Podcasting Lectures

[Mario]

This semester I started experimenting with recording all my class
sessions and making them available as podcasts. I haven't really
gotten any feedback from my students, but I'm thinking that it will be
around exam time that they will begin to access them.

I've found that listening to portions of the recordings is a great way
for me to critique my own lecture habits. I'm discovering that
sometimes I talk too fast, I'm very repetitive, and I'm not nearly as
funny as I thought I was!

Most recently, I conducted a class session in which I divided my
students into groups. I passed the recorder around as the groups and
individual students gave their reports and made that class session
available as a podcast.

The students seem to appreciate that I'm doing this for them. It's
easy for them to access, plus they can download the podcast to their
MP3 players or iPods. I'll report later when I get a better feel for
how or if students are using the podcasts.

How do you do it?

1. You need a digital recorder. I use the Sony ICD-SX25. It's,
small, very user friendly, and has decent sound quality. I picked up
a $10 computer lapel microphone from Wal-Mart that I simply hook on to
my breast pocket when I start lecturing (just set it and forget it!).
(A bonus to using this recorder is that it is compatible with Dragon
Naturally Speaking for transcribing recordings to text.) Whatever
recorder you use, make sure the software it comes with can convert the
recorder's raw recordings to an MP3 format. The software that came
with my recorder converts the audio file to MP3 automatically when I
transfer the file from the recorder to my PC - it couldn't be easier.
It also keeps the files pretty small - 5-6 megs on average for a 45-50
minute recording.

2. Sign up for podcast hosting. A student of mine told me about
www.gcast.com, and I absolutely love it. If you teach several
classes, you can create a separate podcast channel for each class. It
is really easy to upload your audio files from your PC to their server
and gcast does all the necessary conversions from MP3 to podcast
format. Anyone in the world can then access your gcast website and can
download an MP3 file of your recording, or stream the recording. Best
of all, it's free.

3. Put it on iTunes. Once you've put up your first podcast on gcast
you'll want to submit it to iTunes. It's really easy to do,
especially if you already have an iTunes account. The only problem
with iTunes is that it may be several days from the time you submit
your podcast to the time it's available for anyone to find. It took
mine about a week to go live. But after that, it's available for your
students and anyone else who might stumble on it.

If you want to check out my podcast do one of the following:

1. www.gcast.com/u/mescobedoii/main

2. search in itunes under "Mario Escobedo" or "Pre-Exilic Prophets"

Happy Podcasting!

[carl...@gmail.com]

Thanks for this. It sounds like an easy way to chronicle a lecture.
How well did it work when you passed the mic around group to group? Do
you think this is more effective for lectures or can you see a
possibility for group discussions?

I've recorded myself on video before, and I agree that it is amazing
how much it helps to improve teaching when you hear/see yourself.

[Mario]

I think passing it from person to person worked well. Some students
were closer to the recorder than others so their voices were picked up
more clearly.

Especially with the lapel mic I use, this works really well with
lectures. Whenever students have questions or comments I try to mover
closer to them so the mic will pick up their voices.

I think that depending on the size of a group, the proximity of the
participants to the recorder, and the capabilities of the recorder
(how well does it handle omnidirectional recording?) this would work
well in a group setting.