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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Podcasting for E-Learning: Critically Analyzing Podcasts

My previous blog posts on podcasting have focused the human side of podcasting: narration, story-telling, communicating with your audience. I've looked at what you say, and how you say it, dipping liberally into the eighty or so years of accumulated skills and knowledge from radio broadcasting to reinforce my arguments - after all, content is king, and radio is still the place where people talk.

Now, it's time to spend a little time understanding the technical aspects of podcasting. Don't worry if you've never so much as looked at a sound file before. Recording and producing your own content is great fun, and I hope you'll find that there's tremendous satisfaction to be had creating and crafting your own little corner of the internet.

As you begin to hone your podcasting skills, you'll find that you're also taking a remarkable learning journey. It's one that I think will enhance the way to sense and think about the medium of sound. If you are a musician, you'll already know what I mean. Those of you who can play (even if it's only a few chords on the guitar) know that you listen to music in a qualitatively different way to those don't play. The very act of learning an instrument teaches you to become an active listener and a critical analyst of sound. How is that musical piece orchestrated? How are the harmonies arranged, what technique is that soloist using? What melodic elements hold your attention? As well as just enjoying a musical number on its own merits, you can apply a critical ear to the music, and I would suggest appreciate a work in a much more profound way than the casual listener. The same principles apply when you begin to podcast.

Jack Herrington (2005) agrees with this interpretation. In his text Podcasting hacks: tips & tools for blogging out loud, he considers that there are four elements you should critically examine:

Podcast Structure: Analyze content for recurring or format elements used to keep the listener engaged with the podcast, and to motivate the listener to return for future elements. Is the "interesting stuff" (p.51) at the beginning, the middle, the conclusion, or distributed throughout the pod cast presentation.

Technical Elements: Podcast should take advantage of appropriate Web 2.0 and multimedia components to be effective. In some instances, this can mean a voice-over narrating a story very simply. In other contexts, a podcast may take advantage of music, wildtrack, multiple voices, and sound effects.

Content: Try to understand what holds your attention. This is especially vital: according to Herrington, it's what "primarily keeps people coming back" to listen again. The author suggests that

"When something moves you, listen to it over and over to figure out what is keeping you engaged."

(p.52)

Next time: Fundamentals of Digital Audio Editing

New E-Learning Curve’s Other Podcast episode release:

In Part 6: The Flying Boats at War 314_podcastcover6_300

During World War II, the civilian airlines of the Allies continued to fly, though perhaps the nature of the passengers had changed. As the US, Britain, and their allies prepared for the invasion of Europe,

In this episode, Chief Operator of Launch Operations Frank Buckley describes working on the flying boats during the War, the hazards that the aircraft encountered, searching for the German battleship Bismarck, and the excitement of the night-time take-offs and landings.

Click here to listen to the podcast (MP3, 11MB).

Click here to view the transcript of this podcast (PDF, 24K).

Even though this is an e-learning blog, the observant among you will notice that the podcast isn’t about e-learning. That’s OK – the point of e-learning is to provide training professionals with a means of creating and distributing content that enables people to acquire information, knowledge, skills, and expertise on a diverse range of subjects: as e-learning practitioners, it’s our job to facilitate this process.

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References:

Herrington, J. D. (2005). Podcasting hacks: tips & tools for blogging out loud. O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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