Podcasts and Wikis: What Are They and How Can You Use Them in Your Teaching?

CTL Fellows Meeting

December 5, 2006

Kathryn Shaughnessy

Instructional Services Librarian

Podcasting in the Classroom

A podcast is…

A growing method of delivering audio information– Time-shifted– Place-shifted

• An informational “broadcast” saved as an audio file (mp3) and distributed via the web (strictly speaking via RSS)

• Listeners download/listen at their convenience via desktop/laptop or on a personal player

Podcasting in the Classroom

Podcasting timeline…

• August 2004: “iPodders” search for a way to retrieve old blogs and audiofiles – develop RSS (Winer) and podcast software (Curry)

• July 2005: iTunes supports/distributes podcasts, get 1 million subscribers in first 2 days

• August 2005: 8,000 podcasts, 6 million listeners

• December 2005: Podcast selected as “Word of the Year” by editors of New Oxford American Dictionary: "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player"

Hobson and Holtz Report, 8/4/2005 http://forimmediaterelease.biz/index.php/weblog/2005/08/05/ )Oxford University Press, US website, http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/NOAD_podcast/?view=usa

Podcasting in the Classroom

Podcasting evolution …

• Personal / information sharing

• Business applications

• Religious groups

• Education & Distributed Learning

Podcasting in the Classroom

DUKE: benefits of podcasts in learning/instruction

• playback of difficult content/material

• multiple repetitions for listeners who have difficulty with English

• allows for review/enjoyment of materials while multitasking (e.g.: commuting or exercising). 

• inspired creation of podcasts among listeners

• increased “frequency and depth” of learner interaction, especially in language & music  

• increased communication between faculty, library and IT; led to improved collaboration and planning, both within & among institutions.

Duke Report, 2004 - 2005

Podcasting in the Classroom

Current Uses of Podcast /Webcast Resources in Academia

– Reference-quality lectures (NPR, LOC, Stanford & Princeton)

– Student Instruction / Orientation (Drexel)

– Community News (U. of Western Ontario)

– Outreach to potential students (Peterson’s)

– Scholarly Communication (U. of Florida)

– Audio tours (Purdue)

Podcasting in the Classroom

Finding Podcasts: Google search “podcast directory”:

• iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

• iPodder.org http://www.ipodder.org/directory/4/podcasts/categories

• Yahoo http://podcasts.yahoo.com/

– Blogs and your favorite websites (helps to keep up with Newsgator RSS feedreader, they merged with FeedDemon publisher so feed has capability to download the podcast in a compatible FeedStation player or right-click and “save-as”)

– Coming Soon: iTunesU (Wiki collaboration)

Podcasting in the Classroom

Creating Podcasts: John’s Libraries:http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/libraries/resources/podcasts

– Poetry Readings/ Author visits– Guest Lectures – Student essay winners, e.g.: Service Learning Essay

– Instruction • Audio Tours• Resource Tutorials• Distributed Learning• Professional Development

Podcasting in the Classroom

Practical Questions for creating podcasts:

– Investment of Money:• Computer (Laptop or Desktop)• Audio editing software (Audacity = free)• good microphone ($50)• headphone equipment ($40 - $60)

Can record using a Laptop with Mic or purchase a digital Voice recorder ($40 – 80)to use with or without a lapel mic ($25)

(see equipment handout for more information)

Podcasting in the Classroom

Practical Questions for creating podcasts:

– Investment of time:

• learning editing software -- not long to learn basics of Audacity

• editing -- this takes the most time, if lengthy session

• annotations – depending on how/whether you want to make it easy for your users to preview or skip to point within a podcast

• Adding metadata – not long, but important

• Uploading – not long

Podcasting in the Classroom

Technical Questions:

– How many files/downloads can the server handle?• 8 minute podcast, saved bit rate 64

size: 7 MB

time to download on T1: 10 seconds• 70 minute lecture, saved bit rate 64

size: 28 MB

time to download on T1: 22 second

– How do we index / store / retrieve?

– How do we handle preservation/archiving of files

Podcasting in the Classroom

Legal Questions:

– Release form for electronic recording• Library developed one, should have it approved by

counsel

– Clarify extent of distribution to lecturer• On main website: available to all• CMS or intranet: Although password protected, once in

digital format, it is relatively easy to duplicate.

Wikis in the Classroom

What is a wiki?

– Website that can be updated quickly, by many people• Good for collaborating on a big project or paper• Good for a site that covers dynamic content

Editing capabilities can be open or password protected at site or page level

Wikis in the Classroom

How to use/incorporate a wiki?

– External examples:

• Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/• Encyclopedia of Earth http://www.eoearth.org/

– Internal examples:

• DiscoverNY http://discoverny.pbwiki.com/Brazil• Podcasts http://podcastresources.pbwiki.com/

Podcasts and wikis in the Classroom

• Strengths of using external/internal podcasts & wikis:

– facilitates development of information literacy and life-long learning

– enriches primary-resource research & reference base

– coach vs. sage – facilitating/motivating individual learner inquiry and peer discussion

– engages different styles of learning

– assists low-vision and ESL students

Podcasts and wikis in the Classroom

Podcasting and wikis and future trends in academia

– Scholarly publishing

– Public/Open Access

– Archives

– E-Portfolios

– ?????

Podcasts and wikis in the Classroom

Please contact me with any questions/suggestions– Kathryn Shaughnessy, x1454

Shaughnk@stjohns.edu

St. John’s University Library