There’s a lot of buzz today about podcasting and the value it brings to education. But what exactly is podcasting and what is its relevance in today’s classrooms?

Podcasting is an easy way to broadcast multimedia content online to a dispersed group of people, who are then able to listen whenever and wherever they choose using a variety of easily-accessible platforms. Podcasts can be downloaded automatically as soon as they are available and listened to using a variety of devices, including computers, MP3 players, PDAs, and even cell phones. What’s more, podcasts can be produced and broadcast inexpensively, and, as a result, have made this media channel accessible to the broadcasting masses.

So is podcasting relevant to education? Think about some of these possibilities…

  • A teacher uses her cell phone to create a podcast with homework assignments, etc., which parents download to stay current with their children’s school activities.
  • Classrooms create a podcast about the Revolutionary War, a favorite book, a science lesson, etc. and share it with other classrooms.
  • The school podcasts a special meeting or assembly for parents unable to attend.
  • Teachers record their class for students who were absent and/or to be used for review.

Following is a three (3) step process to get you podcasting in no time!

1. Before You Record

First you’ll need the following tools -

  • Software to record your podcast.
    Get started with Audacity; it’s free and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. Audacity provides a host of editing features and will output MP3 format audio for distributing your podcast, but you’ll need a copy of the LAME MP3 encoder to save it to MP3 format.
  • Microphone
    Start out with a low cost microphone ($15 or so) to be sure you plan to stick with podcasting. Ultimately you’ll want a good microphone and should be the first upgrade on your list. Connect the microphone to the microphone-in connection on your PC.
  • Headphones
    Headphones are important because you’ll want to monitor the levels of your recording but you don’t want the sound coming from a set of speakers. The best headphone for isolating should be ones that cover your ears, but the ear buds that came with your MP3 player will work fine for now. Connect your headphones to the stereo line out or headphone jack, which can be the same jack.

Please view the following video for more information about setting up your system to record a podcast using Audacity -

2. Record Your PodcastBelow is a video tutorial to help you get started recording. But before you view the video, there’s a few items you’ll want to note.

  • Open Audacity and then open the preferences from “File > Preferences.” On the “Audio I/O tab,” verify your sound card is selected as the device for both playback and recording. In the channels dropdown box under Recording, choose 1 (Mono). Unless you have two microphones, stereo just doubles the same track and makes the file unnecessarily bigger.
  • From the “Quality” tab choose 44,100 Hz as the Default Sample Rate and 16-bit as the Default Sample Format.
  • In the “File Formats” tab, select “Make a copy of the file before editing” under the “When importing uncompressed audio files into Audacity” options so that you don’t accidentally overwrite your audio files. Choose WAV (Microsoft 16 bit PCM) as the “Uncompressed Export Format,” and follow the directions for MP3 Export Setup. Close the preferences box.
  • In the main program window, make sure that “Microphone” is selected as the recording input option on the “Mixer” toolbar. Click on the microphone icon on the “Meter” toolbar, and you should see a red indicator bar moving as it picks up room noise. Talk into the microphone and make adjustments to the volume until you get a level that goes close to the top of the right edge without ever turning the far right solid red (which indicates you are clipping the audio). Once the level is adjusted, you’re ready to record.

3. Publishing your PodcastOnce you’ve recorded your podcast, you’ll need a way to distribute it to listeners. You can link the files to your web page although technically that is an audio download, not a podcast. To be a podcast listeners need to be able to subscribe to your RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed. By subscribing to your RSS feed, listeners will automatically get your podcast through iTunes or another aggregator.There are many ways to create an RSS feed, but the easiest way is by using blog software, like Blogger or WordPress. Just link your MP3 files to your blog, and the software will automatically generate a feed. After you’ve created your feed, consider using FeedBurner to optimize your feed for various aggregators and make it easier to find.