Podcasting

Podcasting is a useful way to make educational content more accessible and on the go. Teachers can create Podcasts for lectures and supplemental content. Students could even create their own Podcasts for any topic area. Once the Podcast is created, students can download the podcast to a mobile phone or mp3 player and listen on the go.

For my Podcasts, I always start with a script of the message I want to record. For recording, I have a $30 mic headset and I use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) a free and open source program for downloading and editing audio. Once you have Audacity installed you will have to also download the lame_enc.dll file in order to convert your Audacity file to an mp3 (http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?lame_enc). Quick tips for using Audacity:

• Red Circle = Record
• Selection Tool = I in the top left corner (This will help you select portions of the audio track to edit)
• I prefer to record one long audio clip and edit/delete as needed 
• If I mess up, I pause and then restart the phrase - this makes my recording go much faster
• Once you have your recording completed, click File, Export as MP3

I found a great site for downloading music to use in my Podcasts under a Creative Commons License called jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/en/). It is not necessary to have a music intro or background, but can definitely spice up you message. If you want to add audio, click Project, Import Audio. This will add a second track. Anytime you use music, audio, or anything that you have not created make sure  you are following copyright laws. See the following link on guidelines for students and instructors on preparing multimedia works.

More information:
Audacity Written Tutorials - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html
Audacity Video Tutorial (6:00 minutes) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3VZkfdgV8

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