Podcasting Tips and Tricks

[Below is the text of my presentation at this year’s RECAP conference.]

For the past three years, I’ve been podcasting my lectures in the introductory course in mass communication I teach at West Chester University. Students have often told me that the lecture podcasts have been a valuable study aid, and have helped make the large lecture hall experience more manageable and enjoyable.

Despite an early concern that attendance might suffer from making my lectures available as podcasts, I have not found this to be a problem. A comparison of the Blackboard tracking data for the podcasts I did during the 2005-2006 academic year found no significant correlation between podcast use and attendance. Subsequent surveys found most students use podcasts as a supplement to the class lecture, rather than as a substitute for attendance.

Here are a few “tips and tricks” I have learned from my experience with podcasting lectures…

Pay attention to the audio. A lecture is not very valuable if the students can’t hear it. Sometimes I have used the built-in microphone on my laptop computer to record my lecture, and as long as I don’t stray too far away from it, this seems to work fine. But since I tend to move around a lot during my lectures, I’ve found I achieve better results when using a separate microphone. I have used small digital audio recorders with some success, although it pays to invest in a good one (I use the Sony ICD-SC25). Newer iPods have the ability to directly record high-fidelity audio with inexpensive add-ons like the MicroMemo from XtremeMac; this company also sells a matching lapel microphone called the MemoMic that is ideal for lectures.

Syndicate your podcasts. At first, I simply uploaded the digital recordings of my lectures to Blackboard, but this isn’t really podcasting, as the content isn’t “syndicated” using a “feed.” Since the version of Blackboard we use on my campus lacks the ability to create such feeds, I use the free service at feedburner.com. Feedburner helps me create the RSS feed that I then insert as a content item on Blackboard (or any web page). They even provide me with a free web page for the podcast feed (for example, here’s the feed page for my Spring 2007 course in mass communication). Although they don’t host podcasts, other sites do, including archive.org and putfile.com.

Provide more than just audio. While my first podcasts were simple audio recordings, most of my podcasts now include graphics that can be displayed along with the audio. Sometimes called “enhanced podcasts,” this kind of podcast takes advantage of the ability of digital audio files to store and display graphics that change according to chapter markers embedded in the file. Originally intended as a way to provide “album art” for music files, this feature can also be used to display PowerPoint slides or other graphics that are part of a lecture. A program that I have been using for the past year that greatly aids in the process of creating “enhanced podcasts” is ProfCast (www.profcast.com). This is an inexpensive tool that can work with both PowerPoint and Keynote presentation software, allowing you to record your podcast while giving a lecture. (At the moment, ProfCast is only available for the Mac, although a Windows version may be forthcoming.)

Consider vidcasts. Video podcasts (vidcasts) are growing in popularity, and are becoming easier to produce. Because most of my lectures are an hour or longer in length, I’ve been hesitant to create video podcasts of my lectures, since these can be very large files. But with bandwidth issues subsiding and compression techniques improving, lecture vidcasts may soon become the norm. One promising tool for video podcasters is VODcaster (www.twocanoes.com/vodcaster/). Although it is not as easy to use as ProfCast, it does offer a number of useful features, and it’s free.

Use free web tools. There are plenty of web sites that offer free tools for podcasters. Here are a few:
Splashcast: splashcastmedia.com
Podcast Alley: www.podcastalley.com
Audicity: audacity.sourceforge.net
Our Media: www.ourmedia.org
SpinXpress: spinxpress.com
Freevlog: www.freevlog.org
Blip TV: blip.tv
Veodia: www.veodia.com
Putfile: www.putfile.com
Lifelogger: lifelogger.com
Educational Podcast Network: www.epnweb.org

RECAP, Day 1

Today was the first day of RECAP 2007, the annual educational technology conference at West Chester University. I was the moderator of a student panel this morning where we discussed student use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace. The students gave us some fascinating insights into the role of online social networking in the lives of young people today.

Many of the students mentioned that they were planning on closing their MySpace accounts after they graduate, presumably because of privacy concerns. There was some concern expressed by the students that potential employers might get a bad impression of them if they looked at their MySpace and Facebook pages. In general, Facebook seemed to have a better acceptance among the college crowd than does MySpace, which some of the students said was more popular with the “high school crowd.” Facebook also was praised for having better privacy options, although none of the social networking sites are immune from abuse by determined individuals.

In addition to the discussion with the students, we were treated to a presentation of some of the student-produced video public service announcements that were made by students in Chris Penny’s educational media class at West Chester University. The videos highlighted the dangers of online social networking, and the growing privacy concerns of students when their activity is viewed by those outside their intended networks. Most of the videos can be seen online; below is one of the better ones…

Following the panel, I attended a session on “Free Web Tools for the Classroom” by Michele Mislevy and Karen Jogan of Albright University. They provided quite a few links to online resources of value to educators, some of which I had not heard of before. Here are some of the links…

A Student Remembered

Today I had the honor of speaking at a special ceremony in remembrance of Megan Bates. A student in one of my classes last semester, Megan tragically died in an automobile accident last December. At today’s ceremony, Megan was posthumously awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from West Chester University. President Madeleine Wing Adler was present to give the degree personally to Megan’s parents. Many of Megan’s friends and family attended the ceremony, as did Provost Linda Lamwers, Vice President for Student Affairs Matt Bricketto, and Interim Associate Provost Darla Spence Coffee, who was instrumental in planning the ceremony. Many of my faculty colleagues attended as well, including our department chair, Dennis Klinzing. And I was so pleased to see many of Megan’s classmates at the ceremony, two of whom, Cassie Pawlowski and Katie Hazzard, also gave formal remarks.

Megan BatesIn my remarks today, I mentioned the demo DVD that Megan made in the class she took with me. The photo to the right is a still taken from that DVD. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) As I mentioned today, Megan had a great on-camera presence.

Below is the text of the remarks I made at today’s ceremony…

One of the special privileges of being a professor is the opportunity to be a part of the exciting lives of college students. My students are at the dawn of their adult lives. When they leave the University, most are looking forward to careers, to starting new families, to pursuing their life passions.

So when one of those students is taken from us, when one of those lives is cut far too short, it is more than just sad. It is a genuine injustice when a young person doesn’t get to fully experience the joys and pains of growing older. It’s like a blossom that is cut down just as it’s starting to bloom.

Megan Bates was one of my students last semester in the broadcast performance class I teach here at West Chester University. This course is rather unique, in that my role is more like a coach than a professor. Like I tell my students on the first day of class: I can teach you skills, but I must coach your talent. So in this course I try to bring out the best in my students, to encourage them and critique them as they develop and polish their talent in front of a camera and behind a microphone. I can honestly say that Megan had a great presence on camera. I’m so glad that we were able to capture and preserve some of that presence in the demo DVD she made in my class. Megan seemed to have a natural ability to connect with the audience, to look straight into the camera and project a proud and confident personality. I’m honored to have been able to help her polish that talent, and I so very much wish she were here with us today. She would have gone far.

But life isn’t always fair. Things don’t always work out as planned. And Megan is with us now only in our memories, in our hearts, in our hopes for what lies beyond this life.

So as one of the last professors Megan studied with at West Chester, I would just like to say…here in front of her friends, her classmates, her family…I’m proud of you Megan. You were a good student, a talented individual, and a fine person. You truly earned this degree we are awarding you today. You deserved to graduate from West Chester University. Indeed, you deserved so much more.

WCU President Announces Retirement

This morning, West Chester University President Madeleine Wing Adler announced her decision to retire from her position. She said her retirement will be effective at the end of our next fiscal year, which will be June 30, 2008.

Dr. Adler
Speaking before a packed house at the University’s new Performing Arts Theater, Dr. Adler noted that “this was a very difficult decision,” but “there comes a time, however, when you realize that your principal goals have been accomplished and that the University is best served by providing new opportunities for leadership.”

Dr. Adler was West Chester University’s 13th president, and the first woman to hold that post. She became president in 1992. During her tenure as president, the university has grown considerably, both physically and academically. Of particular note are the successful improvements to campus facilities during her term as president, including the new music and performing arts center, the graduate business center, the science center, new residence halls, and several parking garages.

Dr. Lamwers with Dr. AdlerPrior to coming to West Chester, Dr. Adler was academic vice president at Framingham State College, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. During her remarks this morning, she implied that she may be returning to the Boston area to champion public education projects. She also mentioned that her husband, Fred Lane, will be completing a new book in the new future.

I would like to personally extend my best wishes to Dr. Adler, and congratulate her on the many achievements of her presidency. She leaves behind a great legacy, and will be a “tough act to follow.”

Want to see more pictures? I’ve uploaded the pictures I took this morning as both a Facebook Album and as an iPhoto photocast.

High Ideals for Student Radio

Today I was part of a panel entitled “Low Power, High Ideals for Noncommercial Broadcasting” at the 2007 convention of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA). Every April, the BEA meets at the National Association of Broadcasters annual mega-convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. My talk was entitled “Low Power, High Ideals for Student Radio: Enhancing the Electronic Sandbox in an iPod World.” Below is the text of my presentation.

Dr. Thompsen presents at BEA 2007 It is always a pleasure to gather annually in this Mecca of conspicuous consumption to extol the high ideals of public service broadcasting. I’ve spent most of my career seeking to foster those high ideals at low power student radio stations. From carrier current to Class D FM, from leaky cable to closed-circuit public address systems, from webcasting to podcasting, student radio has employed a wide and fascinating diversity of technologies to pursue high ideals on a shoestring. I’m confident the future will bring even more innovations for student radio.

But the future can be tricky to predict without a firm grasp of where we’re coming from. So in keeping with the theme of this year’s conference, “Creating the Future by Understanding the Past,” I think it’s appropriate for those of us who advise student media to try to learn from our past, as we try to help students create an even better future for college radio. My goal for the next few minutes is to revisit some high ideals for student radio that I articulated at this conference fifteen years ago. Some of you may still recall that paper, as it was soon published in Feedback, was responded to a few times in subsequent issues of Feedback, and it has since become my most widely cited work on student media advising.
Continue reading High Ideals for Student Radio

Volunteer English Program Interview

On the March 29, 2007 edition of my “Moldy Oldies Show” on WCUR, Kathy and I talked with Linda Grosse and Bill Lalicker from the Volunteer English Program in Chester County. Below is a link to the broadcast.


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For more information about the Volunteer English Program, visit their web site at volunteerenglish.org. And for more information about WCUR, or to listen live, visit wcur.fm.