Introduction to Podcasting

**Please excuse the length of this post, but it is designed to give instructions to my students on a day I am absent.**
I am sorry I am not here today, but I know you will do a great job for Mrs. Delaney!

Today we are going to be looking at a different type of media called “podcasting.” We will start out by watching a great introduction and explanation, “Podcasting in Plain English.” Mrs. Delaney will play this for you.

Now that you have seen this video, I am sure you have a better understanding of what a podcast is and maybe even some ideas of how useful they can be. 

There are many sites which will be great resources for you as we work on our own podcasts.  I would like you to be able to find them quickly, so you will need to bookmark them in your diigo accounts.  (Your log in information should be on your school sites tables-ask a neighbor for help with this if you are stuck!)  If you don’t have a diigo account yet or cannot log in to yours, just quietly take a look at a couple of the sites below while your classmates are bookmarking them.  For those of you, who have successfully logged in to your diigo accounts, please be sure to give these 4 sites a tag of “podcast” so you will be able to find them quickly!

1.  Apple-iTunes-Tips for Podcast Fans

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

2.  The Education Podcast Network

http://epnweb.org/

3.  Our City Podcast

http://learninginhand.com/ourcity

4.  Learning Out Loud

http://www.learnoutloud.com/

Please check out this screencast reviewing  How to Bookmark in Diigo.

Okay, so now you have some resources.  Let’s take a look at some podcasts.  A great place to find podcasts is a place you are all very familiar with, the iTunes store.  I bet you’ve never noticed the “podcast” tab at the top of the website.  We are going to take a look at it today.  On your desktops you have an “audio/video” folder.  If you open it up, there is an iTunes shortcut inside.  Please use this to take you to the iTunes store.  If for some reason it isn’t working, simply use your Google search engine and get yourself there!

Just as with iTunes music, videos, apps, and tv shows, there are some podcasts which aren’t appropriate for school or for students your age.  The ones marked “explicit” are off limits!!  Please remember the AUP you signed in the beginning of the year and make good choices as you check out some of these podcasts.  A safe place to search would be the “Discovery Network."  So please search Discovery Network in the "Search Store" tab in the top right corner.  Once you have hit enter, you will need to look on the left side of the page under, "Filter By Media Types", and select Podcasts.   The last step is to select Discovery Networks under "Publishers" on the left.  You will be checking out some of the podcasts from this section.  Please do not view the Military Channel.  Remember, podcasts aren’t single recordings, but a series of episodes, much like a tv show.  Use your search in iTunes to get you to this menu if you can’t find it anywhere else on the site.  Ask for help if you need it.  You will be given about 5 minutes to watch all or part of a podcast. 

Once you have finished with this part of the class, you can log off the computer.  You will now be given an iPod.  Please be careful with these, and once again, your AUP applies to these devices!!!  It would make sense to find the downloaded podcasts under podcast on your devices, but for some reason you will need to look in videos instead.  You will find 4 podcasts (2 CNNStudent News, 1 Dirty Jobs, and 1 Discovery Space). Please take a few minutes to watch and experience at least one of these on the iPod.

Once you have returned your iPod, you will work together as a class to complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting your experiences with these podcasts on the computer and the iPod.   I know this was a quick introduction, but we will be following up with this topic for the next couple of weeks.  You and a partner will be creating an audio podcast to put on your blogs!!