The last chapter of "instruction" given by Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms is on podcasting, video and screen casting and live streaming. Richardson notes that multimedia publishing on the Web is only going to continue and more of what we are consuming online is self-produced, homemade entertainment. Richardson acknowledges the incredible growth of YouTube and how the expansion into multimedia has come about quickly with broadband connectivity and cheap memory. He adds that it no longer takes hours to download a full length feature film and the computers of today have all the tools necessary to be able to store and play such files. It's become much easier to create and consume multimedia today.
PODCASTING
In 2005, a 13-year old starting podcasting from his home and thus, became one of the first to create and distribute amateur radio across the Web. Many podcasts are by basically normal, every day people. Others are more serious and focused in content. Podcasting has become all the rage and one of the reasons is that you do not need a lot of technical expertise to make it work.
According to Richardson, the best place to start your podcasting indoctrination is to take some time listening to a few shows. Remember, most podcasters are just average people from all different walks of life with all sorts of interests. Apple has incorporated podcasts into iTunes. (iTunes is available for download from the Apple site, free for both Macs and PCs.) To find some interesting podcasts, just go to the iTunes store homepage and click on the podcasts link in the top left section. Once you open it, you can watch a tutorial or start broadcasting podcasts in the iTunes store. You can even subscribe to certain podcasts and when a new episode is available, it will automatically download it for you.
One of the available podcasts featured today in iTunes was "Laughing Historically". It is available for a free subscription. Episode 01 was How Edgar Allan Poe was Expelled. It's about a 5 minute "show" about Poe's problems in life, especially at West Point, and how they affected his outlook and his future writing. As you are searching for podcasts to listen to, take a look at the Podcast Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes podcast screen. There are links for Audio, Video, New Releases, Staff Favorites, etc.
Another idea - visit the Education Podcast Network which includes information on what a podcast is, how to find a particular podcast or subscribe to a podcast, and other information about podcasts. You can find particular subjects and even student and class podcast projects. Some of these podcast require QuickTime or other media player and some are no longer available, so be aware you may not be able to access all of them.
Check out a few podcasts this week and next week, I'll expand on how podcasts can be used in schools and classrooms.
