Podcasting

Jeana C. Rogers from information Resources discussed Podcasting with our class last week. She showed up the great things about podcasting, and lead good discussion on the use of podcasting in our daily lives. It seemed, though, that our class responded in a different way that they do to other new social media. Many of the students in our class seemed to think that podcasting was not the best way to access data. In some ways, the podcast seems like the iPad of the media world; it's there, it has some useful tools, but they are usually tools that can be accessed from a better source. Podcasting isn't unnecessary, it just limiting.

so why podcast? what's the point?
it's a new form of media. it allows us to have access to material without the time constraint of a radio show. It keeps up with you; by subscribing, podcasting will update itself and let you find the most recent episodes. It can have such a broad audience because information for anyone can be found on the sights, and it can even be watched by vodcast, or video show online.

One "con" dealt with the use of podcasts in classrooms. Many of us thought that if teachers used podcasting for classes, then students would be more inclined to skip. On the contrary, Jeana said that research has shown otherwise. Many students used it to review their classes, instead of skip. This was intriguing, and it shows that this type of media can be used for the better. I will be interested to see where it ends up in classrooms in the future.

podcasting terms:
RSS Feed- really simple syndication
subscribing: searches for the newest/updated clips



Here were links that Jeana gave us for podcasting:
podcastmachine.com : free program to create podcasts

Podcastalley.com

librivox.com

talkshoe.com: allows anyone with a cell phone to call in as part of the podcast.

Audacity: recording program available on every computer at Butler. requires built in mic; free download.