Presented by Jane Cook, EASTCONN Literacy & Technology Specialist and CT Writing Project Technology Program Leader

Adapted from a PowerPoint by Steve Sokoloski – K4 Tech Coordinator, Mansfield Public Schools

An audio file that is broadcast over the Internet Podcast is a compound word combining Pod

from iPod with cast from broadcast = Podcast Some people say POD is an acronym that

stands for Personal On Demand or Publishing On Demand and has nothing to do with iPods

Technically, Podcasts are repeating broadcasts with episodes

Most people use the term Podcast to broadly describe any audio file that can be played on the Internet or on a portable player

A microphone or video camera

A computer

A computer program that can edit audio or video files and export them, e.g., Audacity

An audio file (AKA Podcast)

A computer to play the file and to download the file so you can make it portable

A portable player such as an iPod or MP3 Player if you want to listen to it “offline”

An audio file that you’ve created

A Web site to post your Podcast

A computer to play it

A portable player (iPod, MP3 Player) to make it mobile

An RSS/XML Feed (for updates)

Audacity is a free open source audio editing software for creating MP3 files that works on PCs and Macs: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

Download the LAME encoder to export MP3 files.

USB microphones give the best quality.

You can find intro, exit and bumper music at the Podsafe music network: http://music.podshow.com/

Music rights are granted under Creative Commons License and are safe to use.

Music files can be downloaded and edited into bumpers using Audacity.

Once you begin to create Podcasts, you need a place on the Internet to post them.

Podcasts can be very large files, especially if they contain video. You may be able to post them on your school’s Web site but there may be space issues.

Mansfield Public Schools used their Town Web server to host school podcasts when they began two years ago. Now they are using Podcast People and PodBean.

Posting on the school Web site provides them with a way to highlight info about the Podcasts.

The show notes contain links to the music, credits the kids, and provides context.

They try to make a link back to the educational objectives that each episode highlights. Technology is engaging the students in learning.

They try to keep it simple - just kids reading what they wrote or produced.

They always send a letter home letting folks know their kids are going to be on the air.

To listen to some of their Podcasts, go to Vinton School’s Radio Owl: http://www.mansfieldct.org/schools/vinton/vnradio/index.htm

RSS is the magic of Web 2.0.

A Web site that puts out an RSS feed tells other pages that its content has been updated or changed.

When you subscribe to a site with an RSS feed you are notified when content changes.

It is a “push” technology.

When you customize your Google News or Yahoo News page, you are choosing to “listen” to stories via RSS.

Most blog sites use RSS. If you subscribe to your friend’s blog, you’ll know when they have updated their posts.

A blog aggregator allows you to store all of your RSS feeds, e.g., http://www.bloglines.com or Google Reader. iTunes is the Podcast aggregator of choice.

Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7 have built in support for RSS feeds.

http://techsi.wikispaces.com/Podcasting http://mansfield20.wikispaces.com/

Podcasting http://cwp.uconn.edu/teachers/technology/

podcasting.php