Your guide to podcasting

What steps are involved?

What is podcasting? Why use podcasts? Is podcasting right for you? What steps are involved?

Tips for getting started Plan and check activities More resources

What steps are involved?

Here are steps for setting up podcasting.

1. Record the sound file. Plan and record the audio file that is to become the podcast. You can use a microphone connected to your computer, a portable MP3 player or other digital audio-recorder.
2. Edit the sound file. You may need to edit the recording to suit your plan and purpose. This is just like editing a Word document. There are audio editors that are freely available from the internet. An example of audio editing software is Audacity® (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download).
3. Upload the sound file to a website. Once you have your audio file you need to upload it to a website that is able to host podcasts. You will need to make sure that the website supports RSS feeds. An example of a free podcast hosting site is Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com).

   Consider providing supporting material to accompany the podcast, such as worksheets, scripts, blog/wiki pages with links to relevant sites, etc. This can be uploaded onto a server or a blog or wiki. Wikis allow you to upload Word documents, Adobe files, videos, images, etc. You can also use a blog or wiki to upload podcasts, which can be played or manually downloaded from the site.

4. Get your students to subscribe to your podcast in their RSS feed reader. An example of a free feed reader is ‘Bloglines’ (http://www.bloglines.com). This is a simple process. In the feed reader the student inserts the URL of the location of your podcast. Alternatively, some browsers have a button that allows them to subscribe to the website automatically. Once this has been done, the system takes care of the rest. Every time you post a podcast, the student’s feed reader will download the file to the location they have chosen.

Like all things, going through the process for the first time is always a challenge but the next time you should find it much easier.

To see a website with step-by-step instructions on how to create your own podcast go to:

Media on the move ‘Podcasting Guide’ at: http://mediaonthemove.flexiblelearning.net.au/mm/tools_terms/PodcastingGuideVer3_single.pdf

About.com: Radio at: http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm

Maintaining a podcast

There is no maintenance that you need to do in a podcast. Once the files are uploaded, provided they are not taken down, students can always download them. Just remember that if you want students to keep on subscribing to your podcasts, you will need to make them relevant to what they are studying and also of interest.

More about podcasts

If you want to find out more about podcasts you could do a search on the web for ‘podcasts’ or ‘educational podcasts’. Also have a look at the ‘More resources’ section of this guide for some suggested websites.

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