Podcasting

Podcasting came into its own in 2004 and really hit the big time in 2005 when it was named word of the year by New Oxford American Dictionary. Basically, podcasting is making audio available on the web through a webpage, blog or other site, through which to audio can be directly listened to on the site or subscribed to with iTunes, Juice, Google Reader, etc. so that you will automatically get new content delivered to you.

One of the first educational uses of podcasting was to make instructor lectures available to students who either missed class or wanted to review what had transpired in class. This is still the main use of podcasting in education, with many school having their own presence on iTunes at iTunes U.

Podcasting can be used for much more though. It can be used by teachers to record supplementary course information, review and preview of in-class material, answer to student questions, and more. As far as students go, podcasting can be used by students to create audio assignments, answer teacher questions, interview authentic sources, and more. Depending upon you area of teaching/learning, podcasting can be used in different ways.

My area is applied English instruction including both general English and hospitality English. I do not record my classes because I do not lecture--most of the class involves students actively practicing functions/topics in pair or group work. However, I offer students ample opportunity to listen to additional practice in English through supplemental audio posted to the course website and blog.

My keenest interest is in having students make podcasts as a way to more deeply understand the topic of study in our class. I ask students to record podcasts and post them to the class blog. Students need to listen to each others work and make comments. Students find this very interesting and look forward to a review in class of some example podcasts and comments.

There is a plethora of information about podcasting on the Internet which shows how podcasting can be done with very little effort. It sounds daunting, but once you take just an hour or two of time to first learn how to record an mp3, create a podcast feed, and tell people about your podcast, it's fast and easy.

Here are a few links to get you started.
How to Create your own Podcast by Dr. Yuen
How to Podcast Tutorial
Podcasting by Wikipedia
Podcasting and Podomatic
Audacity on Podomatic