eLearning Tools –Learning, teaching and assessment during enforced absence

Podcasting for teaching

What is a podcast?

Podcasts are in the simplist form a series of audio recordings.

This is where we should make a clear distinction between audio file and podcast, an audio recording is not a podcast. The reason I mention this is that many people ask for help making a podcast when what is required is far simplar than that. It is easier to create a one off recording to be placed into Moodle than it is to create an ongoing series of recordings that may need to be fed into one (or all) of the many podcast platforms available across each device.

Should I use audio/podcasts?

Using audio as a tool in your teaching materials is a fantastic way to provide more entry points to the content you are delivering. We all learn differently as well as different problems surrounding time management. A piece of content that can be consumed at the time suitable to the learner (and in the case of audio it is more flexible than video while travelling) is then a more useful resource because of its flexibility.

Inspire me!

OK I will. Or at least try to. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start. It's hard to work out what you want to achieve with it. That is probably the best question to answer before you move on to the actual nuts and bolts of recording. Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve and how this will help resolve that issue.

The video highlights 6 educational podcasts that might be useful to educators in how to work in education. Hopefully though listening to others podcasts can help inspire you and what you are hoping to achieve. As has already been mentioned though, don't think you have to create something that spans weeks or months, but could just be a one off recording of an interview or summary surrounding a subject. This will help keep your time investment to a minimum but produce something that holds benefit to the students.

We produce a podcast within the TEL team https://teltales.port.ac.uk/podcast/ and as you can see from the frequency of the episodes, it is hard to maintain an on-going series that is providing something of interest to your audience.

What do I need for recording audio?

There are 3 main options when it comes to recording and they vary wildly in complexity. Below are the three options with a few pros and cons of each.

Audio Interface

An audio interface allows you to use a traditional (XLR) microphone to connect to a computer. Some audio interfaces allow for more than one microphone to connect at a time, think what a radio station use.

Pros:

Multiple microphones for interviewing multiple guests.
Microphones are upgradeable over time while using the same interface. These microphones will tend to be cheaper that the USB equivalent.
Can monitor the audio being recorded through headphones in real time with no audio delay (echo effects).

Cons:

Can be fiddly to set up as it usually requires microphones, leads and a computer all at the same time.
Requires some level of technical skill to set up.
Usually bulky so can be awkward to transport with all the required parts (multiple bags for all the different elements).

USB Microphone

An USB microphone comes in all shapes, sizes and quality (much like all the other options). The problem is affordable USB mics tend to produce poor quality recordings where audio interfaces and microphones even at the lower prices are more expensive and will provide better audio.

Never fear, unlike the other options I will suggest that for the price and the quality the Blue Snowball Mic is about £53 and half the price of the next best options while being only £20/30 more than the cheap quality options below it.

Pros:

Simple to use, plug in and just press record.
Not too big, fairly portable.
Plenty of options depending on the budget. (However, try to watch a YouTube video of the version you are buying before you do through good headphones and assess the quality for yourself.)

Cons:

Not great for interviewing groups.
Only one USB mic can be used on one PC at a time (so unlike an interface you can't connect 3 to a computer and use all at once).
If you want to upgrade you are upgrading the entire device.

Portable Recorder

Portable recorders come in all shapes and sizes. From something like the Zoom H1 which is essentially a dictaphone with much better quality mics to the Zoom H5 which is larger, but can be used as a singular recording device or be used as an audio interface to connect 3rd party mics to.

Mobile phones are also great portable recorders for small interviews and can have microphones connected should that be required.

For the most part portable recorders are a great addition to a bag or rucksack, as you may suddenly have an idea, or want to interview someone and you can do it without any extra kit, fuss or delay.

Pros:

Simple to use, turn on, press record, press stop.
Portable and small enough to keep on you at all times.
Better mics than on a standard dictaphone or mobile phone. (Although both of these are portable recorders as well).

Cons:

The audio needs to be transferred of by either connecting to a computer or removing a memory card.
Not ideal for large group interviews depending on the background noise in the room.
Can be expensive for feature rich versions that produce better quality, however this will be factored into your own requirements.