Podcasting
Definition
Podcasting is a method of publishing or distributing multimedia content (i.e. audio and video) over the Web. Podcasts are made available through syndication feeds, which enable new content, or episodes, to be automatically delivered to a personal computer. Users subscribe to podcasts that are pushed to aggregators, also called podcatchers. The podcast can then be played on a personal computer or MP3 player.
Podcasting, in terms of the technologies involved and its uses, has three distinctive features educators should be aware of:
- Podcasting facilitates m-learning, or mobile learning, because podcasts can be played locally on a personal computer or synchronized to a portable media device such as an iPod or other MP3 player and played on-the-go.
- Podcasting is a time-shifting medium because it involves files that can be downloaded and played anytime or anywhere.
- Podcasting involves “push” technology. Subscribers manage podcasts using a podcast aggregator, or podcatcher (e.g., iTunes, Juice), which automatically checks for and downloads the latest episodes. Podcasts are distributed using syndication feeds in RSS or ATOM format.
Podcasts began as audio-only recordings, but enhanced podcasts—containing audio and graphics—and video podcasts, or vodcasts—containing audio and video—are becoming increasingly available. Podcasts are generally produced as a series, much like radio or television series. Podcasting has much in common with blogging, which involves publishing a series of entries that are made available to subscribers through syndication feeds.
Educational Uses
Podcasting can be used whenever audio, particularly the human voice, and/or video will enhance student learning. One obvious use of podcasting in an educational context is to create an archive of class lectures that students can listen to at their convenience. However, given the distinctive features of podcasting, its potential goes far beyond reproducing course materials and making them available for review. Since many podcasts resemble radio-style broadcasts, they are commonly used for news and updates, and because podcasting provides automatic updates to anyone who subscribes, it provides an easy means of delivering up-to-date content to students, for playback at any time or any place. Instructors can use podcasting technologies to deliver to students items such as the following:
- news/updates;
- guest lectures;
- student presentations;
- student-produced podcasts;
- interviews with guest experts;
- tours/field work activities;
- internship/residency content;
- feedback/evaluations of student work;
- supplementary materials such as speeches, music, and other audio recordings; and
- short language lessons, or other lessons that help students develop listening and speaking skills.
Issues
Instructors should be aware of the following when they use podcasting for teaching and learning.
- When podcasting was first developed, podcasts were available to anyone who was interested in listening. Therefore, methods for restricting access were not built into the technology. There are ways to restrict access to podcasts, but they require additional programming and development work.
- Students and others who participate in sessions that are audio and/or video recorded for podcasts may have concerns about privacy. Instructors who create podcasts featuring students also may need to obtain releases from any students who participate. Instructors also should inform students before such podcasts are made available to the general public.
- Copyright is always a consideration when distributing any multimedia content over the Web. Podcast files are downloaded to subscribers' personal computers or mobile devices, enabling subscribers to rebroadcast the files. Because of this, instructors using this technology should obtain permission to distribute any copy-protected materials.
- Although podcasts can be created and distributed by anyone, the quality of the content will determine the success of the podcast. Production quality of audio and video as well as the length and file size of each episode should be considered during the process of developing content for a podcast. There are limitations to the size of the video and the level of detail that can be seen when a podcast is displayed on a computer or portable media device.
- The quality of your presentation should always be a consideration. Before recording, plan your presentation so your ideas are clear, coherent, and easy for your listeners or viewers to follow.
- Podcasts usually are delivered in a series. Audiences expect new podcasts in a timely fashion and on a regular basis. The process for updating and maintaining a podcast should be considered when developing content.
Examples
See the following for examples of how others are using this type of technology to enhance learning.
Best Sites for Educational Podcasts
Troutner, Joanne. “Best Sites for Educational Podcasts.” Teacher Librarian 34, no. 3 (2007). Available in fulltext through Academic Search Premier.
This article invites librarians to explore podcasts as another reference source and provides examples of some educational podcasts that currently are available.
BoilerCast
For many years course lectures at Purdue University were recorded on audiotapes and made available for students to check out. Purdue instructors now can use the BoilerCast service to deliver classroom audio recordings and other materials to students on demand through iTunesU.
DukeCast
Duke University community members can publish audio and video files on the Web and make them available as podcasts using the DukeCast service.
Nature Podcast
The staff of the journal Nature recently launched a podcast series to deliver news and features highlights from each issue to subscribers. The series is designed to help scientists explain their research to a wider audience, and also features comments and analysis from editors and journalists.
smARThistory
Beth Harris and Steven Zucker from the Fashion Institute of Technology at SUNY publish a blog about using technology to teach with images that includes an origintal video and new enhanced podcast series about paintings and other works of art. Both podcast series are worth a visit.
Tech Talk Podcasts
"Tech Talk" is a 30-minute TV show produced by the University of Minnesota and broadcast on public television stations to help community members learn more about the digital technology we encounter in our everyday lives. Audio and video podcasts of the episodes have been made available since the fourth season.
TEL Seminar Series Podcast and Video Podcast
The Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) Seminar Series features presentations by University of Minnesota faculty members about instructional technology topics. Audio and video recordings of the seminars have been made available as podcasts since October 2006.
Resources
The following sources may help you use and teach with this type of technology.
Audacity
This free audio editor and recorder can be used on Macintosh, Windows, or Linux systems to develop audio for a podcast.
How to Make an RSS/XML Audio Feed
This is a brief tutorial about how to create an RSS feed for syndicating podcasts.
Meeting the Millennials Halfway: Expanding Teaching and Learning with Pod- and Vodcasting
At a March 2007 University of Minnesota TEL seminar, panelists discussed how audio and video podcasting provides students with increased control over when, where, and how they learn; facilitates deeper learning; and affords students access to subject matter experts and virtual field experiences that would be difficult or impossible to arrange in a face-to-face setting. Available on this page are a recording of the seminar and citations and links to example podcasts and related campus resources and research literature.
Podcasting
The Wikipedia entry on podcasting provides an excellent overview of the origins of podcasting and how it works as well as an extensive list of resources.
Podcasting: An Emerging Technology with Potential
This article invites readers to consider how podcasting could be used in education for more than recording and delivering lectures.
Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide
Cochrane, Todd. Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide. Indianapolis: Wiley, 2005.
This book was the first devoted to podcasting and provides an excellent overview in plain language of how to subscribe to, create, and publish podcasts. Budding podcasters might want to supplement the information about software and equipment options by consulting more up-to-date information available online. The author also publishes a blog at http://www.geeknewscentral.com.
Podcasting and iTunes FAQ
This page includes information for people who subscribe to and develop podcasts and provides links to tutorials and a podcaster’s forum.
Research
The following research literature has been published about the educational uses of this type of technology.
Bull, Michael. "No Dead Air! The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening." Leisure Studies 24, no.4 (2005): 343–355.
While this article does not discuss podcasting as such, Bull’s study of iPod users provides insight on how people have integrated the iPod into their everyday lives. As a mobile medium, the iPod helps users take more control over noisy, often chaotic urban environments and create individualized soundscapes. This article provides some food for thought for instructors interested in creating mobile learning experiences for their students.
Campbell, Gardner. "There's Something in the Air: Podcasting in Education." EDUCAUSE Review 40, no. 6 (November/December 2005): 32–47. http://www.educause.edu/er/erm05/erm0561.asp.
In this wonderfully descriptive article, Campbell speculates on the future of podcasting in higher education. He argues that the power of podcasting lies not in the convenience of this mobile medium, but in the impact of the “explaining voice.” As he puts it, “Consciousness is most persuasively and intimately communicated via voice.”
Price, A., P. Gay, T. Searle, and G. Brissenden. "A History and Informal Assessment of the Slacker Astronomy Podcast." Astronomy Education Review 1, no. 5 (2006): 53–69.
The authors, who publish a general-audience astronomy podcast and measure subscribers' astronomy attitudes and knowledge using unregulated surveys, have found that subscribers have gained knowledge from the podcast.
