Introduction In this module, you will learn about some of the main directories that are used to search for podcasts. Start by reading about the main podcast directories and refreshing your information searching skills, and then practice listening and subscribing to the podcasts you find by completing practice & prep exercises below. You will learn how to use iTunes, a popular podcast aggregator or podcatcher, to subscribe and play podcasts. The second half of the module introduces you to some of the program format types or genres of podcasts with examples for you to observe. You will pick among these types for your educational podcast series.
Searching and Finding Podcasts
Read Chapter 2: pp. 51-73 about how to find podcasts and how to listen to them on (pp. 74-77).
[Note about skipped pages, pp. 19-50: This section describes software known as podcatchers, or pod aggregators. In this course we just use iTunes, but you're welcome to try these others once your comfortable with iTunes. FYI, some of these tools may no longer exist.]
Watch this short video by Apple about iTunes U -- and a nice little example of an Mcast (combination of audio, video and screen captures)
Practice and Preparation for Exercise 2
Visit the iTunes store (or other directory) and subscribe to 3-4 podcasts that interest you, and try to find one that you plan to emulate for your series..
Once you have subscribed to a few, go ahead and listen to them. Try listening on your computer and on a portable device. Think about whether you are learning by listening. We will discuss your selections and experiences using podcasts in our Week 2 Discussion (see Assignments)
Subscribe to our EDIT 575 course podcast in Mason's iTunes U. The Modules Tab contains audio examples that match the educational podcast types in the next section of this module.
If you have any questions or encounter problems, please post it to the Bb Discussion Board.
Podcasting in Education -- Types of Educational Podcasts
You need to choose a program format type for your educational podcast series. The following resources introduce the main types of podcast formats and will help you decide which one is right for your project.
Lecturecasting is the term being used when a lecture is recorded and posted online for students to access on-demand. This is the most common and easiest way of getting started in educational podcasts. Maybe I say this becasue this is how I got started. Lecturecasting to Course and Content Management systems is most easily accomplished using the iTunes U implementation. Apple has partnered with universities to support the use of podcasting for learning. iTunes U is an additional interface to the iTunes software. It allows professors to have their own course page, with audio/video and/or pdf content available for download and subscription. Visit Apple's iTunes U directory of Universities and Colleges The EDIT 575 Course podcasts provide an example of the way I'm using a podcast to manage and distribute audio content for students in this module. See Mason Hist 312 in iTunes U or the link to a recording of our first class lecture that I uploaded to iTunes U and Bb Discussions. NOTE: links to most samples are located in our course site on iTunes U).
Foreign Language Instruction is obvious content for podcasting. In fact some undergraduate classes require students to visit a language lab to listen to tapes. Bookstores have aisles of foreign language cd's and tapes. These are becoming more and more available for download on iTunes. Podcasting would be a great medium for teaching languages that are uncommon and not likely to be created by companies. Maybe a Urdu and Swahili or an Urdu to Swahili podcast. In addition to the course podcasts example, read the blog post and comments at Lifehacker. Example in iTunes U
Radio Talk Show is the dominant format in podcasting. They tend to be interview heavy, where the radio host mediates the conversation with an expert. There are several forms or styles within the interview podcast type - see Killer Interviewing Tips for Podcasters, page 4, Main Course. With intros, jingles, content, even advertising, radio producers have moved over to podcasting. This is obvious transition for hosted and branded content, plus builds a personal connection of the host with the listener. These types of produced shows are of high production quality and easily the most listenable. The one I listen to a lot for learning about educational technology topics is: Steve Hargadon, EdTechLive: http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List Example in iTunes U
Conference or lecture series podcasts are expert-driven lectures. I would call this lecture-casting on steriods, in that speakers tend to be invited guests. Often they are giving a formal presentation with a powerpoint (which they refer to but you cannot see) with a short question and answer period at the end. Like any conference you attend in person, you are not interested in every single speaker. What's great is that you can hear the absolute latest and greatest ideas without having to be there. What's not great is you don't get to meet people of common interest in the hallways, which is what makes conference so valuable. See the ACCS 2008 Conference website for an example. We used the same Marantz 660 DAR that I am using for our class.
Audio Tours are not widely available as podcasts. They are derived from the traditional museum audio tour. Instead of renting equipment you can use your own iPod. Following the repetition principle, you could listen to it ahead of time, during the visit, and afterwards. Teachers could create their own as a way to structure a field trip with students. In addition, I've heard a audio driving tour down I-5 in California, pointing out environmental issues down the highway. Because of the ease of production and portability, you can have an expert guide you to observe something in the world that you would have otherwise not noticed. Example in iTunes U
Primary Data is also not widely available as podcasts. Learning in disciplines like music but also ornithology (study of birds) or the field of health & medicine, students need to gain listening expertise. Students have the chance to listen over and over again, hearing new things each time. Imagine you are teaching a class on calls of birds in the Eastern United States. You could email each student the rss feed to the audio content that they can listen to before class. Of course, all types of music instruction, from band to chorus to music appreciation could all benefit from a podcasting delivery system. With music, you must be extremely careful about copyright even under Fair Use policies. Listen to Bird Song Example.
Oral History Projects are not widely available as podcasts. Historians record the interviews that document historical events from the individual's perspective, in other word they record the lived experience. The projects record interviews of people who lived events like the Holocaust, 9/11, or ethnic cleansing. These are academic works of serious scholarship, but I think podcasting could make this work much more available to the broader public. Historical speeches are also becoming more and more available. See course podcast example: Oral History example.
Audiobooks are just beginning to be made available as podcasts. Good quality audiobooks can be found at Audible.com, which operates on a purchase and download model. The prices are dramatically less than buying CD-based audiobooks in the bookstore. The books can be more expensive than the paperback counterparts, but compare favorably to hardcover costs. Free public domain audiobooks are available at LibriVox. Or listen to our iTunes U example.
If you are already listening to podcasts, adding audiobooks to your listening mix will be a natural transition. Audiobooks are a wonderful way of consuming the information normally sold as books. Like podcasting, you can "read" a book while driving. When thinking about an audience, busy adults and below grade levels readers are the perfect candidate for assigning an audiobook before a class discussion.
These are types that I have been able to discover. If you think of others please share them on the Discussion Board. If you have any questions about these topics, I encourage you to post them to the Discussion Board.
Summary
You've learned that the key podcast directories make it easy to search and subscribe to audio/video content of all kinds. But if you find a podcast on a standalone website, did you know that you can also copy/paste the RSS URL into iTunes > Advanced> Subscribe to Podcast? Now you do. You also learned that while the radio style podcasts with interviews are the most popular, there are several other types of podcast show formats useful to meet specific needs.
Module 2: Observe
Table of Contents
After completing this module, you should be able to:
In this module, you will learn about some of the main directories that are used to search for podcasts. Start by reading about the main podcast directories and refreshing your information searching skills, and then practice listening and subscribing to the podcasts you find by completing practice & prep exercises below. You will learn how to use iTunes, a popular podcast aggregator or podcatcher, to subscribe and play podcasts. The second half of the module introduces you to some of the program format types or genres of podcasts with examples for you to observe. You will pick among these types for your educational podcast series.
Searching and Finding Podcasts
[Note about skipped pages, pp. 19-50: This section describes software known as podcatchers, or pod aggregators. In this course we just use iTunes, but you're welcome to try these others once your comfortable with iTunes. FYI, some of these tools may no longer exist.]
Podcast Directories
-- see Resources/Appendix in Farkas (pp. 275-284)Subscribing and Listening to Podcasts using iTunes
Practice and Preparation for Exercise 2
Podcasting in Education -- Types of Educational Podcasts
You need to choose a program format type for your educational podcast series. The following resources introduce the main types of podcast formats and will help you decide which one is right for your project.Lecturecasting is the term being used when a lecture is recorded and posted online for students to access on-demand. This is the most common and easiest way of getting started in educational podcasts. Maybe I say this becasue this is how I got started. Lecturecasting to Course and Content Management systems is most easily accomplished using the iTunes U implementation. Apple has partnered with universities to support the use of podcasting for learning. iTunes U is an additional interface to the iTunes software. It allows professors to have their own course page, with audio/video and/or pdf content available for download and subscription. Visit Apple's iTunes U directory of Universities and Colleges The EDIT 575 Course podcasts provide an example of the way I'm using a podcast to manage and distribute audio content for students in this module. See Mason Hist 312 in iTunes U or the link to a recording of our first class lecture that I uploaded to iTunes U and Bb Discussions.
NOTE: links to most samples are located in our course site on iTunes U).
Foreign Language Instruction is obvious content for podcasting. In fact some undergraduate classes require students to visit a language lab to listen to tapes. Bookstores have aisles of foreign language cd's and tapes. These are becoming more and more available for download on iTunes. Podcasting would be a great medium for teaching languages that are uncommon and not likely to be created by companies. Maybe a Urdu and Swahili or an Urdu to Swahili podcast. In addition to the course podcasts example, read the blog post and comments at Lifehacker. Example in iTunes U
Radio Talk Show is the dominant format in podcasting. They tend to be interview heavy, where the radio host mediates the conversation with an expert. There are several forms or styles within the interview podcast type - see Killer Interviewing Tips for Podcasters, page 4, Main Course. With intros, jingles, content, even advertising, radio producers have moved over to podcasting. This is obvious transition for hosted and branded content, plus builds a personal connection of the host with the listener. These types of produced shows are of high production quality and easily the most listenable. The one I listen to a lot for learning about educational technology topics is: Steve Hargadon, EdTechLive: http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List
Example in iTunes U
Conference or lecture series podcasts are expert-driven lectures. I would call this lecture-casting on steriods, in that speakers tend to be invited guests. Often they are giving a formal presentation with a powerpoint (which they refer to but you cannot see) with a short question and answer period at the end. Like any conference you attend in person, you are not interested in every single speaker. What's great is that you can hear the absolute latest and greatest ideas without having to be there. What's not great is you don't get to meet people of common interest in the hallways, which is what makes conference so valuable. See the ACCS 2008 Conference website for an example. We used the same Marantz 660 DAR that I am using for our class.
Audio Tours are not widely available as podcasts. They are derived from the traditional museum audio tour. Instead of renting equipment you can use your own iPod. Following the repetition principle, you could listen to it ahead of time, during the visit, and afterwards. Teachers could create their own as a way to structure a field trip with students. In addition, I've heard a audio driving tour down I-5 in California, pointing out environmental issues down the highway. Because of the ease of production and portability, you can have an expert guide you to observe something in the world that you would have otherwise not noticed. Example in iTunes U
Primary Data is also not widely available as podcasts. Learning in disciplines like music but also ornithology (study of birds) or the field of health & medicine, students need to gain listening expertise. Students have the chance to listen over and over again, hearing new things each time. Imagine you are teaching a class on calls of birds in the Eastern United States. You could email each student the rss feed to the audio content that they can listen to before class. Of course, all types of music instruction, from band to chorus to music appreciation could all benefit from a podcasting delivery system. With music, you must be extremely careful about copyright even under Fair Use policies. Listen to Bird Song Example.
Oral History Projects are not widely available as podcasts. Historians record the interviews that document historical events from the individual's perspective, in other word they record the lived experience. The projects record interviews of people who lived events like the Holocaust, 9/11, or ethnic cleansing. These are academic works of serious scholarship, but I think podcasting could make this work much more available to the broader public. Historical speeches are also becoming more and more available. See course podcast example: Oral History example.
Audiobooks are just beginning to be made available as podcasts. Good quality audiobooks can be found at Audible.com, which operates on a purchase and download model. The prices are dramatically less than buying CD-based audiobooks in the bookstore. The books can be more expensive than the paperback counterparts, but compare favorably to hardcover costs. Free public domain audiobooks are available at LibriVox. Or listen to our iTunes U example.
If you are already listening to podcasts, adding audiobooks to your listening mix will be a natural transition. Audiobooks are a wonderful way of consuming the information normally sold as books. Like podcasting, you can "read" a book while driving. When thinking about an audience, busy adults and below grade levels readers are the perfect candidate for assigning an audiobook before a class discussion.
These are types that I have been able to discover. If you think of others please share them on the Discussion Board. If you have any questions about these topics, I encourage you to post them to the Discussion Board.
Summary
You've learned that the key podcast directories make it easy to search and subscribe to audio/video content of all kinds. But if you find a podcast on a standalone website, did you know that you can also copy/paste the RSS URL into iTunes > Advanced> Subscribe to Podcast? Now you do. You also learned that while the radio style podcasts with interviews are the most popular, there are several other types of podcast show formats useful to meet specific needs.
Assignments
You're done with this module if you: