So what is a podcast and how can they be used in education? A podcast is simply a way of distributing media files (both audio and video) for playing either on a mobile device such as an mp3 player or on a computer. For a full explanation see this wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast or this article on “What is Podcasting”. Podcasts can be an effective revision tool and there are examples on both the Geography and History websites at St Ivo.
To create a podcast you will need a computer microphone (these are very cheap) and a sound editor software package. One of the most commonly used sound editors is Audacity which is a free download. Audacity can be used for recording your podcasts and editing your recordings, including the addition of music and sounds effects. Audacity can be downloaded from here.
How to create your own podcast.
There are a number of resources regarding the use of podcasts, but Doug Belshaw – an inspirational History and ICT teacher has written a superb 5 part guide to Podcasting which can be accessed below. His blog http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/ is well worth a read in itself!
- The What and Why of Podcasting (Part 1) http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/08/podcasting-part1/
- Recording your podcast (Part 2) http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/09/podcasting-part2/
- Putting your podcast together (Part 3) http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/10/podcasting-part3/
- Making your podcast available to others (Part 4) http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/11/podcasting-part4/
- Advanced Podcasting (Part 5) http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/12/podcasting-part5/
Also an interesting video “Recording an mp3 podcast with audacity” (youtube video tutorial) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXUJyV6hVHk
Further Reading / Resources:
- How to Podcast from Podcasting News
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Podcast Directory - a director of educational podcasts catalogued by subject – compiled by teacher David Noble
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What is a podcast? http://epnweb.org/index.php?view_mode=what
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List of websites with general information related to podcasting http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/infolit/edupodcast/
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Podcasting – a reason why all educators should podcast http://mobile-learning.blog-city.com/podcasting_a_reason_why_all_educators_should_pocast.htm
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Podcasting in Education – Apple http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/podcasting.html
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Learning in Hand – creating podcasts http://www.learninginhand.com/podcasting/create.html
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Create and share media for ipods http://www.mogopop.com/
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Make up your own ipod ready tours, videos etc. http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2006/12/make_up_your_ow.html
SoundEditing Software
- Audacity (Free Soundediting software) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Music for Podcasts
- Garage Band – http://www.garageband.com/podcast
- Podsafe Audio – http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
- Royalty Free Music Loops – http://www.flashkit.com/loops/
- Sound Transit http://soundtransit.nl/index.html
- Free Sound http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/
Downloading Podcasts
- Feed Demon – http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon
- Juice – http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/
- Happy Fish – http://happyfish.info/software
Vodcasts
- Vodcasts – Wikipedia Article – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_podcast
- How to create a vodcast http://playlistmag.com/features/2005/07/howtovodcast/index.php
- How to make a vodcast – a basic introduction http://www.vodstock.com/make/how-to-make.php
Finding Podcasts
- List of podcasts related to education http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/infolit/edupodcast
- PodFeed.net http://www.podfeed.net/
- Podcast Net http://www.podcast.net/
- Podcast Directory – http://www.podcastdirectory.com/
- Podcast Directory (Education) http://www.podcastdirectory.org.uk/
- Digital Podcast http://www.digitalpodcast.com/
Rob Chambers - AST - ICT Across the Curriculum 
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