Freeman

Catholic
College

Kelly Bauer
Oriana Miano
What is a podcast?
A podcasts is simply a free video or audio file that is distributed over the internet
through a podcasting program like iTunes.

The name podcast is an amalgamation of iPod and broadcast, however, you do not
need an iPod or any sort of MP3 player to play them, you can just use a normal
computer.

Where can I find them?

Most podcasts can be found through iTunes Store, however you can also search on the
web.

Some web-based websites you can find podcasts.

The Education Podcast Network http://epnweb.org/
ABC National Podcasts http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/
CSIRO Podcasts http://www.csiro.au/products/CSIROpod.html
An educational Podcast Directory http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/channel-list.php
NASA Podcasting http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/
Naked Scientist http://www.thenakedscientists.com/
Why would I use them in The Classroom?
For a variety of reasons:
View university and industry standard content and presenters
View things that you can’t possibly do in the classroom due to location or safety
Get a variety of perspectives/opinions on a topic from people that are very
passionate
“Guest Speakers” in the classroom
Listen to Native speakers for languages

Getting the students to make podcasts can :

Allow them to solidify content by asking them to express it in their own words
Enhance language skills.
Encourage shy students to express themselves
Allow students to practice speeches before presenting
Be an authentic publishing tool
HSIE: Guided tours of suburbs
Storytelling/Interviews of people
Create a radio show
Recording a process on video, for example cooking.

The teacher can make podcasts that:

Explain assignments
Explains difficult concepts, particularly those with common misconceptions
Recording vocab and definitions
Recording correct pronounciations
Other ideas:
Podcasts that I found out about
(at this fantastic inservice)
Equipment needed

If you’re in a classroom,
you’re going to need some
external speakers to play pod-
Audacity casts so that students can hear
OR
You can get students to play
them independently, on iPods
or computers
OR
You can record You can use an iPod dock for
straight onto your audio podcasts
computer

Or, for portability,

these devices will
record straight to
your iPod
 Using Itunes at freeman
Click on con-
Our computer system connects through a proxy and itunes wont nections, then
connect to the internet unless Internet Explorer is turned on to ac- LAN settings
cept a proxy (even if you use another browser)

Click on Internet
Options

Start Typing in
“Internet”

Ensure that this

box is ticked

Check that the proxy reads:

proxy.freemanbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au
 Finding your way around itunes
Search the store
here

Access things
that are in your
library here.

Find podcasts,
buy music at
the iTunes store

Search General
Podcasts here
on the iTunes
store

Access iTunes
University here
 ITUNES U

Browse by
Category

Popular
Downloads
Browse by Pro-
viders
 Once you’ve found something that you think is interesting, you click on its link and come to this page:

Click Subscribe
to get new and
existing episodes
delivered auto-
matically

Lists the content of the podcast

Click “Get Movie” to

download only selected
episodes
 Click
downloads to
see what is cur-
rently
downloading
How long to
go?

This symbol
shows that the
file is currently
downloading

The blue dot shows that you haven’t lis- If you want a particular episode,
tened to that episode yet just click on the Get button
 To find where the file is
stored, right click and click
“Find in Windows Explorer”
You can then copy this file to
a USB

To play on this computer, double click on the file

Making Podcasts: Planning
Structure Each podcast you create must have a structure

• Introduction – What the podcast is about

• Body – The main information/lesson

• Conclusion – Ending with summary of the lesson

Get students to plan what they are going to say with their podcasts first, or you will end up with a five minute recording of giggling, or
“umm” every 5 seconds.

Equipment:
All you really need is your computer. Most computers have an internal microphone, if it doesn’t, you can get one that plugs into the com- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
puter, usually for no more than $10. For a audio podcast, you also need some recording software, eg, Audacity (a free program)
http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/
If you want to do a video podcast, you can use free software like “Debut Video Capture” which will capture video from a webcam. If you
don’t have a webcam on your computer, you can buy them quite cheaply from $15-$150 You could also use a video camera, but these are
generally much more expensive.
Recording podcasts with audacity

Zoom in and out

here to get more
detail

Start recording by clicking

on the record button.

You can edit out sections by selecting, then

clicking delete on the keyboard.
 Choose your
preference to
save your file

The first time that you save an

MP3 file, you will get this mes-
http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/Lame_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe
sage. You need to download the
free MP3 lame_enc.dll file and
tell the computer where to find
it by clicking on yes.

Fill in any in-

formation nec-
essary and hit
OK.
 Recording Video podcasts with Debut Video Capture

Select Device

That’s it. It saves automatically to the desktop!

Hit record