Podcasting GuidelinesMiss Bowman8th Grade Global Issues Project

An effective podcast is focused, uncomplicated, rehearsed, and holds the audience's attention.

Overview:

You will use a wide-range of skills to plan, prepare, record, and broadcast a podcast. You

will brainstorm ideas, assign roles, write a script, rehearse, check timings, practice your

lines, edit your work, upload your podcasts, and often receive feedback from other students

and listeners on the web!

Making your work public should motivate you to do your best work – creative, planned, and precise.

Project Details:

Students will write a script for their podcasts (not necessarily word-for-word). This could be an outline or a paper, but it must show that the student(s) have thoughtfully planned out and practiced their podcast.

After Miss Bowman approves the script – continue and record!

Recording tips – capture the audio recording under the best possible conditions. Choose a room with no or low echo that is as quiet as possible.

Editing

1. A free editor is Audacity, which can be downloaded for free. All Mac computers come with GarageBand, which allows easy export to iTunes and the web. While Mr. O’Neal will be helping you, you can also search Google or YouTube for tutorials on how to use Audacity or GarageBand--there are plenty of free resources on the web which will walk you through how to use the software in a step-by-step manner. You don’t have to edit a podcast, but it is both practical (deleting coughs, pauses, etc.) and fun (adding sound effects).

2. To edit a podcast, students should focus on the beginning and ending of the podcast. They want to pad both ends of the recording with at least five seconds of silence. This applies to video recording as well. This ensures that none of their words will be missed. It’s also a nice place to add a bit of

intro/outro music. iMovie makes it extremely easy to import music from a CD or from iTunes.

3. Part of the editing process to consider is how much you want to embellish your podcast. Do you want to leave it pretty much as-is or create a music soundtrack? What about an introduction? Do you want to add sound effects? Do you want to add images or video? What about adding clapping or cheers (or boos)? These are all things to consider if you are making this podcast public.

You must have an MLA Works Cited page – I need to know the source(s) of your information.

Your podcast must be submitted as an MP3 or .wav file.

Your podcast will be posted on my mini-site (Word Press) on the Harrisburg Academy website – which means it is public…which is the point

Be creative!

More about Creating an Effective Podcast

Focused--The overall podcast should portray a clear statement or a clear idea. Your

audience should walk away from the presentation with useful information that supports

your goal.

Uncomplicated--Make sure your podcast is easy to understand. Music and dialog should

not compete for the listener's attention. Be sure that your images, graphs, animation, etc.

add to your message and to the point of your presentation. Wow the audience with your

message and creativity, not a bunch of complicated tricks.

Rehearsed--Write out a script before recording your dialog. Your audio needs to be clear

and understandable. Make sure your images appear when you want them to appear, timing

them appropriately with your script.

Attention grabbing--Infuse your podcast with your creativity and passion! Your audience

should be interested and inspired by your message.

How do you accomplish these goals?

Follow the Plan, Gather, Build, and Publish workflow model.

Plan--Brainstorm! Write down all of your ideas, and then choose the best one. Once you

have your idea, clearly define the goal of your presentation. Sketch an outline of the entire

podcast. Think about what types of images or graphs will emphasize and enhance your

message. Draft a possible script for all dialog, which you can refine as you gather more

information.

Gather--Research your topic. If you chose to use images, find relevant images or create

graphs to enhance your information. Take pictures with your digital camera if you can't

find exactly what you're looking for. Fill out your script, planning which images should

appear during which segments of the dialog. Find music that fits the tone of your message

but won't overshadow it. As you search for music and images, make sure you find things

that are copyright-free and allowed to be reused. Also, create your Works Cited page as

you research so as to save time and headaches later.

Build--Create your podcast with Audacity or GarageBand. Record your scripted dialog, and

spice it up with music and images. Be sure to listen to it as you work, making sure the

audio levels are consistent and that all images appear with the appropriate audio.

Share--Present your finished product to an audience, either in person or online!

Additional Resources:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

http://www.cueprompter.com/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/podcasting

How do I use GarageBand? If you're unfamiliar with this application, keep reading!

1. For starters, watch Apple's introduction to GarageBand at

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/music/#intro and Apple's introduction to

making a podcast with GarageBand at

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/music/#podcast

2. When you open GarageBand, choose Podcast under the new project menu.

3. Next title your podcast and save it in a folder so that you can easily find it on the

computer in the future. Then click on Create.

4. Now you're in GarageBand and ready to create your podcast! The top left of this

screen is where you manage the timeline, audio, and video components of your

podcast. The right-hand side of the window is for external media sources you may

choose to incorporate into your project. HINT: Turn off the metronome before

recording! (ControlMetronome)

5. Next click a vocal track to begin recording your script. The vocal track will appear

blue when it is chosen. When you're ready to speak clearly into the microphone,

record buttonvocal tracks

click the red record button at the bottom of the screen to start recording. Press the

red record button again to stop recording.

6. To add jingles in the background, first click the eye-shaped icon along the bottom

of the menu to the right. This allows you to see the loop menu and choose from pre-

recorded jingles, music in iTunes, or music that you create in GarageBand.

eye-shaped icon

7. Once you've chosen the right music, click on an audio track and drag your choice

into the timeline. Here you can adjust the audio levels and time placement.

8. To add images, you first need to import images into iPhoto. These images can be

downloaded from the Internet, taken on your camera, or created in a graphics

program. Once iPhoto is open, in the File menu, choose Import to Library. This

allows you to choose the image from wherever on the computer you have stored it.

Once you have found the image, click Import. Note: pictures can only be 300 by

300 pixels to play properly in GarageBand.

9. Now return to the media browser by choosing the musical-note-and-box-shaped

icon along the bottom of the menu to the right. When iPhoto is chosen along the top,

you should be able to see all the images and photos that you have imported into

iPhoto.

musical-note-and-box-shaped icon

10. To add the image to your podcast, simply drag the image into the podcast track

along your timeline. You can adjust the length and time placement from here.

11. To add a cover image, drag the image into the box labeled Episode Artwork at the

bottom of the page.

12. Play with your audio and visual effects until the podcast looks exactly as you

envisioned it. As a trick, hitting the spacebar both starts and stops playback of your

podcast.

13. When you're satisfied with your podcast, first save it by choosing Save under the

File menu. Now you can export and share your podcast by choosing the Share menu

across the top, then Export Podcast to Disk.

14. In the next screen, choose AAC Encoder, Higher Quality, check the box after

Publish Podcast, and click Export. Again, be sure to save your podcast where you

can find it.

15. When you open your podcast, be sure to open it in QuickTime (NOT iTunes) so the

images will be visible. On a Mac, control + click the file, and choose Open With

QuickTime Player.