Technology and Education

Podcasting in five easy steps

Tweet Get the Flash Player to see this content. Podcasting in education has huge potential, but I feel quite a few teachers are put off because they think it’s a complicated business and that you need to be really good at computers to make a podcast. This video will show you how anyone can start [...]

Posted by José Picardo on August 26, 2008

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

Podcasting in education has huge potential, but I feel quite a few teachers are put off because they think it’s a complicated business and that you need to be really good at computers to make a podcast. This video will show you how anyone can start their own podcasts in five easy steps.

How can I use podcasts alongside my teaching?

Teachers who already dabble at podcasting generally use podcasts in two main ways:

as a way to deliver content to your students. Think of podcasts as lessons to take away: providing your students have subscribed to your podcasts, once you upload a new episode it will automatically be delivered to your students without any further intervention from you or them.
as a means to showcase your students’ work. Think of it as a new and exciting homework project. Show your students the podcasting basics and they will produce stunning pieces of work that you and they will be able to proudly show off.

It still looks difficult. I don’t think I’ll manage…

Rubbish! Podcasting is often wrongly perceived as complicated and difficult. If you know how to press a big red button then you know how to record and, if you have watched the video, then you are already familiar with the selector, envelope and time-shift tools. That is really all you need to start your own podcasts.

What benefits will it bring me?

Your students will benefit from a reliable source of material for revision and they will thank you for it, and you will be steadily building a huge bank of resources that you can use again and again, year after year.

There is really no reason why you shouldn’t give podcasting a go.

Links

As you become more of a podcasting expert (it will happen!), you will want to add music and sound loops to your podcasts. Joe Dale, who regularly leads courses and talks at conferences about podcasting, has compiled a fantastic treasure trove of podcasting related links in his Delicious bookmarks. Dive in and have fun!

You can subscribe to these video podcasts in iTunes.

You can also find this video in YouTube and Vimeo.

I hope you find this video useful. Let me know what you think.

Note: Downloading and installing the LAME encoder really is optional, as you can use other programmes, such as iTunes, to convert .wav files to .mp3.

José Picardo

José is Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Nottingham High School, a secondary school in England, and is interested in the way technology can be used to enhance and transform teaching and learning. José has been curating Box of Tricks since 2007 and holds a MA in ICT and Education.