Thursday, February 19, 2009
Emerging Technology 1: Podcast
For my first emerging technology post I experimented with podcasting. A Podcast is an online audio broadcast that is transmitted by an RSS feed. RSS is the chosen format for published works that are updated frequently. In order for technology like blog entries and podcasts to be updated, the user must subscribe to a particular feed or channel. Once the user subscribes to a feed, the RSS reader (included in computers and other mobile devices) will constantly check and download any new material. However, a user does not have to subscribe to a feed in order to listen to a podcast. Subscribing is only for users who desire to receive constant, updated information on a particular subject. There are three different types of podcasts. An audio podcast contains only audio and usually comes in an MP3 file. An enhanced podcast can contain audio and visuals, and comes in an AAC file which cannot be played on all electronic devices. A video podcast is a video with sound and comes in a variety of formats, with MPEG-4 being the typical format.
There are two main uses of podcasting, to communicate or share a message with a group of people and for a user to receive sought after messages or information. However, the messages and information being shared and received through podcasts are limitless. Podcasts can be used for sharing and receiving announcements, greetings, advertisements, tutorials, talk shows, news, or anything! In the classroom, teachers can use podcasts to exchange ideas, provide parents with a new form of access to their child’s classroom, or create an archive of material for students who missed class or would like to refresh themselves. Foreign language teachers can record podcasts that their students can listen to and practice speaking.
Podcasts are useful because they can be created using any touch tone phone, may be listened to at the user’s convenience, can be accessed through any electronic device with internet, may be downloaded to devices without internet, automatically download updated information with a subscription to a particular feed, and professionals can subscribe to a feed geared towards their field. Podcasts can also be beneficial because of the knowledge and experienced gained in creating them, especially for students. The idea of a world audience would push students to create a spectacular product, and their reward would be the opportunity to hear and/or view something they created themselves.
Learning how to use this technology was sort of hard for me. I have never created a podcast before, and honestly I never really understood what a podcast was. I did hours of research to understand what a podcast was, so I could blog about it. When it came time to create it, I was lost. I didn’t know where to go. I downloaded itunes, because I thought I had to have it in order to podcast, but it turns out I didn’t. Finally, I went to Gcast, created a username and password, and then just followed the steps. It was really easy to do once I figured out where to go to create it. I highly recommend Gcast, because the directions were easy to read and easy to follow.
Creating A Podcast:
1) Go to Gcast
2) Enter your email address, password, and Gcast username
3) Enter your phone number and a four digit pin
4) Title your podcast
5) Call the Gcast number, enter your pin, record, follow phone options
6) Wait a few minutes, click on the title of your podcast, scroll to the bottom of the screen, click edit audio, click add changes
7) Then click on the tab on the left side of the screen that says Podcasting Home
8) On the right side of the screen, right click on the XML box (make sure you are signed into blogger before you right click)
9) Scroll down and click Send To, then click Blog This Page
10) (A new blog post box should appear) click publish post
These directions might seem kind of crazy, but it took me a while to figure out how to do it. Like I said earlier, creating the Podcast was easy, but figuring out how to post a link to my Podcast on Blogger was awful. Every url I used wouldn't hyperlink. Finally, I stumbled (literally) on the right click and send to Blogger. I wanted to make sure and post these directions, so hopefully no one else had the linking problems I had. In the end, I learned a lot. I also realized that it is fun to blog and to create a podcast. I definitely want to keep using this technology.
There are two main uses of podcasting, to communicate or share a message with a group of people and for a user to receive sought after messages or information. However, the messages and information being shared and received through podcasts are limitless. Podcasts can be used for sharing and receiving announcements, greetings, advertisements, tutorials, talk shows, news, or anything! In the classroom, teachers can use podcasts to exchange ideas, provide parents with a new form of access to their child’s classroom, or create an archive of material for students who missed class or would like to refresh themselves. Foreign language teachers can record podcasts that their students can listen to and practice speaking.
Podcasts are useful because they can be created using any touch tone phone, may be listened to at the user’s convenience, can be accessed through any electronic device with internet, may be downloaded to devices without internet, automatically download updated information with a subscription to a particular feed, and professionals can subscribe to a feed geared towards their field. Podcasts can also be beneficial because of the knowledge and experienced gained in creating them, especially for students. The idea of a world audience would push students to create a spectacular product, and their reward would be the opportunity to hear and/or view something they created themselves.
Learning how to use this technology was sort of hard for me. I have never created a podcast before, and honestly I never really understood what a podcast was. I did hours of research to understand what a podcast was, so I could blog about it. When it came time to create it, I was lost. I didn’t know where to go. I downloaded itunes, because I thought I had to have it in order to podcast, but it turns out I didn’t. Finally, I went to Gcast, created a username and password, and then just followed the steps. It was really easy to do once I figured out where to go to create it. I highly recommend Gcast, because the directions were easy to read and easy to follow.
Creating A Podcast:
1) Go to Gcast
2) Enter your email address, password, and Gcast username
3) Enter your phone number and a four digit pin
4) Title your podcast
5) Call the Gcast number, enter your pin, record, follow phone options
6) Wait a few minutes, click on the title of your podcast, scroll to the bottom of the screen, click edit audio, click add changes
7) Then click on the tab on the left side of the screen that says Podcasting Home
8) On the right side of the screen, right click on the XML box (make sure you are signed into blogger before you right click)
9) Scroll down and click Send To, then click Blog This Page
10) (A new blog post box should appear) click publish post
These directions might seem kind of crazy, but it took me a while to figure out how to do it. Like I said earlier, creating the Podcast was easy, but figuring out how to post a link to my Podcast on Blogger was awful. Every url I used wouldn't hyperlink. Finally, I stumbled (literally) on the right click and send to Blogger. I wanted to make sure and post these directions, so hopefully no one else had the linking problems I had. In the end, I learned a lot. I also realized that it is fun to blog and to create a podcast. I definitely want to keep using this technology.
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