The Casual Podcaster

For some reason I felt like firing up GarageBand on Thursday and creating a podcast.  Since I am stuck in PSU Podcasting Project Land I thought that would be a good topic to discuss.  I know it is probably becoming a very tiring topic for most people around me, my head is planted squarely in the middle of it all and there are times I need to get some of it out.

Even though I have the pleasure of working and talking with Chris Millet everyday, I thought having Chris join me via iChat AV would be a good idea.  Chris has been visiting all the people at Penn State who are interested in podcasting the last four weeks or so and is really starting to get the lay of the land.

In this podcast, we discuss all sorts of stuff in 20 minutes … topics run from the training he and Tim Perry are designing, to tools, to project goals, and more.  The thing that turned me on the most was Chris’ statement about wanting to create opportunities to enable the “casual podcaster.” What I loved about Chris’ comment was that his expectations are all about this being so easy that faculty, staff, and students can create digital content without thinking about the technology or the approach. You know, real digital expression. He wants it to be like when you currently want to say something in a digital sense, you click on Word and write it … this thought is about being able to capture the moment in a digital, first person sense and share it instantly. Just goes along with all the things Chris and I have been discussing for a number of years in this space.

At any rate, it may be worth a listen. Direct link to the 14 MB podcast.

How Long …

We’ve been waiting on a new voice recording solution for the 5G iPod for a long time … way too long of a time as a matter of fact. I’ve seen demo solutions … there’s the Belkin TuneTalk, the Griffin iTalk Pro, and the XtremeMac MicroMemo — all of these look great and take advantage of the iPods new, higher quality recording capabilities. I am just very frutrated that we are looking at a situation where I can’t get my hands on these things. Am I missing something here, or is this taking way too long?

As we are getting set to roll out not only a podcasting service at the University, but a call for participation that will help faculty and students create content I would really like to be able to give them this solution. But, I can’t. I am starting to get proposals from faculty wanting to do this stuff, but there isn’t a viable solution … or is there?

When I had my “old” iPod I could slap my iTalk on the top and it was good enough for basic conversations … as a matter of fact I used it for all sorts of things — meetings, phone calls, and even an interview here and there. I am just ready for a new solution as I am searching high and low for something to put in the hands of my customers. As I am preparing to travel yet again, the thought of packing recording gear just in case I decide to podcast seems like a real pain … I mean, they even look cool:

XtremeMac

Rip, Mix, Burn Classroom Podcasting …

I had posted last week about the idea of students taking ownership of the podcasting process in the classroom based on an article I came across.  I had mentioned it was an intersting twist of fate that they would be the ones not only recording, but editing, posting, and distributing the lectures that way.  This morning I awoke to find a very interesting comment from James pushing the notion that it may be the natural evolution of the whole concept.  His comments really got me thinking differently about how to provide the right types of lecture based podcasts in my class (and beyond).

I think what James said pushes us to look at the classroom experience in a new light … most of us talk about creating a “student-centric” opportunity, but in most cases it ends up being a lot of push to them … with a significant amount of pull thrown in, but not a true two way street.  James wewnt on to say, “I actually think the idea of students editing portions of a lecture may be something that is ultimately encouraged especially if the student does this appropriately (audio citation?) as a way to further develop the ideas that are brought to life in the class.”  So I think I may have come across a wonderful new approach to try out in class … encourage students to produce versions of my lectures as they see fit.  What would be so wrong with them taking the basic lecture recording, editing out the nonsense, maybe adding in supplemental material, and cutting in their reactions?  If I can figurre out how to do it right, it would be an amazing learning opportunity.

Podcasting … to Learn Podcasting

Today I had the pleasure of sitting down with a member of my staff at Penn State’s Education Technology Services. I’ve been promoting podcasting on our campus for quite some time and people are catching on. We are putting together a University-wide podcasting solution as I type … it addresses podium recording all the way to final distribution. It has been an interesting and fun project — with lots of issues to navigate.

Tara is a member of the ETS Marketing Team focusing mostly on PSU Training Services (TS). Our TS group wants to start offering podcasting sessions as soon as this summer … we’ve been talking about everything from how you do a podcast to how do you subscribe and so on. Tara took the time to sit down with me and learn a little about podcasting. We went through setup, recorded a podcast, edited it with GarageBand, and published it to the Podcasts at Penn State site — all in about an hour and a half. All in all, it was fun and a nice break from all the stuff I am usually doing during the day.

Tara asked me a bunch of questions about teaching and learning with technology — specifically blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more. Pretty standard stuff, but it was all about learning to podcast. Jump over and take listen if you are interested.

New Mac Mini has Audio Input

Big deal, right?

Actually it is a big deal. The thing about the old Mac Mini was that is was a very capable machine, albeit a little slow, but that wasn’t the real killer … the new Mini comes with a simple audio in jack for mics … now this thing can be dropped into a podium and be the ultimate custom lecture podcasting machine available. GarageBand, QuickTime, iMovie, or a third party tool turns this sub $600.00 machine into a serious podium machine that can handle media cration, podcasting, or just about anything.

Mac Mini Back

Podcasting and Accessibility

Here I am late on a Friday afternoon that has been filled with meetings … all of them left a good taste in my mouth however … and trust me, that is strange.  Things kicked off this morning at 8 with a great conversation that I will save for another day … left that and went to the Web 2006 Conference Planning Committee meeting to discuss a proposal that a colleague and I are discussing — we’re actually thinking of a position paper we are working on as a talk — Web 2.0 and the Higher Education Enterprise.  From there it was off to a meeting with two members of our Emerging Technologies group to discuss the position paper and just geek out a while on social software, where we are headed, and that sort of thing.  Last meeting of the morning was a lunch meeting with members of my staff at the Penn State World Campus that jumped all over the place, but left me feeling really good about what they are thinking about — the whole morning was fun and enlightening.

The afternoon kicked off with a race back to the building where all my stuff was this morning to meet with the Office of Disabilities Services to discuss podcasting.  As we look to address this growing need at an enterprise level I am talking to everyone to make sure we play nicely with all the kids (we are talking enterprise at the end of the day).  A few people here in my group have been very vocal about the issue of accessibility and how it relates to podcasting.  At first it makes you wonder how people can be bent out of shape that when are offering another way to get at content … but then step back and the picture looks a little different.  If I am a student with a distinct disability and I can’t take advantage of the service, does it place me in a negative position in class?  If my classmates can review lectures before an exam and I can’t take advantage of them then we have just created a nasty situation?

The people here at the University take these questions very seriously.  They are very accommodating to all members of our audiences and that is great.  We walked away agreeing to aggressively pursue options, answers, and ultimately a solution.

I guess this is a recount of a long day, but also a shot over the bow of the “podcasting in education” ship to get us talking about this as a community.  What is happening at other schools to overcome this?  How do we provide additional channels for content in rich media format, while addressing the needs of our audiences?  I am very curious to hear responses … ideas, or just conversation on the topic.  Any takers … and please stop making me look pathetic (no jokes) when I beg for reaction and get nothing.  This is a serious issue.  Any help?