For Faculty -- Podcasting
Why Podcast?
Podcating is affordable. Podcasting has little or no costs associated with it. All you need is a computer or digital recording device, software to use with recording or converting your audio files to MP3, and a website to house your MP3 files. There is free software available that works very well and, if support is not available in your department or college, the LTC will support you.
Podcasting enables students to learn outside the classroom. Students can easily download your podcasts to their computers using free software, such as iTunes.
Podcasting fits mobile computing. Students can listen to your podcasts on-the-go by syncing your podcasts to their iPods and playing through their car radio or listening as they walk across campus. In addition, some cell phones now come MP3-enabled.
Podcasting can connect you with remote learners. If you are teaching a distance course, podcasting will connect you in new ways to your students.
What Can Faculty Podcast?
Course lectures. Faculty and instructors can podcast content to students in a number of ways. The easiest way is to record your course lectures and podcast them as audio files. Students can then listen to your lectures to better understand the more complex issues raised in class, correct mistakes made in their notes, review for exams, and catch-up with classes they missed when out sick. At the LTC, we have purchased digital audio recording devices with armbands that capture a speaker's voice quite well. It is easy to convert the saved audio to MP3 files and podcast to students. By the way, the LTC has been capturing video of lectures given in the ILC for a few years and faculty have not observed any relationship between providing video of lectures available and students cutting classes.
Special content. Faculty can make special podcasts in which they highlight course content that they want students to master. This can be especially helpful to students studying for exams.
Topical content. Complement course lectures, readings and activities by podcasting new material. By relating an interesting article from the professional literature, remarks by a conference presenter, or your own research, students will become more engaged in the subject material.
Have your students create their own podcasts. There is no doubt that podcasting both audio and video is exploding in 2006. Many students are already subscribing to podcasts and even doing their own. Instead of submitting assignments to you on paper, you can identify assignments that students can submit as podcasts during the course. They may take more ownership of the content and other students can listen to them as well.
What is the easiest way to "podcatch?" Apple's iTunes is by far the most successful software for subscribing to podcasts at this time. Watch a Flash movie showing how to subscirbe to podcasts in iTunes.
Recommended reading/listening re: podcasting
Read what other colleges and universities are doing: Barbara Fitzgerald's "Campus iPods: they’re not just for music lovers anymore Pilot iPod program explores classroom potential of mobile technology," Richmond Now, Dec. 2006-Jan. 2007; David Miller's "Podcasting at the University of Connecticut: Enhancing the Educational Experience," Campus Technology's SmartClassroom newsletter, October 2006; Mikael Blaisdell's "Is It iTime Yet?" appears in the March 2006 issue of Campus Technology. Blaisdell's article reviews "the inside story from faculty, students, and administrators at three schools on the vanguard." Learn about the lessons reported by University of Michigan School of Dentistry, the University of Dayton, and Georgia College & State University. The report highlights such topics as how podcasting is being used, and support and legal issues.
Susan Smith Nash has some interesting observations and thoughts about podcasting. Listen to her 19 minute podcast on the subject and read her blog entry Podcast Theory Gap.
Follow Duke's progress and process at Duke Digital Initiative.See my What Podcasts Are Out There? to find podcasts in your field.
