Thanks to a kind tip off from Twitter friend Tom Barrett, Teachers TV approached me over the summer to write a short article about my top tips for podcasting in the classroom. The results based on four years of practice were published yesterday and the positive response from the Twitterverse has been flattering to say the least.
Teachers TV has also brought out four new episodes for their Better Learning with ICT series this week, one of which concentrates on podcasting and includes some great how to guides and case studies in the enhanced version. To access them, press play and click the different icons underneath the play head.
Chris Thomas does a great job in explaining the basics of how to get started in podcasting and certainly looks the part as a tv presenter!
Another good overview I came across recently is this one from Howcast which explains in less than three minutes all the steps you need to get up and running. For a more detailed approach on using Keynote and GarageBand to make enhanced podcasts, watch these great guides by Matt Guest and Mark Pentleton. To learn how to use Audacity, you could do worse than checking out the video tutorials I recently did for the CILT 14-19 Training Zone.
Alternatively, you may like to choose a different free audio editor from this list of 25! Music to the ears for all you audiophiles out there no doubt!
For those wanting a totally web-based podcasting solution, there's the new audio editor Myna from Aviary recommended by José Picardo and Ana Maria Menezes which is also now included in a beta education version. Winksound has done a nice short overview of the free tool and Torley has given it a quick look too.
Of course that's only half the story though. To make your audio file into a podcast, you need to upload it on to the web and attach it to an RSS feed so others can subscribe. Here are two guides to help you do that. One is for PodBean and the other for Podomatic. You may also be interested in trying out Posterous as a free host for your podcast and emailing your mp3 files to your feed as attachments.
If you're looking for more evidence of the educational value of podcasting then you could listen to this engaging discussion about its learning benefits or work your way through this presentation by Stefan Lesaage from Podcamp Barcelona. Take particular note of slide 23 which refers to the research of Dr Dani McKinney as reported in the New Scientist last year.
Now with your creativity sparked, is it time to join the revolution too? Mmm ...
Once again I come to your blog and find more great and useful information. I really enjoy all the links and references that you give to many different programs. For example, I use Audacity on a weekly basis and I understand how the programs works, but the link for the tutorial has been a great help. Thanks for all the great information in this post!
Posted by: Aaron Fiveash | 13/09/2010 at 04:11
Wow, this is some great information on making a podcast. I'm just a about two weeks late in reading this post. My group and I had to create one and this would have been perfect to have then. We were completely confused on how or where to start. I will keep this post in my favorites for future references, because there were a lot of great links to aid in creating podcast. Thank you very much for posting this it will be a great help for me and I'm sure for others.
Posted by: Courtney Muse | 11/10/2010 at 03:23