Podcasting for Education - an Introduction

Podcasting is experiencing a major explosion at the moment in both education and internet marketing.

The term "podcasting" is drawn from a combination of the terms "iPod" and "broadcast".

Tony Vincent of learninginhand.com explains the concept further:

"Podcasting is a way to automatically download and synchronize digital audio files from the internet to iPods, Palm OS handhelds, Pocket PCs, or other devices that play digital audio files. These audio files are usually in MP3 format and can be recorded and distributed by anyone. Podcasts are free of charge, though you may need to purchase some software to make the download and synchronization process work seamlessly. There are podcasts recorded by educators for educators. There are also podcasts recorded specifically for students. And best yet - there are podcasts made by students!

A podcast will have a web address for an RSS feed [for broadcasting]. Software that downloads podcasts will check the RSS feeds of the podcasts you subscribe to. When a new podcast is added, the feed is updated and the software knows to download the new audio file and have it waiting for you."

Tony provides an excellent introduction for the beginner at his website:
http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/

You will learn about:

• finding podcasts
• subscribing to podcasts
• listening to podcasts
• creating podcasts

The section on creating podcasts covers:

• preproduction
• recording
• postproduction
• publishing

This is a great learning resource for people new to podcasting who want to employ this technology in their teaching!