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WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...

Over the next few days we’re going to be exploring the world of podcasting. Some of you may already know what this is, some may have a vague idea and some may never have heard of the term. The latter group can be forgiven for this as the term was invented in late 2004/early 2005. Despite this, a Google search using the term turns up over 30 million references!

So what is a podcast? According to Wikipedia:

A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to. Podcasters’ websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.

So a podcast is a fusion of two technologies: compression of audio using a codec such as MP3, and ’syndicating’ or publishing it using a technology called RSS which automatically ‘pushes’ new content to the subscriber. Basically it means that the end user need never worry about having the latest news bulleting/radio show/lecture as the software on their computer will see to it that they are always kept up-to-date.

Why should educators be concerned with podcasting? Well, approximately 10 million iPods were sold in the run-up to Christmas alone. MP3 players amongst the young are ubiquotous and ‘cool’. Tapping into this by making lectures, lesson, revision content, etc. available for students to listen to wherever they are can only be a good thing!

Podcasts are usually made available in MP3 format, though they may be in WMA (Windows Media Audio), OGG Vorbis (a free and open-source codec) or other file format. The term ‘podcasting’ refers to the iPod because of its popularity but subscribing to a podcast doesn’t mean you have to play it on an Apple-made device. The file, being simply an MP3 file ‘wrapped’ in an RSS feed, can be played back on any computer or MP3 player. Podcasting is merely a method of delivery.

Having said that, perhaps the easiest program to get starting with receiving podcasts is Apple’s excellent iTunes application. You can add podcasts from a wide variety of sources. Most of the content is, unsurprisingly, America-centric but there are a number of quality shows and programmes, including some from the BBC. A list of software to receive podcasts using Windows, Mac, Linux and other operating systems is available at podcastingnews.com.

Over the next few days, then, we’ll be looking at the following aspects of creating your own podcast:

• Part 1 - the what and the why of podcasting (today)
• Part 2 - recording your podcast
• Part 3 - putting your podcast together
• Part 4 - making your podcast available to others
• Part 5 - advanced podcasting

This guide came into being due to this thread on the History Teachers’ Discussion Forum and the confusion between putting an MP3 on your website and podcasting. A number of teachers including Dan Lyndon and Donald Cumming are experimenting with the technology with their students. Please feel free to comment on ways you are/would like to use podcasting with your students!

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