – Known to many as “The Geek” and was the first to launched the first podcast in 2003. He is a software developer and entrepreneur who is a pioneer in the areas of RSS, XML and MetaWeblog. He is the author of a weblog called Scripting News. Winer is also a founder of the software companies “Living Videotext” and Userland Software and he is a researcher for Harvard Law School. Dave Winer’s website: http://dave.scripting.com/cv.

Adam Michael Curry – AKA “Pretty Boy” who is a former MTV video jockey. Curry was an entrepreneur for the WWW and one of the first to personally create a website. He helped pioneer podcasting and is called “Podfather” because of his efforts that he contributed. He is the started his own company “OnRamp, Inc.” which is a web design and hosting company but later sold it to THINK New Ideas, which he is a co-founder. Curry is involved in promoting Podcasting. Currently he is hosting a podcast by the name of Daily Source Code. Curry founded the PodShow, Inc. Curry’s weblog: http://www.curry.com/.

Ron Bloom – Bloom is the CEO and Co-Founder of PodShow, Inc. along with Adam Curry. He was a co-partner with Adam Curry in THINK New Ideas and OnRamp. Bloom is responsible for the business units, operations and finance of the PodShow, Inc. He is also a technology and media executive, consultant, speaker and author. Bloom has worked to develop internet portals, cross-media marketing and integrated broadband and broadcast content for different businesses and banks around the world.

Todd Maffin – Maffin is another podcasting pioneer. Maffin hosted a radio show, Tod Radio Show that linked technology, radio and society together. Currently he is the co-founder and editor of CanadaPodcasts, which feeds the global Canada node of the indiepodder.org podcast directory and many other popular podcasting programs used globally. Maffin is the President of the foursevens production which is a specialty production house for producing podcasts. Maffin has his own podcast which you can find at todbits.tv where he reviews technology news and interviews people.

Tutorial

Here are the necessary steps in creating your own Podcast.

1.   Download Audacity. This is free software used to record podcasts and convert it the podcasts into tapes.

    This software will also allow you to edit your podcasts and add effects to it.

     The following is a tutorial that may help you become better familiar with the toolbars on

     Audacity: http://www.astoryforbedtime.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=25

2.  Download Lame MP3 Encoder. This is free software used with Audacity to convert Audacity files into MP3

    files.

3.       Pre-Production: Plan what you are going to say. Name your podcast. Keep in mind who will be your

     audience. It will be easier if you type your script prior to recording it.

4.  Practice prior to recording your Podcast.

5.  Give your podcast a name.

6.  Use Audacity to start recording your podcast with a USB headset microphone. It is recommended to record

    short portions at a time.

7. Post-Production: After you finish recording, you are now ready to edit the audio. You can use Audacity for

   editing but you can not compose music within this software.

8. If you add music, make sure it is “podsafe,” which means that you have used music that is legal. If you use

    music, remember to give credit to the artist.

9.   Now that you have the audio the way you want it, you need to save it as an MP3 file by using Lame

     software.

10. You are now ready to publish your podcast. This is the technical part of the podcast process. You need

     access to a web-server that will be able to create an RSS Feed.

11. You can use www.feedburner.com as a free alternative to creating an RSS Feed and help you load your

    podcast.

PowerPoint Tutorials

How to Install Audacity

How to Install JUICE

How to Install Doppler

Sites for Podsafe Music

The Free Sound Project

SoundSnap

Flash Kit - Sound FX

Podcast Bumper Music

fOUR bEES Free Media

Podsafe Audio

Online Tutorials Links

"Podcast PSA" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=FP5jltqfZSE

"What is a Podcast" -http://youtube.com/watch?v=tQFKNcdCdLM

"Audacity Download" -http://youtube.com/watch?v=AcWuFBYHkow

"Recording an Audio Podcast MP3 with Audacity" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=jXUJyV6hVHk

"Mixing with Audacity" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=M1IqWoWu8gU

"Audacity Sound Editing and Installing Lame" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJdPP-DA0KI

"Audacity and Lame for MP3" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=nM58_p9XRxA

"Learning-in-Hand" Feedburner Tutorial" -http://www.learninginhand.com/podcasting/blogger-feedburner.html

"My Experience of Making a Podcast" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=I5g1m1wEBH0

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

This article gives you their version on what is Podcasting. It also gives you good vocabulary words that are necessary to understand podcasting.

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html

This article gives more information on what Podcasting is all about. It gives you information on how to create your own podcast.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/

This site offers up-to-date news about podcasts and podcasting, with a directory of shows and broadcasts, software for listeners and recorders, and rankings of the Web's most popular podcasts.

http://www.answers.com/topic/podcasting?cat=technology

This site offers podcasting recording on a non-music audio broadcast (news, sports, discussion, etc.) in the MP3 format for playback in a digital music player.

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7003.pdf

Several things you should know about podcasting.

http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/podcasts/

Podcasts materials that were created by teachers for teachers.

http://www.apple.com/education/resources/podcastingvideos/

This isa link to a video created by Apple with easy-to-use solution to podcasting and its benefits for educationl

http://www.intelligenic.com/index2.html

This is a resource book for educations who wish to use podcasting in their classroom.

http://www.podbean.com/start-podcast?sourceid=goog_66

FREE! Easy steps to creating your own podcast.

http://www.epnweb.org/

This an Education Podcast Network that is helpful to educators when exploring issues of teaching and learning.

http://music.podshow.com/

This is site where it gives information on how to use music when creating a podcast.

Podcasting for Teachers: Using a New Technology to Revolutionize Teaching and Learning (HC) (Emerging Technolgies for Evolving Learners) Book By Kathy, P King, Mark Gura

This is a book where educators can get more information on how to integrate podcasting into their

curriculum.

Sample Lesson Plans

In this lesson plan, the students will collect events from a previous week. They will write and edit a short summary and then they will create an audio podcast of their findings.

http://misterteacher.blogspot.com/2005/12/lesson-plan-for-podcasts-week-in.html

In this lesson, students are taken on a field trip to the museum. They are allowed to take a digital camera to take pictures of what they are seeing. They in turn need to create a report of their findings. This lesson plan came from the IPod website; you can use any other MP3 device.

http://images.apple.com/au/education/ipod/pdf/iPod_DigitalFieldTrip.pdf

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Podcasting - Millie