Podcastic

We've talked about Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, blog readers, infographics and a few other nifty tools to help you create an interesting and desirable website, but we've mostly talked about ways to reach your visual learners. As we all know, not all students learn the same way, so it is important we take some time to talk about tools to target your audio learners. "How," you might ask? Simple, podcasts. Podcasts are recordings to convey a message. These recordings can be just audio, or they can be audio-visual. Either way, your audio learners will rejoice at having the ability to learn their way. 

Creating a podcast is simple. First you are going to need your idea. It can be anything (Remember to site sources if you are using someone else's work to enhance your own). Some ideas are as follow: pronunciation guides for languages taught at your school, book trailers, instructional guides (research, using the library, etc), or perhaps you can podcast about how to podcast. You could create a poetry contest in which participants can record their original poems and share them with the school. The podcast be included in the morning announcements, and then a winner can be voted on by the school.

The second thing you are going to need is a script to work from while recording. There will be some occasions when full improv will be acceptable, but most of the time you are going to want a script. A script will make sure you cover everything you want while allowing you to ad lib when needed. 

Now that you have your idea and script, you need something to record your podcast. There are several options available to you depending on what type of computer you are using. Mac users can use Garageband to create podcasts. If Garageband is not installed on your Mac computer, it can be downloaded from the Apple. The download was free when I accessed it, but it may not be when you go to it. Your computer will need to be running on OS X Mavericks in order to download this software. The good news is, it is also free! Don't have a Mac, or you don't want to download Garageband? Then there are some Internet based sites you can use to create your podcasts. These sites include

Soundcloud -limited to 180 minutes, 3 hours, of audio with the free version & no video if using it to record your podcast. You can find and follow other users in SoundCloud.If you have a Facebook account, you can use it to log in (you know I'm a fan of this). You can also download an app for your smart phone.

AudioBoom (a.k.a Audioboo) - up to 10 minutes of recording time per boo (post), unlimited boo uploads, direct messaging, the ability to create and follow various boards or playlist, educator and student accounts, and a lovely message from Stephen Fry once you join. If you do not know who Stephen Fry is, you must catch up on your British tele or Bones or watch the last installment of The Hobbit. Stephen Fry is awesome, but I digress. You can create an account, or you can log in using your Twitter account. You can also link your Facebook, Tumblr, and Blogger accounts to audioboom.

PodOmatic - Upload already recorded audio and share them with the world. As far as I could find, you cannot record your audio with PodOmatic like you can with SoundCloud and AudioBoom. You can login with your Facebook account or create an account using an email address. You can search for podcasts by genres. I recommend VIKING Cast to view examples of work created by students. 

Make sure your Java is updated or you will have a hard time using some of these sites. If you are a Chrome user, like myself, you will need to add the Java for Chrome extension as the update from Java's website is not supported by Chrome. This can be found in settings.


I created a podcast to demonstrate how reading something, in this case a poem I wrote, in various ways can affect its meaning. I used Garageband on my ipad to record the audio, and then I uploaded the recording to SoundCloud. It was pretty easy because SoundCloud was one of the options available to me when I clicked the upload button. From there, I found a picture of a Texas A&M bus to use as the picture for my podcast because the poem I read was about waiting on the bus to go to class. This particular route had three busses leaving TAMU every 20 minutes, so I usually had a good chunk of time to wait if I missed a bus. One time, one of the busses on the route caught on fire and I was almost late for a midterm. This was my "motivation" for writing a poem about waiting on a bus. 



Overall, the hardest part for me was getting the audio "right". I'm not 100% pleased with my end product, but I am happy with how easy it was to create and upload a podcast from my iPad. With practice, my audio recordings will get better.

Go forth and cast your pods!

Brittany