Week 2: What's Podcasting?

January 21st-January 27th

During this week you will learn what podcasting and podcasts are; download and set up Audacity; record your voice; export file as mp3 and publish as podcast. You will also explore web-based recorders (Podomatic and Podbean). 



1. Go to our Reading blog and read the articles recommended for Week 2.
2. After reading the articles, answer the quiz and participate in the forum. 




2.1. Preparing yourself to record your voice with Audacity

Audacity is a popular free software used for recording and editing audio files (podcasts). After downloading it, you also have to download the LAME MP3 encoder. The latter is important for saving audio files as MP3. Here's the first tutorial showing you where to download Audacity and the LAME MP3 encoder.

Watch this tutorial:

2.2. Set up Audacity, record and export

1. Have a look at the following tutorial showing you the basics for recording with Audacity.



2. Make sure you know where you saved the LAME MP3 encoder. You will need it ONLY when exporting as MP3 your first podcast. Here´s a tutorial showing you in detail how to use this encoder:


2.3. Recording your first Podcast using Audacity.

Now it is time for you to record your first podcast. 

1. Go to Audacity and record an audio file about yourself (Say your name / What you do / Where you work / Add any other info you'd like to share) similar to the one recorded in the video tutorial for the Lame MP3 encoder. It shouldn't last more than 2 minutes. 

2. Once it is recorded, save it. If it is your first time recording in Audacity remember you have to choose “Export as MP3” and find the LAME MP3 encoder

3. When your podcast is ready, upload it to your glog. Watch this tutorial to do so.


5. Now go to Your Glog. Write under your name the word "audio".

6. Choose two colleagues' glogs and click on their URLs. Listen to their Audacity recording. Make sure they have written "audio" under their names to check them out.

7. Go back to "Your Glog" document. In the column "My work place", write where they work



Using Audacity to record a podcast is considered by some "the difficult way". Now is there an "easy way"? There is and they are "Web-based recorders" like Podbean and PodomaticWe can use web-based recorders not only to record and share podcasts, but to upload podcasts recorded using Audacity. In this activity, we will show you how to do that using Podbean.

3.1 Uploading podcasts recorded in Audacity to Podbean.

Go to Podbean to log on (You will have to sign up first, if you haven't done that yet). 2. Upload the audio file you recorded using Audacity (the same you uploaded to your glog) . Follow this tutorial.

3.2. Share your podcast uploaded to Podbean

a. Go to our Yahoo Group 
b. Click on Links
c. Click on Week 2 
d. Click on the "Podbean" folder.
e. Click on Add link: In Title, write "My first Podbean".  In Description, write your name. In URL, paste your Podbean URL.

This time you are going to learn how to record and publish a podcast using  Podomatic.

3.1. Recording and Publishing using Podomatic

Listen to the following tutorial. We will show you how to record and publish a podcast using Podomatic.

3.2 Now your turn: 

Now record your own podcast. Your podcast will be similar to the one shown in the video tutorial. You will call it “Out my Window* To record do this:


1. Take a picture out your window showing what you can see from it. Similar to the one shown in the tutorial. Save it to your computer.

2. Sign up or log on to Podomatic and:

a. Write title and description (e.g. Out My Window)
b. Record description
c. Upload picture 
d. Tag as Podcasting2013
e. Review and publish 

3.3 Share your recording: 

1. Go to our Yahoo Group.
2. Click on Links 
3. Click on Week 2 
4. Click on "Podomatic".
5. Click on "Add a link". In Title type “Out my Window”. In Description, write your name In URL, paste your Podcast URL from Podomatic.

3.4. Commenting on your colleagues' podcasts

1. Go to our Yahoo Group 
2. Click on Links 
3. Click on Week 2.
4. Click on "Podomatic".
5. Choose two colleagues and listen to their Podomatic podcasts.
6.  Write a comment in their podcast page. 

* (Adapted from Valentina Dodge's activity: My Window my World)

At the end of this session, you will showcase your podcasts and project in Blogger. 

5.1. Adding pages to your blog in Blogger

First you should create a blog in Blogger. Keep in mind your will create this blog to showcase your podcasts and project in Week 5. This blog will have three pages:  (1) About me,  (2) My Podcasts  (3) My Podcast project.  This week you will only create your blog and these three (3) pages. Watch the following tutorial showing you how to add these pages to your blog in Blogger.





5.2. Share your Blog URL

1. Go to our Yahoo Group.
2. Click on Links 
3. Click on "My Blog". 
4. Click on "Add link". In Title, type the name of your blog. In Description, write your name. In URL, paste your Blog URL


 Want to watch and listen a bit more about Podcasting...?






SECOND LIVE SESSION ON WIZIQ
Date: Sat, January 26th, 2013 
Time: 11:30 AM (Venezuela time) - 16:00 GMT
Check your time zone here
Length: 1 hour
Podcasting for the ESL/EFL Classroom Live Session - Week 2
by Evelyn Izquierdo




   

  • watched "Podcasting in Plain English" video
  • read the required readings and taken a  quiz
  • recorded an audio file in Audacity and used the LAME MP3 encoder
  • uploaded the Audacity audio to Glogster and Podbean
  • recorded and published an audio file on Podomatic
  • started setting up your blog for week 3
  • attended the second live session on WiZiQ

3 comments:

  1. Wonderful tasks for Week 2! Just finished them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bravo, Nina!!!! You are so smart! Congratulations!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just realized I had neglected to do the glog activity (listen and write where people work). I had trouble finding glogs with audio that I could hear that did not already have several responses. I have looked at quite a few glogs though and they all look great.

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