Why Podcast?
There are many reasons to Podcast your courses. I first got into Podcasting when I was teaching an online course. It seems odd not to be able to lecture to the students, so I started recording one for them. Student feedback was positive. The extra work was minimal, once all the systems were in place.
I had not considered it for my regular, in-person classes, as I was afraid that it would hurt class attendance, and that would not benefit students in the long run. I changed my mind when approached by a student who was going to be gone for an extended period of time. I thought, why not record the lectures and release them as a Podcast. If I was going to record for one student, why not release it to all students. It was just one class, and I could try to gauge any adverse effects on the class.
One of the problems I have seen develop among students is the lack of note taking. I just don't see how students can get anything from a lecture when they do not take notes. To help combat this, I randomly give open notes quizzes at the end of lecture. These quizzes are easy if you take good notes - nearly impossible if you do not. The students really hate this at first, but it has led to better class performance. I think it was these notes quizzes that dampened any negative affects from Podcasting the lectures. Students had to be in the classroom to take the quiz, and thus could not just "phone it in."
On the contrary, I think the Podcasts have actually helped. The student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Students have reported it to be most effective in reviewing concepts that went by too fast in class and in studying for exams.
Creating the Podcast
Creating the Audio File
In order to be able to Podcast, you must first find a way to record your lectures. There are many options here. For the first few Podcasts that I did, I used a small, dedicated mp3 recorder (I think it was from iRiver.) I checked this out from our Academic Technology Services office. The performance of this device was a bit spotty. It was difficult to use, and on several occasions did not record the lecture at all. When I complained about it at the end of the year, I was given a Video iPod with a microphone attachment. This has worked much better. Your mileage may vary, but basically any device that can record to WAV or mp3 should do the job. With the iPod, I can just drop it in pocket with the mike facing up and get good quality audio.
Here are a few pointers that I have picked up along the way in recording. You need to find a way to set a mark in your file. You will need to set a mark when something occurs during the lecture that you need to fix and/or expand on. It can be very frustrating to listen to an entire lecture looking for a particular section. When I need to set a mark, I just cough. A cough will be very noticeable in the sound editor. Another tip is that if students are asking questions, you will need to repeat them so they can be heard on the Podcast. One final tip, if you realize right away that you have messed something up and will need to fix it, wait a few seconds and then restate your point. The silence will be easy to find on tape, and the new audio surrounded by silence will be easy to cut and paste.
Editing the File
Once you have the audio file, you have to edit it. My recommendation for this task is Audacity. Audacity is a free, multi-platform audio editing tool. It is easy to learn, and allows for all of the editing that you are likely to need. There are other options here, GarageBand for the Mac comes to mind, but they are really overkill. I need to be able to edit lectures quickly, or I am just not going to have time to keep up. Audacity is easy in, easy out. Audacity will not save to mp3 out of the box due to legal restrictions. They will, however, give you the name of a support file that you need to find and download. Google locates the file quickly, and once Audacity knows where it is, it will never ask you again. Naming the file is important, as you want to give you listeners good information about which lecture covers what. I usually name lectures my week and topic.
My normal workflow is to download a lecture from the iPod and pull it up in Audacity. I then look at the beginning and end of the lecture, as that is where small talk may collect. If there are student questions, they will most likely appear as long silences. I normally cut those out. I also review any marks that I may have set. I no longer go through and correct every "uugh" or other verbal tic. That would just take too long. I just correct any obvious errors and ship it.
iTunesU or not iTunesU
For the first couple of classes, I just posted the audio files on my Web server. This was some extra work as I had to create an XML file for iTunes to be able to play the files. Eventually I heard that our campus was getting an iTunesU server from Apple. Many schools have one, so you should check around to see if you are on the program. I called up our support person, and they set up a class for me. The workflow is much improved. I only have to upload my mp3 files and iTunes takes care of the rest.
The one caveat to iTunesU is that the audience will not just be your students. I was not aware of this until recently. I started getting emails from all over the country and a few from Europe. They were mostly "thanks for the Podcast" letters. There were a few questions, but it is not really a time issue yet. The oddest occurrence was at a conference. When I approached the check-in, the person behind the desk asked "Are you THE David Frazier." It seems that she had found my Podcast. I currently have 2 Podcasts in the iTunesU top download list. All of this happened without be being aware of a wider audience. The moral here it to be ready for outside listeners. I am going to try this semester to be aware of this wider audience in my references in class.
In conclusion, Podcasting has worked for me. The students seemed to have benefited and it has not really added much to my workload. I don't think any technology is for everyone, so I would recommend starting small and seeing how it goes.