Podcasting 

By: Kadie Cain, Cindy Cortez, & Rachel Hall

March 18th, 2009

What Is It?

A podcast is quite similar to listening to a radio program. A person is able to download a podcast to an ipod or mp3 player. Podcasts are able to be created by people with the right accessories. These people who create a podcast are called podcasters. Once a person creates footage it is able to be uploaded by anyone on the internet. People who find the podcasts are called podcatchers. The podcatcher then reads an rss feed to identify the podcast and then downloads it to there computer. When viewing a podcast one only hear's and see's a video or just hear's the sound. Video podcasts are often called vidcast while podcast with sound and pictures are called enhanced podcasts. A podcast is a special type of rss feed. A podcast is able to be downloaded automatically when new content is added.  

History

Podcasting was developed by a collaboration between Adam Curry, Dave Winer, and Tristen Louis.  Tristen Louis proposed the concept of enclosures in RSS feeds.  Dave Winer, the RSS feed developer, then took Tristen's concept and expanded upon it and implemented it more effectively.  Dave then discussed the concept to Adam Curry, a former MTV Video DJ, who was interested in the concept of "audio blogging."   Adam Curry then used "iPodder" to allow his blog readers an RSS-to-iPod script that moved mp3 files from Userland Radio to iTunes.  This allowed the public to start enjoying podcasts.  

How Can It Be Used In The Classroom?

• Book Talks- Students can create book reviews and summaries to share with others.  They can be recorded in the classroom and then turned into podcasts to be shared more widely.
• Readers Theater-  The class can record a readers theater or short play and post it as a podcast to share with other students, schools, or even friends and family.
• Meet the Author- Students can each read several books from one auther and then create a biography for that person. Once the podcasts are recorded and posted, they can then be shared with the entire class or even broader.
• Science Logs- On field trips or during experiments, students observations can be recorded. This is information can be turned into a podcast which is great for reviewing the information together or studying for a test.
• Art Critiques-  After a trip to a museum or studying certain art pieces, students can create thier own reviews of the work to be posted and shared as podcasts.
• Historical Diaries- When studying a ceratin period of time, have students write their own accounts of life druing that time in the form of diaries.  These can then be recorded and posted to be shared with other students and classrooms.
• Oral Histories-  Students can study specific people and come up with thier own outline of thier lives.  Once this is created, they histories can be converted into oral recordings to share as podcasts.

Resources For Future Learning

• http://www.podcasting-tools.com/podcasting-software.htm
• http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/
• http://templates.entheosweb.com/Podcasting.asp
• http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=724297
• www.apple.com/education/teachers-professors/mobile-learning.html 

Application To Future Teaching

• http://fcit.usf.edu/podcasts/science_logs.html  
• http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~nshelley/
• education.podcast.com/
• www.epnweb.org/
• poducateme.com/
• www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/

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