Podcasting in Plain English
Another great explanation from the folks at Common Craft. Here’s their newest one, released yesterday, “Podcasting in Plain English”:
Tips: Using the Griffin iTalk for Audio Podcasts
[Update: This device works with previous versions of the iPod Nano and Classic and is no longer needed with the latest versions of these devices]
Faculty and staff have been using the Griffin iTalk Pro this semester with much success to record lectures and presentations. A group of students took one to El Paso, Texas, for Alternative Spring Break to record a series of interviews with Habitat for Humanity staff, local residents, and the students in the group.
While there are a couple of posts here about using an iPod with the Griffin iTalk for audio capturing, below are a few things to keep in mind to avoid snafus and to cut down or eliminate editing after you’ve recorded (although in some instances, and for more refined productions, editing will be unavoidable).
Recording:
- Be sure the iPod is fully charged and has sufficient space before using it to record.
- When the iTalk is connected, use the highest quality settings for recording so you get the highest sound quality possible.
- Be sure the device is as close as possible to the speaker.
- The iTalk captures your audio segments in clips depending on when the device is started and stopped. Use this to your advantage depending on what you are trying to capture (more below).
Lectures:
- If you are recording a lecture or class in its entirety, try not to stop and restart the device during the lecture or class. (Doing so will give you separate audio clips that you will have to connect later using an audio editing program.)
- Keep the device near-by the speaker at all times
- If there is a long introduction for a guest speaker, you may want to start the recording when the introduction ends and the speaker begins talking. Alternatively, you could record the introduction and the speaker in two separate clips just in case the introduction is something you may not want in the final production.
Interviews:
- Be sure the interviewee knows when the recording begins
- Have a list of questions ready (you may want to share these first before the interview begins). Also, engage with responses with further questions for elaboration. And let the interviewee do more of the talking.
- Make sure that the interviewer and the interviewee are in close proximity to each other and the device (for interviews on the fly and not in a formal setting, you may hold the device like a microphone and move it back and forth between persons speaking).
- If you are doing a series of interviews with different speakers that could be separate productions, stop and restart the recording so you have separate audio clips for each interviewee.
Editing and Producing:
- Editing of clips can be done in Audacity on Windows and Garageband on Macs (both free programs).
- If no editing is required, renaming, compression, conversion and adding the proper metadata to these tracks can all be done in iTunes.
- Keep in mind that all files from the iTalk recordings are large and must be compressed and converted for delivery in podcasts.
(Click the tags on the right for more posts and information on using the iTalk or for any of the topics mentioned here.)
Related posts
Tips: Using the Flip Video for Video Podcasts
The Flip Video Ultra has been a big hit among faculty, staff, and students who have used it this semester. The video and sound quality are impressive for such a small, easy to operate, uncomplicated device. So far it has been used to record short student presentations, capture video of projects, and to video short student-related events. I promised to write a little something about using the Flip Video Ultra camera for video podcasting, so here’s a brief overview of what to do and what to keep in mind when using it.
Shooting:
- The camera runs on double AA batteries, and video recording uses a lot of power, so buy rechargeables and keep some handy.
- It can record 60 minutes of video clips before it is full (this is the Ultra series only, prior models only record for 30 minutes).
- The Flip software will put your videos into separate clips based on when you start and stop the camera, so use this to your advantage.
- To capture decent audio, make sure the camera is not too far away from speakers.
- Digital zoom can become pixelated, so it’s best to move closer to the subject rather than relying too much on this feature.
- A small, portable, 10″ tripod is available for the Flip for $29 to avoid shaking and moving, and it also can be mounted to almost any other larger tripod.
Editing and Compression:
Related posts
Using Blackboard and iTunes U
Are you using iTunes U for a course you teach or would you like to? iTunes U access is integrated into Blackboard through a Building Block from Vanderbilt University. To learn more about requesting and managing an iTunes U course page, Read the rest of this entry »
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Video Tutorials for GarageBand and Audacity
GarageBand and Audacity are both free programs that allow you to create, record, edit, and compress audio podcasts. GarageBand comes free on the Mac and Audacity is a free software program that you can download for Windows. (Links to these programs found in the right column of this blog.)
Penn State’s Educational Technology Division has created some excellent, short video screencasts detailing how to use each program. These screencasts are available as podcasts on Penn State’s iTunes U page.
To visit this page and view these screencasts, click the link below (requires iTunes installed on your computer). Screencasts are about 3 minutes in length and are enough to get you up, running and creating podcasts in no time!
Take me to Podcasting at Penn State Tutorials
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Mac or PC: Creating Podcasts with Quicktime Pro
Apple’s QuickTime Pro is $29 and allows to you to record audio and video, and also enables you to compress and export these and other media files to various web-ready and iPod-ready formats, and works on Macs or PCs (internal or external microphone and/or internal or external webcam needed for capture). QuickTime Player is free and required to upgrade to the Pro version. The Player comes on every Mac, and on a PC when you download iTunes. If for some reason you don’t have the Player on your computer, you can download it free.
Apple has some tutorials for QuickTime Pro posted on their website:
Mac:
Creating an audio podcast with Quicktime Pro
Creating a Video podcast with Quicktime Pro
PC:
Creating an audio podcast with Quicktime Pro
Creating a Video podcast with Quicktime Pro
Related posts
Using the Griffin iTalk and iPod to Capture Audio
This short 90 second clip covers how to use the Griffin iTalk to record audio on your iPod, which you can later convert to podcast ready formats. Use it to capture lectures, record interviews, discussions, forums, guest speakers, etc.
…This next 3 minute video covers what to do with the voice memo files that the iTalk puts into iTunes:
Easily Convert Voice Memos & WAV files to Podcast-ready Formats in iTunes
Related posts
Create a Quick Podcast from Any Phone!
Cell or landline, you can create a podcast on-the-go without access to a computer or other equipment. First, you visit http://drop.io to set up your account, or “drop”, as they call it.
Next, you choose a url name and a password. You are then given a unique phone number and extension to call. When you call, you are prompted to record. Later, you visit your site and there is your MP3 file, ready to listen, share, embed, or download. Very cool, and free! I have attached instructions with my sample test. Try it out!
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Requesting an iTunes U Course Page in Blackboard
If you are using Blackboard (or not) and you would like to request that an iTunes U page be created for your course, log in to Blackboard and choose the course you are teaching.
- Once in the course, find and click Control Panel on the lower left navigation box.
- In the Course Tools content box, find and click CAS iTunes U
- A message that your course has not been set up yet will appear. Hit the Submit button to make a request.
After your request has been sent, you should receive an email within 48 hours letting you know that your course has been set up. (Further instructions on what to do to add content will follow).
Related posts
Video Tutorial: Audacity Basics
This short clip will take you through the basics of using Audacity to create an audio podcast.
Download Video: Posted by <f
Related posts
Video Tutorial: Audacity Advanced
The video below will take you through more advanced features of Audacity. Be sure to watch the Basics video first. Download Video: Posted by sheehy at TeacherTube.com.
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