Hey, Check out the instructions from the University of Southern Florida podcasting course.
Go to the link
http://etc.usf.edu/te_win/movies/audacity.html
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Getting There
Ok, When podcasting, teachers say all you have to do is record into a microphone and post your stuff and you have a course. There is however more to podcasting than this. Check this link
www.flexiblelearning.net.au
Students seem to be adapting to podcasting and online formatting very well.
Some examples;
One carpentry student said he doesn't use computers or email so I arranged to meet him and step through the online competencies that he is doing. When we sat down I found that he knew the difference between Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. He was also an active facebook user and was also competent with a mouse and use of an internet browser. If this is a student who doesn't know much about the internet then watch out for the ones who do, they are not coming to our institutes soon, they are already here and they are waiting for us (the teachers) to catch up with their knowledge.
I have several mature age apprentices who are very keen to learn online due to their lack of available time. Most of the mature age guys have families to care for and are desperate to find ways into flexible learning. Of all the age groups I have contacted during this project I think these guys are the most willing and definitely the most capable.
Some other things I have discovered is that MP3 audio seems to be the most transportable media format. MP3 will play on almost any media player old or new. I have had feedback (heartfelt thanks to people who have taken the time to comment) from some who wish to see visuals, either photo or video incorporated into podcasts because the monotone audio goes on for too long. I agree some of the podcasts I have made are hard to concentrate on, but most are no longer than 5 or so minutes. In response to the question of making podcasts more interesting and to incorporate multi-media I would like to explain;
Using video takes time, for every minute of reasonable video you see on screen there is usually 1 hour of filming and 1 hour of editing behind it. That means a 5 minute video would normally take between 10 and 12 hours to produce. So for twelve hours of work you end up with a reasonable educational and location specific production (not usually one that can be shared with other schools).
I have been producing videos for 20 years or more and I am in contact with the most up to date non-professional video editing software available, I am talking about 12 hours of work after you have organised yourself and had a fair bit of experience with editing software.
You would proboably get better value if you spend that 12 hours in front of a class unless you have a large number of students who are geographically spread.
A video production of 5 minutes used for TAFE teaching will normally date after two or three years so need re-editing/ shooting and updating after a relatively short time.
Video productions are also large files (5 mins at reasonable quality could be 150mb). Unless you are very good with compression rates this is a major hurdle (to uploading, downloading and processing) and one most teachers can't deal with.
When you upload a video it then goes up as an MP4 Quicktime, Flash AVi or any one of the other video formats. You can post it on an external site like Vimeo or Youtube, but you are still relying on the fact that the student has the capability to play it on their computer. It appears that currently a lot of students do have the capability to manage variuous formats on their devices, but you are still creating another hurdle to get over before learning can begin.
My resolution at this point is that MP3 is a far better format to ensure that as many students as possible will receive your message and have access to the valuable lessons in the context which you want them to be in.
When using MP3 audio files the issues of recording, storing, editing, uploading and downloading the files are all reduced because this is the "Holden Hubcap" of file formats. "Holden Hubcap" meaning that it is commonly available, cheap easy to use and most people know about it.
If you record sometning in Mp3 with an Easi-Speak microphone
You can then edit it with an audio program such as Audacity and then publish it as an audio podcast. You may be able to record and post without editing but this will normally leave the file size unmanaged and quite large. For example if you record a voice memo with an iPhone, 5 to ten minutes can be as large as 40mb. After you run the same file through Audacity and publish as a spoken podcast it can be reduced to as low as 2 or 3mb.
I hope some of this helps you with your quest to podcast, if you are still reading you must be keen, so please leave a comment below.
www.flexiblelearning.net.au
Students seem to be adapting to podcasting and online formatting very well.
Some examples;
One carpentry student said he doesn't use computers or email so I arranged to meet him and step through the online competencies that he is doing. When we sat down I found that he knew the difference between Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. He was also an active facebook user and was also competent with a mouse and use of an internet browser. If this is a student who doesn't know much about the internet then watch out for the ones who do, they are not coming to our institutes soon, they are already here and they are waiting for us (the teachers) to catch up with their knowledge.
I have several mature age apprentices who are very keen to learn online due to their lack of available time. Most of the mature age guys have families to care for and are desperate to find ways into flexible learning. Of all the age groups I have contacted during this project I think these guys are the most willing and definitely the most capable.
Some other things I have discovered is that MP3 audio seems to be the most transportable media format. MP3 will play on almost any media player old or new. I have had feedback (heartfelt thanks to people who have taken the time to comment) from some who wish to see visuals, either photo or video incorporated into podcasts because the monotone audio goes on for too long. I agree some of the podcasts I have made are hard to concentrate on, but most are no longer than 5 or so minutes. In response to the question of making podcasts more interesting and to incorporate multi-media I would like to explain;
Using video takes time, for every minute of reasonable video you see on screen there is usually 1 hour of filming and 1 hour of editing behind it. That means a 5 minute video would normally take between 10 and 12 hours to produce. So for twelve hours of work you end up with a reasonable educational and location specific production (not usually one that can be shared with other schools).
I have been producing videos for 20 years or more and I am in contact with the most up to date non-professional video editing software available, I am talking about 12 hours of work after you have organised yourself and had a fair bit of experience with editing software.
You would proboably get better value if you spend that 12 hours in front of a class unless you have a large number of students who are geographically spread.
A video production of 5 minutes used for TAFE teaching will normally date after two or three years so need re-editing/ shooting and updating after a relatively short time.
Video productions are also large files (5 mins at reasonable quality could be 150mb). Unless you are very good with compression rates this is a major hurdle (to uploading, downloading and processing) and one most teachers can't deal with.
When you upload a video it then goes up as an MP4 Quicktime, Flash AVi or any one of the other video formats. You can post it on an external site like Vimeo or Youtube, but you are still relying on the fact that the student has the capability to play it on their computer. It appears that currently a lot of students do have the capability to manage variuous formats on their devices, but you are still creating another hurdle to get over before learning can begin.
My resolution at this point is that MP3 is a far better format to ensure that as many students as possible will receive your message and have access to the valuable lessons in the context which you want them to be in.
When using MP3 audio files the issues of recording, storing, editing, uploading and downloading the files are all reduced because this is the "Holden Hubcap" of file formats. "Holden Hubcap" meaning that it is commonly available, cheap easy to use and most people know about it.
If you record sometning in Mp3 with an Easi-Speak microphone
You can then edit it with an audio program such as Audacity and then publish it as an audio podcast. You may be able to record and post without editing but this will normally leave the file size unmanaged and quite large. For example if you record a voice memo with an iPhone, 5 to ten minutes can be as large as 40mb. After you run the same file through Audacity and publish as a spoken podcast it can be reduced to as low as 2 or 3mb.
I hope some of this helps you with your quest to podcast, if you are still reading you must be keen, so please leave a comment below.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Re Feedburner
I have been introduced to a site called feedburner. This is a site that is managed by Google and lets you have more control over your own RSS feeds. For example, I listed my podomatic page as Cam Gleeson's page. I then wanted to change it to NMIT, I can't do this via podomatic, because the RSS feed that goes out to subscribers is set. So I divert my feed through feedburner and I can change the name to whatever I want to, whenever I want. This means a lot when you realise that you are missing critical words in your titles that people can pick up when searching. My original title says nothing about podcasting which is not good.
Additionally if I am using feedburner I can create seperate RSS feeds for each podcast or video, whilst on podomatic there is just one feed for the whole page. You can access feedburner by activating a google account that gives you access. It is handy if you want to have more control over your RSS feeds as your stuff gains more of a following.
Additionally if I am using feedburner I can create seperate RSS feeds for each podcast or video, whilst on podomatic there is just one feed for the whole page. You can access feedburner by activating a google account that gives you access. It is handy if you want to have more control over your RSS feeds as your stuff gains more of a following.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
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