AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

How to Podcast

By Tom Felle

Teaching assistant, Journalism

AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an audio recording of an event (eg lecture) made available for public consumption via the internet

How do you make one?

Four steps: Record you audio; edit it; upload it to a server (eg Sulis) and distribute via a ‘Podcatcher’ (eg iTunes)

AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

1. How do I record my audio?

Hardware required: digital recorder

Should be able to connect via USB

Should allow recording in MP3 format (compressed file sizes; circa 1mb per minute)

Recommended: Zoom H2 (circa €200) or similar

To record: Press ‘Record’, to stop press ‘Stop’

Upload to computer: Plug in via USB – operates exactly the same as a memory stick.

AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

1. How do I edit the audio?

Software required: audio editing package

Recommended: Adobe Audition (circa €300)

Free recommendation: Audacity (basic but works fine)

To use:

1.Import / open file, place mouse at in-point; highlight unwanted audio and press delete. 2. Split into 10-20 minute “chunks” (if using Sulis)

3. Save lectures in MP3 format

AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

3. What do you do with your recording?

(a) Upload to Sulis

In course page click “site editor” then “edit tools” and click “podcast” to add option.

In ‘podcasts’ click “add” to add MP3 (podcast) files

(b) Distribute via iTunes: click “advanced” then “subscribe to podcast” and podcasts will download and update iPods automatically

AHSS Faculty Teaching Day

22 January 2010

Questions to consider:

Who is my podcast for?

Students / faculty or outside interest

How will it be marketed (SULIS only available internally)?

Training? / Time commitments?

Audio quality and production values? (University reputation at stake!)

Impact on teaching?