Education Podcast Sampler

Feed to Podcast tool

Below, you should be seeing an embedded podcast derived from the ODCE conference blog. The feed-to-podcast tool converts RSS text to voice that can be listened to in a web page or received as a podcast feed. Interesting trick, I am wondering if it just "cool" or if it has value for accessibility or meeting learning styles.

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Outta Control: Does Education Matter Anymore?

This podcast is from the 2007 South By Southwest Interactive conference:

Do social networking tools eliminate the role of faculty and other authoritative sources? Are courses dead, replaced by referential webs and empowering wikis? Or do the tools threaten a chaotic "yellow learning" environment where the most connected claim is given the most credence? Taxonomy versus folksonomy, lecture versus discovery, AOL versus myspace are but a few of the microrevolutions representing this shift in how we will learn tomorrow.

Moderator: Michael Anderson Asst Dir, UT System TeleCampus

Michael Anderson  Asst Dir,  UT System TeleCampus
Ellen Wagner  Sr Dir,  Adobe Systems
Gary Lopez  Exec Dir,  Monterey Institute for Technology and Education
Mark Milliron  Sr Lecturer Endowed Fellow Dir NISOD,  University of Texas at Austin

"Make you lame podcast listenable"

Digital media guru Steve Mack offered a rapid rundown of best practices in audio and podcast production at the recent South by Southwest Interactive Conference. It is titled "Five Tips to Make Your Lame Podcast Listenable."

Just because students my be a captive audience doesn't mean they need to be treated like prisoners. Be an educational Johnny Cash and deliver podcasts that sound professional, enjoyable and educational.

Student Audio Production

This resource is a year and half old -- ancient history by today's standards -- but it is one of the best sources I have come across that demonstrates and explains the value of student audio production.

Barbara Ganley, who teaches creative writing  at Middlebury College, asks her students to record audio for a variety of purposes. Students record themselves reading their writing aloud, giving one-minute summaries of their research, summaries of the paper-in-progress as a way for them to test how well they can articulate their thinking, and to record interviews for their research papers. Ganley writes:

[Students] are now comfortable using the iPod as a tool of expression, of idea capturing, of processing and reflecting…. they will start commenting on one another's podcasts, noting the characteristics of each other's speech versus writing and working on formal oral presentations. I've also encouraged them to use podcasting in their other classes, as ways to organize and study material, to practice speaking for their foreign language classes (then listening to themselves and making corrections). Embedding "drafts" of their oral presentations offers opportunities for peer feedback, for self-review.

I see these intensive, small uses of podcasting as immensely useful as clips within their essays as well as through their writing and reflection process. They can embed excerpts of their interviews -- or oral readings of a poem being analyzed -- right into the Web-based documents, letting the reader hear the voices of the people interviewed or the sound of lines from a play

She as a blog post that lists several examples such as this conversation between Ganley and her student about the student's developing essay.

George Siemens at ODCE

Here is the keynote speech given by George Siemens at the ODCE conference earlier this week. His speech is titled " Connectivism: Content, Connections, Conversation and he rapidly walks us through how technology is increasing the production of knowledge, giving us the tools to manage the flow of knowledge while, in the process, redefining what knowledge is.

George was a frequent contributor to the conference blog and you can read more of his thoughts on the blog.

The Making of the 2007 Horizon Report

Educause has published an interview with two of the researchers behind New Media Consortium's 2007 edition of the Horizon Report, an annual evaluation of emerging educational technologies and and estimated time to adoption for each.

It is worth noting that podcasting was not explicitly identified in this year's report. In 2006, podcasting was lumped with "Personal Broadcasting" and given a one year adoption horizon. This year the report identifies "User-Created Content" and " Social Networking" within the one year horizon. Did podcasting fall from favor?

No it didn't. But it did end up, to borrow from filmmaking, on the editing room floor. A look at the Horizon Report wiki shows that on the shortlist for inclusion in the report was:"Can You Hear Me Now?  The Resurgence of Audio." Here is a snippet:

Podcasting was one of the early uses of audio capture and distribution, but we are now seeing new forms, including short interviews, group discussions, synchronous voice-over-IP (VoIP) audio conferences of up to a hundred people, and recordings of keynotes, performances, and courses. Recording equipment is readily available, whether it’s an iRiver, a cell phone, or software that works with a VoIP provider like Skype. We are rapidly approaching the point when any instructor can capture and distribute a lecture online by walking into the room and pushing a button labeled “record this class.

The University of Cincinnati his highlighted with an example of "a faculty member providing students with detailed feedback via audio commentaries.

Two "further reading" resources are provided:

Five Steps to Designing Podcasts that Teach(retrieved November 14, 2006 from University of Wisconsin-Madison). This short how-to article explains how to design and create an educational podcast, focusing on the educational value rather than on the technology. engage.

Beyond Text: Using Your Voice Online (Retrieved November 14, 2006). This project has explored the application of online voice technologies in different learning contexts and with different learner groups to develop models of practice and practical guides for teachers in Australia wishing to move beyond text and integrate online voice technologies into online delivery, assessment and support services.

Ask the Techies

Ohio University produces a nice video podcast called Ask the Techies covering common questions and issues with the uses of computers and consumer technology such as this one using the iPod as an educational tool.

George Siemens and Jay Cross

Here is a podcast of a conversation between Jay Cross and George Siemens that took place leading up to the  Online Educa Berlin conference in late November of 2006. Both are advocates of informal learning -- Jay in the corporate world and George in education--  and they talk about how they will be engaged in informal learning at the conference. George will be the keynote at the upcoming ODCE conference where will be encouraging informal learning with a wiki , blog and social bookmarks.

I wonder, to what degree to we nurture informal learning in higher education? How do you benefit, and how have you seen your students benefit, from informal learning? Do you design for it as you design for formal learning in the space defined as "the course?"

Rich

Podcasting to hit "inflection point" in 07?

Dan Colman, the lead editor of Oculture.com and  Associate Dean & Director of Stanford's Continuing Studies Program was recently interviewed on America Public Radio's Future Tense about the open courseware movement and its growth through the medium of podcasting.

On his blog he summarizes the recent Pew Center study that suggests podcasting may -- depending on how you interpret the numbers -- not be as pervasively adopted as believed. Still, he suggests that "Somewhere in '07, [educational podcasting] should hit an inflection point. Supply will increase demand. Demand will trigger more supply. We'll see exponential growth and never look back."