Podcasting with SakaiSteve Lonn - University of Michigan

Kyle Singer - Whitman CollegeKevin Brokamp - University of Indiana

Session Overview• Introduction: What is Podcasting?

• iTunes U at Michigan❖ Description, Screenshots, Best Practices

• RSS Resources at Whitman❖ Description, Screenshots, Best Practices

• Sakai Podcasting Tool at Indiana❖ Description, Screenshots, Best Practices

• Questions From the Floor

2

What is a Podcast?• "A digital recording of a radio broadcast or

similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player."

-- New Oxford American Dictionary, 2005 Word of the Year

• “Podcasting's essence is about creating content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want.”

-- Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

3

Why Podcast?• Need for quality, portable review material in

courses where large amounts of material are presented.❖ Ex: Law, Medical, Intro Courses

• Share music files❖ Ex: Musicology, American Culture

• New way to share public audio content❖ Ex: Radio broadcasts, speeches

• Foreign language review

4

Types of Podcasts

• Audio Podcast

• Enhanced Podcast

❖ Still Graphics + Audio

• Video Podcast

5

Creation & Distribution

Prepare ShareCreate Publish

PowerPointKeynote

ProfCastAudacity

GarageBandMovieMaker

WebsiteSakai

iTunes U

podcatcheriTunesiPod

6

iTunes U & CToolsUniversity of Michigan

7

Overview

• Tool that directs from CTools site to specific page in Michigan instance of iTunes U

• Site owner requests tool activation from Support team

• In production as of September, 2006

Accessing iTunes U

iTunes Opens

Example Page

Upload Files

Admin Setup

Advantages

• Allows for different file formats (mp3, aac, mov, pdf, etc.)

• Alternative for large multimedia files

❖ Not related to site quota

• 1-Click Subscription

• Student familiarity with iTunes (free app)

Disadvantages

• Content stored on Apple servers

❖ Lack of institutional control

• Browser issues with iTunes links

• Users cannot add tool to site themselves

• Interface issues

StatisticsCategory Number

CTools Sites with iTunes U 56

Number of Participants 4 - 1,281(Average [mode]: 65)

Browsed Tracks 42,631

Individual Track Downloads 17,799

Subscriptions 814

Subscription Track Downloads 7,790

August 27 - November 26, 2006

Uploading

25%

19%

6%

50%

Weekly (1-2 uploads) Few Times a MonthMonthly Infrequently

16 Respondents

• 1st & 2nd Year Medical School Students

❖ Audio Files of lectures

❖ eBooks related to readings

❖ Dissection videos

❖ Surgery videos

Quotes &Examples of Use

• Michigan Concert Band

❖ Professional recordings of pieces being rehearsed

❖ Concert recordings

❖ Various band-related audio/video files

Quotes &Examples of Use

Quotes &Examples of Use

• Undergraduate English Course❖ Posted video files, music files, lecture recordings, PDFs, jpegs❖ “Students have appreciated having access to these materials

--quite convenient, portable (for those with iPods)”❖ “also a good way to share my students' video and other digital

projects”❖ “Frees class time in which I would have shown some of the

video work; allows students to see class-related videos at their leisure, so no outside of class scheduling is necessary”

❖ “An invaluable addition to the learning experience”

RSS Resources ToolWhitman College

Podcasting @ Whitman

• A little history...

Overview

• A very simple addition to Sakai

• Available to all sites using the Resources tool

• In production as of September, 2006

Creating a Podcast

Creating a Podcast

Subscribing

Advantages

• Nothing new to learn

• Handles many types of media

• Can use any podcast reader

Disadvantages

• Should be easier to subscribe

• Spaghetti-code

Future Possibilities

• Allowing tool makers to plug-in

• More types of feeds (Atom, etc)

Podcasting @ Whitman

• General Studies

• French

• Sociology

Podcasting @ Whitman

• Recording lectures

• Student projects

Quotes make us happy

• “When I miss soc, it has been very helpful to have the podcast available to listen to...I wish more classes used them.”

• “They have been extremely helpful for me to get caught up on what happened and be able to take notes on my own as opposed to from another student in the class.”

• “They are great when something from class is unclear and you need to go back to it...A really great resource.”

Podcasting ToolUniversity of Indiana

Overview•Tool that allows podcast content to be

uploaded and distributed leveraging the capabilities of the Sakai Resources tool

•Students can access content using an RSS reader or they can download the content from within the Sakai environment

• In production as of September, 2006

Adding a Podcast

View/Download Available Podcasts in Sakai

View/Download Available Podcasts using iTunes

Advantages

•Allows for different file formats (mp3, aac, mov, pdf, etc.)

•Content stored locally instead of on Apple’s servers

•Easy access from within the Sakai environment or using a podcatcher

•Can save valuable class time

Disadvantages

•Podcast content counts toward site file storage quota

•To distribute recorded lectures

•To distribute review materials

•Provide commentary for a structured activity

•Use as a pre-lecture preparation tool

•New use cases developing almost daily

Examples of Use

Questions?• Steve Lonn - University of Michigan - iTunes U

❖ slonn@umich.edu

• Kyle Singer - Whitman College - RSS Resources

❖ singerkd@whitman.edu

• Kevin Brokamp - University of Indiana - Podcasting Tool

❖ kmbrokam@iupui.edu