Fumbling Around in the Dark!

One Newbie’s Podcasting Journey!

Just like my foray into social bookmarking, I was in completely new territory with our podcasting exploration. I had never listened to a podcast before and I definitely had not created one. I hit so many roadblocks, or at least speed bumps along this journey!

During my research and reading on podcasting I did get very excited over the uses in education (detailed later), but the software, creation, posting, etc was very labour-intensive for me. I am left with more questions than I started with and I feel very “un-tech-savvy” today.


Start with the basics - What is Podcasting?

A very basic, stripped-down explanation is that podcasting is an audio file that is shared with an audience through syndication. The term podcasting is an amalgamation of the terms “iPod” and “broadcasting”. Which, of course, is a misnomer because you do not specifically need an iPod for podcasting, but simply some kind of MP3 player for listening to podcasts. According to Wikipedia’s definition of podcast, “as more mobile devices other than iPods became able to synchronize with podcast feeds, a backronym [acronym developed “after the fact”] developed where podcast stood for "Personal On Demand broadCAST." (As seen in the Common Craft video on podcasting.)

A media aggregator program or “podcatcher” (like iTunes, Juice, or Zune) will use the RSS (Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) feed to download the MP3 files to the MP3 player, whether that is a PC or handheld device.

Brittain et al (2006), as cited in Robinson and Ritzko, “contend that the difference between podcasts and other audio and video files accessed via the Internet is that podcasts are created on a regular basis and then distributed automatically through a subscription”, but Robinson and Ritzko feel that “not all podcasts follow this organized system” (2009). They, like others, suggest that audio files that are created on a one time basis are still considered podcasts.

Some definitions also include images and video. An “enhanced podcast” includes electronic slide shows, chapter markers and other data and a “vodcasts” or “vidcast” includes video footage. (However, most information that I found spoke only to audio content.)



My Exploration… my tedious and long exploration...
(Read with a large cup of coffee and/or a stiff drink…)

I began by downloading Audacity (recommended by Richardson) onto my PC and then belatedly thought to ask my husband, Loren, (the real computer tech in our house) if we even had a microphone! He dug one out, but sadly it was broken. (This delighted our three-year old who discovered a “new toy”!) After experimenting with headphones as a microphone (something he has done before, but not with my cheapies!), Loren gave up and we made alternate plans. We installed Audacity on our Apple laptop and used the built in microphone.

The first night we had a lot of fun playing with Audacity and our end product was a three-part cannon of the two of us singing “Row, row, row, your boat”! The next day we experimented again and tried to make a somewhat more polished piece to include in my blog. I thought it would be cute to include my three-year old son. (Note to self: when on a deadline, don’t rely on a toddler’s cooperation!) After numerous false starts we made a cute recording of Loren and Nolan reading a poem (The Dinosaur Dinner by Dennis Lee) together. However, my son was being rather shy for the microphone (trust me, performance shyness is RARE with him!) and his part was too quiet. I then had to experiment with some of the editing features on Audacity. I managed to make a copy of the quiet part and raise the volume on it and set both tracks to play at the same time. The end result was “good enough” for my purposes, but could still use some tweaking!

I quickly realized that now I had an Audacity file, but couldn’t do anything but play it in Audacity on that specific computer. This began another headache. When I tried to install the recommended software, Lame, unbeknownst to me, it was in the wrong file format and I needed Loren’s help again. He solved this latest hiccup and we were then able to export the file and create an MP3 file.

But, alas, this wasn’t the final step either! I now had an MP3 file saved on my laptop, but it was still not accessible to anyone else. A search of the help information on Blogger turned up a step-by-step guide for including this file on your blog. I still had to have my MP3 file hosted by a third-party site. I chose BoxNet (simply because it was the first one on their list of suggestions – can you tell I was getting frustrated?) and opened a “lite” (free) account. I did successfully manage to upload my file to BoxNet, but got stuck again trying to add it to my blog. The help guide had told me to add it through the HTML widget, but I had a URL and not HTML text from BoxNet… Ahhh. Time for ME to get that large cup of coffee and/or stiff drink! I was completely frustrated by this point.

At this point I have to admit that my techie husband wrote a simple HTML code to include a link to my recording at BoxNet as a widget. (Now that I see how his code was formatted, I could use it to recreate it for other links in the future, but this was hardly intuitive for me.) The end result was a link to BoxNet on the side of my blog page. I don’t think the addition of widgets will show up in an RSS feed, so I do not think this is the appropriate way to add audio content in the form of a “podcast” to your blog. (BTW, Is reading this exploration as painful as doing it?)

BACK UP, NIKI! I had found a step-by-step guide for students and teachers and I needed to follow it! I backed up and found directions that I simply started to follow explicitly! This worked a bit better for me.

Condensed Version: I used Picnik to create a square image to be used for the title of my podcast on a third-party hosting site. I set up an account at SolidCasts (picked because it was free with no ads) and uploaded my photo and my audio recording. Then I simply created a new post to my blog with my SolidCasts page hyperlinked.

While I feel this brought me closer to what it was I wanted to do because new podcasts will show up if someone subscribes to my (whole) blog, but not quite it because not every update will be a podcast.

This definitely requires further exploration! However, the end result is that my first podcast attempt can currently be found in two places on my blog. (As a post from July 19, 2009 and on the right-hand side of my page as a widget.) Both “work”, but differently and neither are quite what I had hoped for!

Implications for Teaching & Library

It is a little bit tough trying to regain some of my initial enthusiasm for podcasts after my brutal trial and error exploration, but I can still see the merit in them, especially if you have moved past being such a neophyte!

When I listed to a few of the monologues on the “educating alice” blog (3rd trailfire site), I was immediately struck by a similar fabulous use for podcasts. As a Grade One teacher, reading instruction, reading experiences, and reading assessment are very important. A colleague of mine routinely records her students reading a book (that is used for assessment purposes). Each student has a cassette that holds his/her recordings through the year. This cassette can be played for parents at conferences and/or used to demonstrate the student’s reading strengths and/or weaknesses. But let’s bring this idea up to date -- Podcasting! Record the readings, but turn them into podcasts. You may then add them to a classroom blog or website for parents to access.

As a reading teacher those implications jump out at me fast and furious, but the podcasts in general would be an excellent way to demonstrate knowledge. The students could create a science explanation, a readers’ theatre, explain the rules to a sport or game, and so on. An assessment or culminating activity could literally be thought of for any subject at any grade – what a versatile tool! The possibilities seem endless!

The guide “Podcasting for Teachers and Students” gave numerous suggestions for podcast use, including teachers creating podcasts to share information, but author Tony Vincent also detailed how students creating their own podcasts would have tremendous educational benefits. In particular I appreciated his suggestion that “knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product” (p. 3).

I had noted with the use of video, such as YouTube, in education that a specific learning style can be targeted. Podcasts would work toward differentiated instruction as well by serving the segment of the population that are audio learners.

The portability and flexibility of podcasts are appealing. Class lectures, activities, or discussions could be recorded to be utilized by students who were absent or by others wishing to review the information.


What’s Next?

Ugh. Was this process so “ugly” because of my inexperience? Is there a better way to do this, or do I simply need more practice? Either way, I need to play around with this process (at every stage) to improve upon my comfort level, skill, and hopefully, develop some expertise that will make this process easier to include in my own teaching and/or enable me to teach this process to students in a more efficient, effective manner.

I read that another free software program called “Levelator” could have helped me solve the issue of Nolan speaking so quietly. I’d like to experiment with this software to enhance the overall quality of how my recordings sound.

I also read about using Feedburner (another Google tool, it seems) to redirect and reformat Blogger’s RRS feed to make it compatible with iTunes. Would this work towards including my podcast “properly”? It too requires some exploration.

I recognize that I am going to have to get past my initial difficulties. I see podcasts becoming more prevalent in the general public and, specifically, in education. “Given the increase in the number of MP3 players being integrated into cell phones, it is likely that podcasting will also grow as the world becomes increasingly digital and mobile” (Robinson & Ritzko, p. 42).

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…



References

Robinson, S., & Ritzko, J.. (2009). PODCASTS IN EDUCATION: WHAT, WHY AND HOW? Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Educational Leadership. Proceedings, 14(1), 38-43. Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1769776311).

Vincent, T. (2009). Podcasting for Teachers and Students. Retrieved from Learning In Hand (www.learninginhand.com). http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/Podcasting_Booklet.pdf