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Podcast for Free on a PC

Why should Mac users have all the fun? Record, upload, and share online recordings -- podcasts -- using just a classroom computer or even a phone! Included: Free online tools for recording and sharing podcasts as well as an overview of podcasting and ideas for possible podcast projects in your classroom.

Time Magazine named "You" as its Man of the Year for 2006, citing the reinvention of the World Wide Web into a tool anyone can use to create, critique, and publish content in blogs, wikis, and podcasts. The transformation of WWW into Web 2.0 is already evident in many K-12 classrooms, particularly with the creation and use of podcasts.

Podcasts can be an invaluable addition to teaching and learning but confusion over just what a podcast is and what is needed to podcast can prevent educators from integrating them into the classroom. Yet, for the simplest podcast, students and teachers need nothing more than the Internet or a telephone to create and publish recordings online.

WHAT IS A PODCAST?

What is a podcast? A podcast at its simplest is an audio recording that’s available on the Internet. Podcast purists would add that a podcast should also be serial -- like, say, an old radio show with weekly installments -- and subscription-based, with listeners using RSS Feeds to tell their computer to download any new installments to be heard later.

The term podcast is derived from the words "iPod" (Apple’s mp3 player) and "broadcasting." Eighty percent of podcasts, however, are never put on an mp3 player, but instead are listened to on a computer.

If you’re new to podcasts and want to listen to one, start at Apple’s iTunes, a free download for PC as well as Mac users. There you’ll find hundreds of podcasts on a variety of subjects -- including education. You can download a single episode or subscribe to a whole podcast. Many Web sites now offer content through podcasts; take a look at CNN’s Podcasting page for dozens of news-related podcasts.

PODCASTING IN THE CLASSROOM

Listening to podcasts is a first step, but sooner or later, many educators are ready to take the leap and record their own podcasts. Already, high school history students are recording reports on Chinese dynasties, while first graders are narrating paragraphs about their class’s star of the week, and fourth grade classes produce a weekly news bulletin. At Mabry Middle School in Marietta, Georgia, 7th graders are sharing their science experiments while Principal Dr. Tim Tyson records his communications to parents and students in podcasts.

How can you try podcasting yourself? For many teachers, the thought of a serial podcast (one that requires weekly or biweekly updates) is overwhelming, and few parents (or educators) may be ready to subscribe with RSS feeds anyway. So, begin with the basics, by creating a simple non-serialized podcast for at least the first few times.

The steps are easy -- record, upload, and share -- and the hardware can be as simple as your PC, or even a telephone! Below are three options that fit a variety of situations. (Note: For options 1 and 3, you’ll need a microphone. Many laptops come with internal mics, but if yours does not, or if you have a desktop computer, most electronics stores or big box retailers sell small microphones for about $10. There’s no need to go high-tech!)

Option 1: Podcast in Minutes with Odeo Studio
Odeo Studio is a free and easy way to record and upload podcasts for the classroom. Follow the site’s directions to create your own account, and then simply press a red button to record your first podcast. Give your podcast a title (Mrs. Smith’s Lecture on the Gilded Age, for example), and Odeo will give you a URL (Web site address) that you can share with students or parents. The process takes less than five minutes.

Option 2: Podcast by Phone with Gabcast
Don’t have a microphone or need to podcast off-site, maybe on a field trip to Washington DC? With Gabcast you simply dial a toll-free number and record a podcast anywhere, anytime using only your telephone. Go to the Web site, sign up and create what Gabcast calls "channels" or groups of podcasts. Make a channel for each group you teach. For example, if you teach four sections of Algebra I, you might want four channels. Create a PIN (personal identification number) and a password and you’re set. Grab a phone and record, and then send parents/students to Gabcast’s site to hear your podcast and comment on it.

Option 3: Podcast by PC
If your school or district has an easy way to share podcasts on your Web site, you can simply use Windows Sound Recorder (found under Start>All Programs>Accessories>Entertainment) to record audio. Sound Recorder saves the files in the mp3 format, the most popular sound format. Once uploaded by the school or district, the files can be played by parents or students using Windows Media Player, iTunes for PC or Mac, or other sound players. If you want to pause your recording – say, to let another student record after the first, or if you are a music teacher and want to compile several tracks and do some editing, consider downloading Audacity, a robust yet simple-to-use open source audio recorder and editor. First-time users find the program a snap and both PC and Mac expert users praise Audacity for its advanced features. Just be sure to also download LAME from the same site to reformat the Audacity files into mp3 files.

WHY BOTHER?

What should you podcast? Classroom ideas include:

• Students reading their original poetry or short stories.
• Foreign language teachers narrating passages to be translated at home by students.
• Biology students recording two minute overviews on specific genetic disorders.
• Music students recording original compositions.
• History teachers recording classroom discussions or lectures for absent students.
• Elementary students recording a greeting to pen pals across the country or world.

The simplest way to start is to add podcasting to a project you’ve done for years. In just minutes, you can join the Web 2.0 revolution and be a podcaster yourself. So, energize your students and enliven your classroom with a podcast today. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• What is a Podcast?
• Educational Podcasts for Teaching and Learning
• What is Podcasting?
• Podcasting Resources
• Podcast is Catchy, PC-Cast is More Accurate

About the Author Lorrie Jackson is the Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennessee, where she also oversees the Laptop Institute, an annual conference for K-12 educators interested in laptops/tablets in the classroom. A prolific edtech writer and frequent conference presenter, Lorrie provides technology reviews and workshops for K-12 schools as a consultant with EduCollaborators.

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Copyright © 2007 Education World

02/13/2007