ENRICHING COURSES WITH LIVE MEDIA—PODCASTS AND VODCASTS

Mary SimoneJessica Downa

John MazzarellaEd Tech 2009

Questions to Consider

What is the impact of podcasting on advancing student learning? Just a novelty? Informal Learning Direct lesson integration

How can we use podcasting in our teaching? Profcasting Studentcasting Found material

What is a Podcast

A podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices (ipod's) and/or personal computers.

The term podcast, like 'radio', can mean both the content and the method of delivery. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically using software , like iTunes, capable of reading RSS (or XML or Atom) feeds.

What do our students think about Podcasting?

Brian White UMASS Boston Biology 112 : “iTunesU is a big success in

Bio112” Professor White used a website to host his audio lectures before switching to iTunes U this semester.  An anonymous survey question was given to the students on the last day of class; Consider the lecture audio. Which of these best describes your opinion? A) I prefer getting lecture audio from iTunesU rather than from the  course website. (43) B) I prefer getting lecture audio from the course website rather than  iTunesU (25) C) I have no preference. (19) D) I did not use the lecture audio (33)

Out of the 200 or so students enrolled, 120 (60% responded). Of the 82% of those who did use the lecture audio, only 29% preferred the web; 71% preferred iTunesU or had no preference.”

Pedagogy of Podcasts

Bowdoin: http://www.bowdoin.edu/podcasts/

Podcasts at UMASS Boston: http://itunesu.umb.edu Lafayette College: http://soapbox.lafayette.edu/podcast

Colgate: http://www.colgate.edu/podcasts

Swarthmore:http://www.academiccommons.org/ctfl/vignette/using-student-podcasts-in-literature-classes

UMass Boston Chinese 101: http://umbchinese101.pbworks.com/

Finding, Using & Subscribing to Podcast

iTunes & iTunes U has a podcast section to view new and top rated podcasts, as well as a podcast search engine.

Podcast Alley (PodcastAlley.com) is a web based podcast portal with top rated lists broken down by category.

The Education Podcast Network (epnweb.org) brings together the wide range of podcasts that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.

US Goverment PodcastsBusiness, Economics, Defense, International Relations, Health, History, Arts, and Culture and more.Also offers Podcasts in Spanishhttp://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/Podcasts.shtml

CBC radioArt, Music, News and Current Affairs Podcastshttp://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/

Using found podcasts

Use a podcast made by an expert in your field if you cant have the expert in person.

Breaking news about you’re specific subject.

Let your student’s virtually attend events, lectures or conferences that they couldn’t otherwise attend.

Creating a Podcast

Microphone/Camera (external or internal)

Portable Audio or Video recording device Recording/Editing software File hosting Syndication Content

How-to links

http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/07-podcast-recording-location.htm

http://www.slideshare.net/coolemath/vodcasting-101

http://blogs.cas.suffolk.edu/podcasting/2008/04/03/using-the-flip-video-camera-for-video-podcasts/

Relationship to other social media

Links to podcasts can be posted or embedded into many popular social media sites such as;

Blogs Wikis Twitter Facebook

Your protection as a creatorFair use for teachers http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.

htm The United States Copyright Office on definition,

terms, and conditions of copyright. http://www.copyright.gov http://www.loc.gov/copyright Morewebsites about copyright

Institutional ownership http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/html/ce

m/cem97/cem9734.html

Creative Commons

Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/

Creative Commons http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide

Podcast Access: UMass Boston on iTunes U

On April 14th, 2009 The UMass Boston iTunes U site when live on the iTunes U making UMass Boston Podcasts available worldwide 24/7.http://itunesu.umb.edu

Best Practices

Quiet recording spaceTry to choose a location that will be free of ambient noises.

Make your content specific to your audienceMake sure your content fits your audience

Add Meta Data to your podcast fileAdding Meta Data will allow users to find your podcasts using key words

Podcasting Resources

Apple - Education: Apple has an educational podcasting site for tid bits on podcasting in the classroom.

http://www.apple.com/education/solutions/podcasting/

iLife Garageband & Podcasting Tutorialshttp://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

Podcast Alley: Podcast Alley is a podcast portal with user-voted ranking lists, by category.

http://www.podcastalley.com/ Feed Burner: Allows podcasters to manage their RSS

feeds and track usage of their subscribers.http://www.feedburner.com/

Podomatic: Helps manage the hosting and syndication of podcasts.

http://www.podomatic.com