Podcasts

What are they?

Podcasting is a method for distributing multimedia files, such as MP3 audio files and video files, over the Internet, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The term podcast, like “broadcast,” can refer both to the content and to the method of delivery. Linking to a podcast directory allows you to find new material quickly. The most popular directory services are  Apple Itunes,  Juice and  Doppler. The BBC also makes a number of its programmes available as podcasts: see  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/.

A particular advantage of podcasting is that the media can be easily created by most recording equipment (an iPod with an additional microphone adaptor, a computer, a DV camera etc.) and is encoded into an industry standard (MP3) that is universally read by computers and portable media devices.

The  Educause Learning Initiative’s (ELI’s) 7 Things You Should Know About... series contains a useful  guide to podcasting (PDF).

See also Digital audio, Digital cameras, Digital video, Streaming audio, Streaming video, Presentation tools.

How can I use them with my students?

As downloadable audio and video, podcasts enable you to make course components such as lectures, scientific experiments and interviews with experts available outside a conventional classroom environment. Students can access the material either on- or off- campus and, by downloading it to a portable media device (such as an iPod) can listen to or view the material anywhere at a time to suit themselves. This service is particularly valuable for part-time and distance learners.

The podcasts can be made available either publicly or to a restricted audience (e.g. internal to the institution or to registered researchers from outside).

Broadening the perspective, podcasts can be created and published by students themselves. For example, they might document their learning experience, the development of their knowledge, a course of experiments or progress in their research.

Examples

NB the following link does not work correctly in Trac as it includes a colon.

•  http://www.sloan-c-wiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=University_of_Connecticut_--_Beyond_Lecturecasting:_Using_Podcasts_for_Discussion_and_Student_Content_Creation. In this case study, Prof David Miller of the University of Connecticut describes how he records discussions about the content of lectures (in this case, psychology), rather than the lectures themselves. He argues that these podcasts constitute a form of student-generated content. (This case study is included in the  Sloan Consortium's wiki-based collection of  case studies in effective practice).

•  An Investigation of the Potential for Accessible Vodcasting of Learning Objects produced by the University of Teeside, the School of Computing were awarded Apple video iPods and Creative Zen Vision media players to produce an evaluation of vodcasts in terms of accessibility, captioning, accessibility of devices and design requirements, and develop of a prototype learning object.

• Case study from Ravensbourne, Podcasting Learning Content - Fashion exemplar.

How can I obtain/create them?

Listening to podcasts:
We recommend that you listen to some podcasts created by others before creating your own. A good place to start is the BBC’s Podcast page. The page includes an  easy-to-follow guide to downloading the software needed to access the podcasts, subscribing to podcasts of regular programmes and listening to the actual podcasts.

Creating your own podcasts:
Creating an audio-only podcast is relatively straightforward. All you need are a microphone and recording software, which may already be installed on your computer. You can also capture an entire lecture or talk and turn it into a podcast using a tool such as  BB FlashBack (for Windows) or  Profcast (for Macs). These allow you to capture audio and a PowerPoint presentation simultaneously, and then combine them into a single file for distribution.

If you want to create a video podcast, we advise you to contact your institution’s media production unit for technical advice and assistance.

Once you have created and edited your podcast, you can upload it to the course area on your VLE or to a Website. Then, if you wish students to be alerted automatically to each podcast as it becomes available, you will need to set up a newsfeed using either the RSS or Atom syndication format. If your college/university does not host its own RSS feed, you can use a free Web-based service.

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