How do I make it happen?
Podcasting has three main steps:
- Prepare a Recording
- Record and Edit File to create RSS Feed to be stored on a server
- Load File to Client Site for students to download
When preparing to create a Podcast you should first gather equipment and download necessary software. The location of where you’ll be recording will determine what type of equipment to gather. See Hardware/Software for choices of recording devices. Take a few minutes to listen to this audio clip explaining podcasting.
Think about what you want to convey in your first podcast. Are you recording a welcome to your online students or instructions about a process or procedure you’ve asked them to perform? You can also choose to record a lecture for the class. The length of the recording will impact the size of the audio file that you create; the format of the file that you create will impact how easily your students can play the audio that you create.
Make an outline or notes that you’ll speak from. Practice your outline then record yourself. If you get fouled up, start over. Your recording should be as clean as possible so you have little to no editing.
Upload the audio into the editing program you’ve chosen. See Hardware/Software for choices of editing software. Edit as little as possible. Editing is the most time consuming part of this process. So, if you can sleep at night with the quality of the audio file as originally recorded, use it as is. When the content is edited it will need to create a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed.
The RSS feed is a relatively small text file that resides on the server. Click here for more info. There is a process in which the client software subscribes to the RSS feed for any given group of podcasts. The podcast groups are an aggregation of like podcasts, which have been grouped by the creator of the podcasts. Once the subscription mechanism has been enabled, the client software periodically checks the server to see if any changes have been made to the podcast group. The RSS file stores its data in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format.
It is also very important that you standardize how you name your podcasts and the protocols for adding Meta Data to your Podcast files. Click here for an example of how Carteret Community College does this for its ITunes U site.
Now that you have created a RSS feed and saved it to a server you can now link the media into your online class. The students will click on the link that will take them to the location of the podcast where they can then download the podcast or listen to the recording.
| To view an alterntative process for creating your first podcast, visit 123podcasting to see complete, easy to follow steps for mulitimedia podcasting. This site and proprietary software were created by Rick Leinecker (Rockingham Community College) and are available for use by members of NCCCS. |
