Web 2.0 Week 6 - Podcasts, Video and Audio

What are podcasts/vodcasts?
Podcasts are syndicated audio clips, and vodcasts are the video version of those. You can subscribe to them via RSS. You subscribe to them and recieve them at regular intervals. These are the Web2.0 version of radio shows and in-house broadcasting. So, instead of doing my morning announcements via live broadcast, like when I was in Spring Branch ISD, I would create vodcasts and post them on the web for parents, students and teachers to access.

Podcasts are usually in MP3 format. The podcasts are able to be located by searching using podcast directories or search engines. These are specialized feed aggregators designed for audio and video files.

Uses in schools:
I think of these as pseudopodcasts. Until our school districts are able to support subscriptions to podcasts, we have to post our new ones on the web and our users must go and look for the new ones each time.

Things I'd use podcasts for would be: Morning announcements, problem of the day, Where in the World is..., prep for Geography or Spelling Bees, Math Bowl problems, character development, TAKS prep, summarization, steps in the scientific method, travel reports from Texas regions...combine that with chromakey, and you can project the children in front of various scenery as if they are really there. I could go on and on.

I started BUG, the Broadcast Users Group, when I worked in SBISD. I would do the same integration ideas with pod and vodcasting, except they wouldn't have to be live, and I wouldn't need the expensive, bulky video modulator. The advantage to podcasting and vodcasting is that they are easier to create and require less equipment.

When you subscribe to podcasts, you just need an application (podcatcher) to be able to read them. Apple's iTunes performs that function.

Creating podcasts:
EasyTech likens the process of creating podcasts to that of the process writers use. So, the podcasting process is analagous with the Writing Process. The podcasting process is (1) plan, (2) produce, (3) publish, and (4) promote. Planning means selecting your audience and selecting a format and timeframe. This is like the prewriting phase of the writing process. Producing it means you write it, practice it, and record it. This is the drafting, writing, and editing phase in the writing process. Publishing is just like the publishing phase of the writing process. The difference is at the end. In the traditional writing process, many people skip the sharing phase. However, this is extremely important in today's technological age. The podcasts won't get heard by anyone unless you promote them. To promote the podcast, you may submit it to a podcast directory, use an RSS Generator to add it to the podcast. You'll have a URL with "rss" on the end of it.

Video sharing:
Video sharing is basically like taking the books you own and bringing them to the staff lounge. Other teachers bring their books to the lounge. You can pick up someone else's book and read it. TeacherTube and YouTube are repositories where people can save their videos and share them with others.

E-books:
The digital media version of printed books. Many e-books have audio functionality to read aloud to viewers. E-books come in several formats. The PDF versions can be read on PDAs and PCs. There are other versions which are readable on proprietary hardware, like Amazon's Kindle.