THE EARLIER CREATION OF PODCASTS

http://itec.pbwiki.com/TechExploration-Project-%28Watson%29?doneSave=1
The following post was made by Rachel Watson on Saturday, February 10th

For the Exploration of Technologies project I chose to learn how to create podcasts and instituted the use of these podcasted lectures in the General Microbiology class for which I am the instructor. I coach the cross-country ski team (along with Christi) and thus have to miss a couple of Fridays in the spring semester. These podcasts replaced the lecture for those days and were available online as well as being played in the classroom at the regularly-scheduled lecture time.
I had never made a podcast before and so I proceeded with much trial and error. I have written a description of the procedure that I used to make the podcasts and have included things that went well and not so well. I also include some formative evaluation in the form of student opinions about the podcasts.

1) Using an InFocus Projector and a Panasonic digital video camera, I took a video of the lecture. The first time, I tried to jump in front of the camera and screen each time I did a demo. For the later podcasts, I took footage of demos in a different location and did a small amount of editing.
2) I imported the video into iMovie (I use a MacBook Pro).
3) Using iMovie, I edited the footage.
4) For the first podcast I made, I exported it as a quicktime movie and then used a program called rooVid Lite to compress the movie, turning it into an MP4. This worked great and was very visible. For the second podcast, I exported for iPod. Unfortunately, the file size was small and the students had a hard time seeing it.
5) To make a podcast site, I used iWeb.
Detailed instructions for iWeb:
a) File - New site
b) Choose the web template
c) Enter textual information
d) Click on Podcast
e) Edit textual information and pictures
f) Click on Podcast
g) File - Publish to a folder
* For this to work, you must publish to a server and you must know the web address where this will go.

Using these methods, I have now created three podcasts that can be found at
http://multimedia.uwyo.edu/cboggs_multimedia/podcast/molb/Podcast/Podcast.html

In order to obtain student feedback, I provided a discussion forum on WebCT where students could voluntarily post comments. Here were a few of the responses:

Author: Rachel Watson (MOLB2021watsSp07)
Date: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 8:17pm
Just thought I would get a discussion started about the podcast! Did you like it? Any
suggestions?

Date: Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:51am
I love the podcast. It helps with getting things done outside of class such as homework
and the reports in lab. A suggestion I would have for you is when you go to talk to the
class in front of the projector, that you would do that seperate and edit it in. It becomes
very hard to see you and the model when you are standing in front of the light of the
projector. Hope this helps, and hope you do it again!!

Date: Sunday, February 4, 2007 1:51pm
I think that the podcast is an awesome tool for students and teachers, I think it is a great
way to have class without missing it.

Date: Thursday, January 25, 2007 12:32pm
I did like the podcast. It allowed me to view it when I had the time and could really sit
down and pay attention. I also liked it because I could rewind the tape if I missed
something or just wanted some clarification. I am not sure I would say that I like it
better than lectures and having that teacher-class interaction. Maybe if all lectures were
taped as well...that could be somewhat cool. Then you still get the in-class interaction
but can review the lecture later online if need be.

Author: Rachel Watson (MOLB2021watsSp07)
Date: Friday, January 26, 2007 3:22pm
Thanks so much for your feedback! I am planning three more podcasts this semester so
I'll take your suggestions to help improve those.

Date: Sunday, January 28, 2007 6:23pm
I liked the podcast as well. I did end up going to class and watching it
on the big screen but I went back and viewed certain parts again. It was
a nice learning tool. You added humor which made if fun to watch!

Date: Sunday, January 28, 2007 6:25pm
The lighting was a little off but didn't really get in the way too much.

Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 2:46pm
I think that podcast is a really good idea, although I wouldn't mind missing a day of
class!!! There were only a few things that i didn't like about it; the lighting was kind of
weird and knowing where to stand to show us the visuals was a little off. Other than that
I think it helps, because if I missed something I could just go back and watch it again!

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:45am
I liked the podcast but the only thing is the color is distorted making
some images hard to see, and if you could try to stay centered
when showing models that would help too. Other than that it was
really cool.

In summary, the use of podcasts in General Microbiology has, I think, been successful. I plan to continue using these as a tool in future semesters. I do think, based on student recall in subsequent classes, that their use would be most valuable to supplement, rather than replace the lecture. However, in the event that a lecture has to be missed, they provide a fantastic option, that, based on previous experience worked better (for me) than guest lecturers.