Your guide to podcasting

What is podcasting?

Imagine, as a trainer, you record an audio program for your students, upload it to a website, and within a short period of time your students receive this program on their computer. Their MP3 player downloads the program automatically and they start listening to the program whenever and wherever they want to. This is what podcasting allows you to do. But first, what is podcasting?

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication makes it possible for people to keep up with their favourite websites in an automated manner that's easier than checking each of them manually. RSS content can be read using software called a ‘feed reader’ or an ‘aggregator.’ The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser which initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content downloading any updates that it finds.

(Wikipedia, Podcast, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting, Date accessed June 2007.)

Associated tools and skills

Recording

To record your own podcast you will need a microphone and recording software. You can record voice on your computer with an in-line microphone. You can use free, audio software such as Audacity® to record the sound onto your computer.

Alternatively, you can record sound use via an MP3 player that has a microphone or another digital-audio recorder.

Editing

To edit the sound file you will need audio editing software. There are many commercial and free software packages. A good free piece of software that is easy to use is Audacity.

Hosting

You will need to find a host for your podcast. Upload your file to a website that supports an RSS feed. Your institute may provide for this, however, there are also free services on the web that allow you to do this. You could look at ‘Odeo’, ‘Podomatic’ and ‘MyPodcast’.

Using podcasts available on the internet

Finding podcasts can be done by a simple internet search. You could use search terms such as ‘podcasts’ and ‘educational podcasts’. Alternatively, you could have a look at the ‘More resources’ section of this guide for some suggested sites.

Once you have found your sources for ready-made podcasts, consider subscribing to them with an RSS feed – that way you are continually provided with podcasts from the website when they become available.

Skills for creating your own podcasts

Creating a podcast requires the following skills:

Planning the podcast: You will need to plan the style, content and length of your podcast so that it will be relevant and engaging.
Recording the podcast: You will need to make a recording at an acceptable quality for your purposes. This means thinking about the environment in which you record and the type of equipment you will use to make the recording.
Editing the podcast: Once you have recorded all of the content, you’ll need to edit the audio file(s) to create the program according to the style and content you have planned for the podcast. This could involve cutting and pasting different sources of content into one file, or just cutting down the recording into smaller chunks.
Saving the podcast: You’ll need to save the final edited program in the correct file format; the most common format used to distribute and play digital audio is the MP3 format. The easiest way to do this is to use the ‘Export’ command in your editing software to save the file as an MP3. There is also free software on the internet you can use to convert audio files to different file formats.