Podcasts & iTunesU (March 23-27)

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last 24 months, it's easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the ones used in this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer in person interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a computer (or portable device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

iTunes has a special section called iTunesU. You don't have to be a university to add content to iTunesU. The Beyond Campus section of iTunesU provides content from PBS, Edutopia, and the Smithsonian, just to name a few organizations.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools and iTunesU. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Explore content in iTunesU.

Discovery Resources

*Watch Podcasting in Plain English



*There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download:

Education Podcast Directories: Education Podcasts and Education Podcast Network
Podbean
Podseek

*Read more about iTunesU.

Discovery Exercise

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed above and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting Primary Source-related podcasts here like podcasts about our content areas or 21st Century Learning.

2. If you haven't already, go to iTunes and explore some of the Beyond Campus and K-12 content provided in the iTunesU section. (All of the Macs have iTunes on them if it is not on your computer.)

3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here? Do you think there are uses for podcasts or iTunesU in our work?