Presentation given on the 13th of March 2012 for CPUT's podcasting@CPUT project

1. Podcasting workshop
By
Prof Dick Ng’ambi
Centre for Educational Technology
Presented at the CPUT Podcasting Workshop held on 13 March 2012

2. 2
Workshop Outline
• What is it?
• Who is doing it?
• How does it work?
• Why is it significant?
• What are the downsides
• What are the implications for teaching
and learning?
• Pedagogical Rationale
• Where is it headed?

3. 3
What is it?
• Inspired by the iPod
• Usually refers to any software and hardware
combination enabling automatic download of
audio files (most commonly in MP3 format) for
listening at the user’s convenience
• Makes use of the Internet’s Real Simple
Syndication (RSS) feeds
– Content is sent directly to an iPod or other MP3
player

4. 4
Podcast components
• A podcast is composed of two parts, the RSS
(Really Simple Syndication) file and the content
files
• RSS feeds contain information about the
podcast
▫ name of the podcast, author, URL of the
accompanying webpage & date of publication
• Content files can be
▫ audio, commonly MP3
▫ video

5. 5
Internet connection
aggregator
PC &/or MP3 player
Podcaster’s
arsenal

6. 6
Who is doing it?
• Anyone with an Internet connection
▫ Professional broadcasters make content available
as podcasts
▫ Amateurs are sharing their content and opinions
▫ Campuses make content available as podcasts as
well

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9
How does it work?
• Users
▫ connect their portable audio devices to their computer
▫ log on to a podcasting subscription service (RSS feed)
and subscribe to the site’s feeds
▫ content is “pushed” from the original source directly
and automatically to the user’s device, e.g. iPod or
MP3 player
• Allows users to listen and learn at their convenience
▫ Permits time shifting and mobile learning
• Empowers users to publish content directly and
seamlessly onto the Web

10. 10
Podcatcher (aggregator)
• Podcatcher: software which periodically checks
for and automatically downloads content to the
subscribers’ computer
 Desktop or web-based (online)
▫ Apple iTunes
 available for Mac OSX and Windows
 handles many different media types including audio, video and
enhanced podcasts
 includes an in built in directory of podcasts
▫ Juice
 free & available for Mac, Windows and Linux
 also has a built in directory making it very easy to find podcast
▫ Google Reader??

11. 11
Podcast directories
• Directory: site that collects, categorizes &
makes podcasts available for subscription
• Can be used to search for & find podcasts with
content of interest
▫ PodNova
▫ PodcastAlley
▫ Podcast.net

12. 12

13. 13
Podcast servers
• Server: site archiving and storing
podcasts

14. 14
Cellphone Podcasting
Record a podcast
directly from a mobile Provide Internet access to
MP3 of your voice messages
phone

15. 15

16. 16
Gabcast Gcast Hipcast Youmail FreeCon Jott
pro
Cost ✔
Conf podcasting ✔
Toll-free phone ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
num
Immediate ✔ ✔
posting to blog
Export options ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Private space 4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
unpublished
work
Post greetings ✔ ✔
that students
hear when they
dial in
RSS feed ✔ ✔ ✔
Source: Kolb (2008: 31)

17. 17
Screen recording software

18. 18
Screenflow

19. 19
IShowU
“When words alone are not
enough”

20. 20
Podcast producer

21. 21
Why is it significant?
• It gives educators one more way to meet
students where they “live”—on the Internet and
audio players
• Barriers to adoption and costs are minimal
• The tools to create podcasts are easy to use and
affordable

22. 22
What are the downsides?
• Access to sufficient bandwidth
• Issues of file formats
• Audio medium not suitable for the hearing
impaired
• Quality of podcasts published by “sound
amateurs” not great
• Faculty may need training in using an audio-
only medium and the technology
• Proprietary tools & file formats

23. 23
Proprietary tools & file formats
• Olympus: dss
• Sony: dvf
• Apple: aiff
• Windows: wma/wmv

24. 24
What are the implications for teaching
and learning?
• Broadens educational options in a an easily
accessible manner
• Allows content to be made available to students
if they miss class
• Provides access to experts through interviews
• Student created content
– record of activities
– way to collect notes
– reflection on what they have learned

25. 25
Pedagogical Rationale

26. 26
Teaching with podcasts
• Podcast development model (IMPALA partner
institutions)

27. 27
Where podcasting headed?
• The number of podcast directories is increasing
• Podcasting is evolving at a rapid rate
– Users are demanding new features, including
categorizing, navigating, and indexing
– New ways of adding richness to podcasts are being
investigated
• provide experiences that are entertaining as well as
instructive

28. 28
Thank you
• Questions???
Contact:
Dick.Ngambi@uct.ac.za