Podcasts


 * What is a Podcast?**

Podcasting is a way to post audio content on a web log. This has become very popular for recording and sharing a wide variety of educational content.

The term podcast originated with the Mac iPod but many other products and applications have been developed. Technically an audio recording doesn't actually become a podcast until you download it onto an iPod ( or MP3 player or other audio player) This way you can download a lecture to listen to on the bus on the way home.

Teachers and educational institutions are finding podcasts to be an effective way to share classroom presentations for later access by students. Many large institutions are currently recording all lectures and presentations in audio or video format. For examples see [|iTunes University] and various [|University channels] on YouTube.


 * How to create a podcast.**

There are quite a few ways to podcast and we will explore a few of them in this course. We will start with two free programs that will allow you to record an audio file, upload it to the Internet and embed it on your wiki.

The first thing we need to do is to record some audio content. Each multi-media computer has a microphone and speakers and the ability to turn audio into a computer file that can be managed like any other file. We need an application to create and edit an digital audio file. One of the best audio editing applications is a free product called [|Audacity]. It is very simple to download, set up and operate but it allows for fairly sophisticated editing and production. Download a copy of Audacity 1.2.6 to your computer and open the application. The application will automatically find your microphone and speakers so you don't have to do much other setting up. I am enclosing a link to [|a tutorial] for setting up Audacity. I have also recorded a [|Jing presentation] that walks through the steps. There are many other excellent resources on the web. Once you have a recorded audio file you need to have an internet site to allow others to have online access. One way is to simply upload your audio track as a file to a wikispace page. Wikispaces will automatically provide a player for your audio files like the one below. media type="file" key="NCU Into.mp3" width="240" height="20" Another way to do this is to use web based service like [|Audioboo] to upload and store your audio files online. You will then set up a link to your online audio file and/or embed a player in your wiki page. Link to an Audioboo or embed it.... media type="custom" key="9308858" Still another great place to upload digital content is the [|Internet Archive]. Here is a demo file created with Audacity and uploaded to the Internet Archive and then embedded here. media type="custom" key="9862725"

Recently discovered [|iPadio] I made this recording by calling the iPadio telephone number with my Skype account. Slick way to use Skype to create a podcast. Records up to 60 minutes and provides a text transcript. media type="custom" key="9922889"