Podcast Academy 5 (Nashville)

[Doug Kaye]

Podcast Academy 5 will have an educational (K-12 and higher ed) focus, and I'd like to get your suggestions re the curriculum. It will be held in Nashville, TN, in late October or early November.

* Do you have a 45-minute class you would like to teach? 

* Is there someone you'd like us to invite to teach a class?

* Are there any sessions from previous Podcast Academy events we should invite back?

We've just completed a successful Podcast Academy 3 at Yahoo! in Santa Clara, CA. -- see www.podcastacademy.com -- and we're starting work on the next three events. One thing we've learned is that we're serving two rather separate audiences: corporate and educational. For this reason, we've decided to produce events with one focus or the other, but not both. 

The next two Podcast Academy events will be:

PA4: September 28, in conjunction with the Podcast and Portable Media Expo (http://www.portablemediaexpo.com/) in Ontario, CA.

PA5: Late October or early November in Nashville, TN (Nashville Community College).

Thanks!

    ...doug

Doug Kaye, Executive Director

The Conversations Network

www.conversationsnetwork.org

do...@rds.com

v: 415.453.1400

[Adam Weiss]

Doug,

Adam Weiss here (I was a speaker at PA2 in the educational podcasting
group).

First off, I think that an Podcast Academy centered around education is
a great idea. With the number of educators at PA2, I think it will be a
big success. In terms of sessions, I think that you -- or someone else
-- from IT Conversations should do something on podcasting lectures.
This is something I see a lot of interest in from people and
organizations who approach me for podcast consulting. This style seems
particularly well-suited to colleges and high-schools who wish to
provide their classes in podcast form.

That said, I think it is important that a main focus of an
education-related Podcast Academy be on other styles of show beyond the
"lecture-cast." There are many types of education beyond the
traditional classroom, and this is where podcasting really has an
opportunity to shine. Those same people who approach me asking about
lecture-casting inevitably say that they themselves wouldn't want to
listen to most lectures via podcast; they just see that mode as the
easiest way to use material they already have. When I suggest
interviews with speakers or profile-vignettes of their lecturers, they
have been unanimously enthusiastic.

Similar to what you do in some IT Conversations podcasts, I recommend
talking to the experts that institutions invite for lectures in a
personal, conversational, way. I've been advocating that these
interviews be the primary product, with lectures available for download
for those who are particularly interested in a topic. This is the way I
do my show for the Museum of Science, as well as the way I do Boston
Behind the Scenes, the new show I started after Podcast Academy 2.

These ideas are gaining momentum at the Museum of Science. We are
discussing adding a number of other podcasts to the one science news
show we already do -- a show that has been in the top 1% of science
podcasts on iTunes for over 6 months.

Interestingly, I've had some interest in my new Boston Behind the
Scenes show expressed by the Boston schools. While it is really a show
about people, those people are talking about their jobs -- perfect
material for Career Day. Because of this, I think it is important to
emphasize that many podcasts are educational, whether or not the goal
of the show is education.

Implementing any of these ideas requires high production values, good
editing skills, and a solid interview style. As a result, these are
other areas on which an educational Podcast Academy should focus.

Thanks again for doing these. I learned a lot from the last one!

Adam Weiss
Current Science & Technology Center Boston Behind the Scenes
Museum of Science, Boston http://www.bostonbehindthescenes.com
http://www.mos.org/cst