Woodland Park High School in Colorado is using video podcasts to remove lecture from class. Viewing podcasts made by teachers is given as homework so teachers and students can focus on hands-on activities and direct problem solving during class time. For students without Internet, they can copy episodes to a flash drive. Those without computers can take home DVDs to play on their televisions.

 

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams are the chemistry teachers involved in the video podcasting. In an article in the Pike Peak Courier View, they note an advantage is that students can pause and rewind a lecture when they don't understand concepts. The teachers take turns making episodes, so the students have the benefit of having two instructors. The teachers recommend SnapKast (Windows) or ProfCast (Macintosh) for recording lectures with PowerPoint or Keynote slides.

Click to go to the Woodland Park podcasts. Additionally, Jonathan and Aaron have an excellent video where they talk about their vodcasting. As an aside, I try to avoid educational and technology jargon. I do not use the term vodcast as I prefer video podcast.

Labels: podcasting

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #12: Podcasting Booklet is online and gives an overview of the free 34-page booklet I recently made available.

The PDF is titled Podcasting for Teachers & Students and in it, I focus on free and cross-platform software so that both Windows and Macintosh users feel included. First, learn what a podcast is and then learn to find, subscribe, and listen to them. You probably already know how to do that, so most of the booklet tells about creating a podcast using Audacity, Levelator, and iTunes. Also, three methods of posting the podcast online are included in Podcasting for Teachers & Students. I tried to make the directions clear and simple so teachers and students can focus on communicating their messages.

Listen to all 9 minutes of Episode #12 for an overview of Podcasting for Teachers & Students.

Labels: learning in hand: ipods, podcast, podcasting

Wesleyan Academy has posted the first two episodes of its podcast! The school is on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. These first episodes were written and spoken by fourth graders. They share segments about several topics they have learned about this school year.

To prepare for their podcast, the students listened to various podcasts from elementary students. They even sent video feedback to some podcasters. I'd love for you or your students to listen and leave a comment on the podcast's blog--it would mean so much to these budding podcasters.

By the way, I used the free Blogger.com service to publish the Wesleyan Podcast. Blogger works in combination with Feedburner.com to create a podcast feed that works really well in iTunes. Unfortunately, these services do not host the audio files themselves. For that, I used my regular web hosting service. Read more about how to Publish with Blogger and Feedburner.

Another item podcasters may be interested in is the Subscribe with iTunes link I placed on the page. I simply replaced the http at the beginning of the feed's address with itpc. When clicked, an itpc link automatically opens iTunes and subscribes to the podcast. Yup, just one click and iTunes starts downloading the latest episode and will download future episodes. The podcast doesn't even have to be submitted to the iTunes Store for this method to work. If a podcast has been submitted to the iTunes Store, you can link to its iTunes details page using these directions.

But, I don't want to stress the techie part of all of this. The important piece is that students knew they were producing something special when they started taking notes and writing scripts. The fourth graders weren't focused on the technology; they were concentrating on their audience and purpose. They made this podcast for other students, so if you get a chance, have a student you know listen and comment on the Wesleyan Podcast blog!

Labels: blogging, podcast, podcasting

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #11: Artwork & Lyrics is online and is all about giving audio files cover art and accompanying text.

Artwork and lyrics are two things you can easily add to an audio file to make it more useful on iPods. While most all references you'll find to artwork and lyrics on iPods deal with music, the audio files do not have to be songs. They can be recordings from a voice recorder, ripped from a CD, podcasts, files from Audacity or GarageBand, or downloaded from the Internet. Wherever you got the audio, we'll explore adding customized artwork and accompanying text to these files.

Listen to all 11 minutes of Episode #11 for tips, how-tos, and ideas for using artwork and lyrics on click wheel and touch iPods.

Labels: iphone, ipod, ipodtouch, itunes, learning in hand: ipods, podcasting

Matt Villano wrote Building a Better Podcast in January 2008's T.H.E. Journal. Matt sought helpful hints from various podcasting educators who shared nuances to making worthwhile podcasts. The article focuses on simple tools that can empower teachers to "turn run-of-the-mill podcasts into compelling educational exercises."

Here are some takeaways from the article and some of my thoughts and suggestions:

The first part of the article focuses on preparation. The preproduction is indeed the most important and most educational part of podcasting. Different from report writing or speech-giving, podcasting students need to keep their audience in mind--an audience that can come from all parts of the world thanks to the Internet.

After hitting home the importance of preparing, the article focuses on sound quality. It mentions $50 microphones. I don't find microphones that expensive to be necessary, It's very difficult to hear the difference between a $25 Logitech microphone and more expensive mics. Recently there has been a fantastic discussion about microphones on Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speech of Creativity blog. The comments to the post contain great insight from teachers and podcasters.

Filtering out the background noise is important. We know how noisy schools can get. I suggest taking students into a quiet room to record. Sometimes a room is not available. According to the article, "The best way for technology coordinators to do this is to go low-tech and fashion a recording studio out of a wooden box and egg-crate insulation." I have not seen this solution in action, but I'm guessing it would have to be a pretty big box to keep out the noise. If you really want to keep out all noise, a parked car provides excellent noise-reduction (but this is probably not a choice location for students to record).

One of the best tips I can give podcasters is to use Levelator. Available free for Macintosh and Windows, Levelator will smooth out the volumes throughout your podcast. Listeners won't have to adjust the volume as all voices will be adjusted to the same volume level. It's a little tricky to use because you have to first export the audio as a WAV or AIFF in order for Levelator to do its thing.

A postproduction tip is to use transitional music between segements. Music signals to the listener the conclusion of one segment and the beginning of another. It also provides time to reflect on the previous segment before moving on. I caution podcasters not to overdo the music. It's easy to include long musical interludes, but that is probably not why listeners are tuning in--they want to hear the content, not GarageBand's music loops. Also, I advise you to have absolutely no more than 20 seconds of "theme" music at the beginning of your podcast. Save the music for transitions so listeners have something to think about while the music plays.

Next, "Building a Better Podcast" tackles the issue of editing. I happen to disagree with this statement about editing podcasts:

As tempting as it might be for teachers to edit speaking errors as their students are recording a podcast, it generally is better to record first and edit later, keeping disruptions to a minimum and forcing students to stay on task.

Now, this assumes that the teachers (not students) are in charge of recording, which is often the case. I have tried recording both ways--editing on the fly while students are sitting with me recording and I've tried editing afterwards. The times I've saved all of the editing for afterwards, the audio becomes a big mess. It takes a long time to listen to the entire recording, find mistakes, and fix them. I find it faster to edit while the students are recording. I simply have students read a paragraph. We stop and I check to see if students are happy with what they recorded. If they are, we move on. If not, I just delete the last recorded portion and we rerecord. This way students are involved in the editing process and it's not such a daunting task for me when I do the final editing.

The length of a podcast is also addressed. I agree that 10 to 15 minutes is the maximum time that a K-12 audience will have for listening to a podcast. If your recording is too long, considering dividing it up into two or more episodes.

Besides advice about length, the article addresses the name of the podcast. Here's a good point about capturing prospective listeners' attention, as podcasts are often listed in directories by just the name:

Because most listeners search podcasts on the internet, a clever name can be the difference between catching the eye—and then the ear—of a prospective audience member and, well, losing that person to something else. Good names usually incorporate the school mascot or something special about a hometown. A podcast about New York City, for instance, might be called "Bytes of the Big Apple."

After you have a name, I recommend having a slogan or catchphrase for each individual episode. You've probably noticed the slogans for Radio WillowWeb episodes like "Can You Hear Us Now?", "The Willowcast Heard 'Round the World," and "Know More about Nebraska." Each episode of Our City Podcast also has a slogans like "Outstanding Omaha" and "Sensational St. Thomas." Some sites I suggest for inspiration are Sloganizer and Slogan4u (check to see that the slogan generator you use with students is school appropriate).

To measure their audience size many podcasters use Feedburner. It's a free service from Google that tracks the number of subscribers. It can be a little tricky to set up, but the statistics are worth the effort.

The end of the article mentions that podcasting requires consistency. Episodes should be produced more than once a year. Podcasts are meant to be a series of episodes, so doing just one isn't taking advantage of the medium. Though, I would rather have teachers try just one, and if successful, continue with more episodes. One of the reasons I started Our City Podcast is so that classrooms can produce just one episode and yet still be part of a series. The article suggests, "The easiest way for educators to weave podcasts into the curriculum is to commit to recording a certain number of them during the year, and to include them with lesson development. "

For more advice for podcasting educators, read the entire article Building a Better Podcast.

T.H.E. Journal is available for free online or in print. Here is the free subscription form.

Labels: podcasting

Have you checked out Our City Podcast lately? Recent additions include episodes from Fort Myers, FL, Hannibal, MO, Richton Park, IL, and Lynbrook, NY. Also, the episode from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been published. This is the episode I recently wrote about and described the preproduction process. It's probably the first podcast by Caribbean students and is quite interesting. I have spent several weeks in St. Thomas and I still learned a lot from their episode.

I have described ways in which Our City Podcast can be used in the classroom. One of the best activities is giving feedback to podcast creators. Typically feedback on episodes are text and are send by email. Recently, I had fourth graders from Wesleyan Academy in St. Thomas make a short video for students in Omaha that produced an episode of Radio WillowWeb. The Omaha students loved seeing and hearing students from a couple thousand miles away. It was so great for the Omaha students to know that others are enjoying their work.

Recording video feedback was also a valuable activity for the St. Thomas students as they prepare to podcast. I had students take notes as they listened to the podcast from Omaha. They recorded things they already knew, things they learned, questions, and compliments on a sheet of paper. They then used this to figure out what they would say in the video. The video was recorded directly into iMovie using an iSight camera. It featured students talking into the camera. The video was quickly pieced together, exported, and emailed to Omaha.

I encourage you to send feedback, whether by text, audio, or video, to producers of Our City Podcast episodes. Each details page has an email for the teacher of the class. Keep in mind that many episodes were produced last school year, so you may want to reserve feedback for episodes published this school year.

Interested in submitting an Our City Podcast episode from your school? Read How to Participate.

Furthermore, I know that many teachers are looking for partner classrooms for video conferencing. Software like Skype and iChat make it easy to video conference. Listening to each other's Our City episodes before video conferencing will give valuable background and spark questions for the conference. Since email addresses are listed for each episode I suggest using them to bring some great collaboration into your classroom!

Speaking of feedback, it would be wonderful if you could take a minute to write a comment in iTunes for Our City Podcast. Podcasts with comments tend to get more attention in iTunes, and I think that the hard work of so many students and teachers deserves all they attention it can get!

Labels: ourcity, podcasting

It's time to share some podcasting resources I've recently encountered.

Voices.com has a section titled Podcasting - How To Podcast and Podcasting Tutorials. While light on the tutorial part, the menu of items on the right of the page explains the basics (and not-so-basics) of podcasting. The guide explains audio engineering vocabulary like "multitrack recording" and "channels." It also provides useful advice for planning your podcast, including talking to your audience and developing a style. Podcasters should check out the Mastering Your Podcast page for some useful advice about exporting and organizing audio files. The Voices.com guide is not written specifically for education, but so much of it is relevant to student and teacher podcasters. Even the Brand Your Podcast page can give educators insight into developing a name, theme, and visual appeal.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal has an interactive recording studio where users combine instruments to create their own music. The mixer is like simplified GarageBand software but in your web browser. Supposedly a song can be saved as an MP3 file, but each time I tried to save a song, it failed. Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions. I'll leave it up to you to decide if the wording below gives permission for use in podcasts:

General Mills hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable, revocable, non-transferable license to use and display, for noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of appropriately limited portions of the Materials and/or software that are downloadable from this Site, including, without limitation, any files, codes, audio, or images incorporated in or generated by or in conjunction with the Site and/or General Mills, provided that "General Mills, Inc., 2005. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission" or "(c) 2005 General Mills, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission" accompanies all copyrightable Materials and other notices are properly maintained. You agree not to reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, display, perform, publish, distribute, disseminate, broadcast, sell, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or circulate any Materials to any third party (including, without limitation, display and distribute the Materials via a third party website) without General Mills' express prior written consent.

iPods aren't the only devices that can play podcasts. Microsoft's iPod competitor, Zune, has been updated to support podcasts. Podcasting is now built into Zune Marketplace (Marketplace is to Zune as iTunes is to iPod). There's a software update for folks who had a Zune before podcasting support was included. I find it interesting that Microsoft embraces the term podcast. Seems that word is here to stay.

You're probably familiar with one-click subscribing to podcasts with iTunes. Podcasters might consider offering one-click subscribing for Zune Marketplace. Podcasting News has a short article on how to create the one-click link.

Video podcasters should put their videos into .mp4 format. This format will play in QuickTime, iTunes, and on iPods, iPhones, and Zunes. What's confusing is that there are different kinds of .mp4 files and iPods play only specific types. To be sure a video will play on an iPod, podcasters can use an online converter service. I often use Zamzar.com. There's also Movavi Online. Simply add a video from your desktop and supply an email address. Within 24 hours Movavi Online will email you a link to download the converted video file.

Labels: podcasting

Lyndon Domsten, Instructional Technology Specialist in Odessa, Texas, wrote to me, "I've actually written a grant with your Our City Podcast project as the center piece." That's a great idea! Our City makes for a great first podcast creation experience. Lyn is new to podcasting and has questions about it:

We are very interested in participating in an Our City Podcast project. We (magnet class of 4th, 5th, 6th grade students) are learning how to podcast and are using Audacity for Windows for recording voice and integrating sound. You're probably thinking it's too bad I'm not using a Mac but our district uses only Windows machines.

GarageBand's advantage is that it is slightly easier to use than Audacity and that it has its own jingles, musical loops, and sound effects. Audacity on Windows is a fine program. You'll just have to seek out your own copyright-friendly music and sound effects that you can import into Audacity.

Nevertheless, we are needing guidance in creating our first podcast. On our website, I have been teaching kids how to make MP3 files to upload to our site. Can you tell me what RSS is exactly and how it fits into the process of podcasting?

Here's my definition of a podcast: A series of audio or video on the Web that can be cataloged and automatically downloaded. Putting MP3 files online could satisfy the first part of that definition. However, just linking to an MP3 file on your site will not allow users to automatically download the new files in a program like iTunes. In addition, MP3 files online cannot be catalogued in directories like iTunes, Podcast Pickle, and Educational Podcasting. Being listed in directories is how much of your audience will find your podcast. An RSS (a.k.a. Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) feed is necessary to be listed in those directories and essential for the MP3s to be automatically downloaded when new ones are posted.

A podcast has three parts: the MP3 file (or other media file), a webpage, and a feed. Posting just the first two online will probably reach much of your intended audience. While just a webpage linking to an MP3 file is not technically a podcast, I know many teachers who do call this podcasting. Just because it lacks an RSS feed doesn't mean that the activity lacks educational merit. However, we should strive to use proper vocabulary whenever we can.

We are going to work on an Our City script and record using Audacity. Can you offer any advice on that process.

I've recently written about the importance of listening to previous episodes before beginning the preproduction phase. Whether it's for Our City or for another podcast, analyzing example episodes (both good and not-so-good) help students make their own podcast better. Preproduction will take the most time--that's ok because it's the production phase where students are doing the most learning.

I've tried student podcasting with scripts and without them. My advice: have students script everything they will say and have them practice, practice, practice. The recording process will go more quickly with fewer mistakes. When recording, I suggest using a headset USB microphone. Students tend to be fidgety when they record. Be sure that students don't touch the headset, mic, or cord. Providing a stress ball helps students put that energy in places other than cord-twisting and paper-shuffling.

I find it much easier to edit out mistakes as students are recording than to go back to fix them later. Audacity has a quirk that when you stop recording and resume, the new recording appears in a separate track. This does not happen when you pause recording. However, pausing doesn't allow you to edit the audio. I like to keep the audio tracks organized--one track per segment. So when a segment is broken into multiple tracks because I've stopped and started recording a few times, I Quick Mix the tracks into one. Do this by highlighting the tracks you wish to combine and then choose Project > Quick Mix. This will help your Audacity project be a little more organized and manageable.

Your first episode will take you a long time to edit as you get used to the tools. In the future, editing takes less and less time. Before you exported your edited audio to an MP3, I suggest exporting as a WAV file from Audacity. Then use The Levelator. It's free software Macintosh and Windows. You just drop that exported WAV file onto The Levelator's window and it will level out the sound. That means that loud voices will be toned down and soft voice will be made louder. This is important for a podcast when you have many different speakers--all of whom speak with different volumes. The Levelator will output a WAV file. You can important that into Audacity or iTunes and then export it as an MP3.

When we are finished with the final MP3 product, what is our next step....do we upload it to your site so you can post it? Do we send you pictures as well? The Our City Podcast we are creating isn't something I'm sure we will update on a regular basis but when we send it to you how does that affect the overall distribution of the file. Are we subscribing to an RSS feeder?

The beauty of Our City Podcast is that I take care of the posting. I host the MP3 file and I maintain the RSS feed. You just send me the MP3 file. I prefer to receive the MP3 files through the free service YouSentIt.com since it is a large file. In an email, send me up to five photos and a paragraph about the episode. See the pages for previous episodes so you can see what information is included. Also send any web links you want included on the page for your episode. Don't forget to include a catchy title that uses alliteration for your city. Again, see previous episode for examples like Outstanding Omaha and Lovely Lexington.

Our City episodes aren't meant to be updated. You contribute one episode and that's the end of your involvement. You can of course subscribe to the podcast so your receive new episodes as they are added.

Lastly, can you offer application ideas on how podcasting can be used on the elementary level?

Educational podcasting offers many possibilities! I think that an easy way to start your own podcast is with book reviews. Each episode could contain a review or two by students. Remember, a podcast is a series of episodes. If you plan just one episode, no one really needs to subscribe to it. Read my blog post Podcasting Notes about a presentation by Dan Schmidt. He's the author of Kidcast: Podcasting in the Classroom. I wrote about many of the innovative ideas for podcast formats and topics he shared in his video podcast.

Lyn, best of luck with podcasting! Once you get past the technical mumbo-jumbo you'll find that podcasting is really enjoyable and not as techie as it first sounds. It's more about communication than feeds, MP3s, microphones, and audio levels.

Labels: ourcity, podcasting

I am working with two schools in USVI that have Palm handhelds for student use. Seventh graders at Moravian School are working on a St. Thomas episode of Our City Podcast. Our City is a great way to introduce podcasting. There are plenty of example episodes, the host/segment format is effective, and creation resources are available.

Before beginning preproduction on their St. Thomas episode, students are listening to existing episodes. We started with Outstanding Omaha. Not only could the seventh graders learn about the place I call home, but they could follow along and refer back to the script in eReader on their handhelds (a printable PDF format is also available). The class discussed what they learned about Omaha and what they noticed about the episode's sound, organization, and content.

Students are now in the process of listening to two of the nearly 30 episodes on their handhelds. I have 25 Multimedia Cards (cheap versions of SD cards) to which I copied random episodes of Our City Podcast. Each card is only 32MB so I could only fit three episodes per card. Nowadays you can get 1GB SD cards for pretty cheap, and 1GB can store all episodes with lots of memory to spare. I required students to choose two of the three episodes on their cards to listen to.

RealPlayer for Palm (free) is loaded on each handheld. RealPlayer can play MP3 files in the background while students work in other programs. I had students listen for certain information and type responses into a word processing document on their handhelds. I gave them a choice of answering two of these questions:

• List two things that the two cities have in common.
• List three things that are very different about the cities.
• Decide which city you would rather visit. Explain why.
• Decide which city you would like to live in. Tell why.
• Which podcaster would make a good friend for you? Tell why.

I bought 97¢ earbuds from WalMart for students to use with their handhelds. Headphones are necessary when students are listening to 30 different recordings at once. You can't beat the under $1 price tag.

The handhelds also have Plucker (free). Plucker enables you to put websites on handheld devices. I made a simple HTML document that links to the Wikipedia entries for each Our City episode. I used Plucker on my desktop to turn that into a file that can be read using Plucker (or FlingIt) on the handhelds. I do wish the school's handhelds had Wi-Fi. I could then just have students points their browsers to Wikipedia (or mobile-friendly versions like Wapedia.mobi). So, another part of the assignment for students was to find a fact about a city that was left out of that city's episode. Students also looked for any differently-reported facts between the podcast and Wikipedia. If there is a difference, it's an opportunity to explore which source is correct.

Although the students had responses to prepare as they listened, their main purpose for listening was to help them produce the very best episode possible. Analyzing other episodes is a great way to know what to do (and what now to do) in their own episode. The seventh graders are confident that they can do a great job. They are excited to educate their listeners about their island paradise. Subscribe to Our City Podcast so that you receive the St. Thomas episode when it debuts next month.

Labels: ourcity, palm, podcasting

MP3 is not the only format for digital audio. There's AAC, Ogg, WAV, WMA, AIFF, and lots more.

MP3 is the most popular format for audio podcasts. It makes for a fairly small file size and is compatible with all web browsers and portable audio players. AAC is a similar format championed by Apple and iTunes. AAC produces higher quality sound at the same files size as MP3. Additionally, AAC allows for chapter markers, changing artwork, and hyperlinks. Unfortunately, AAC encoded audio is not able to be played as universally as MP3.

GarageBand 3 (part of iLife '06 suite of software), Macintosh software for creating music and podcasts, allows for exporting as AAC but not MP3. Of course other programs like iTunes could be used to convert the AAC file to MP3. That extra step is an inconvenience for those who want to publish their podcast as an MP3.

Apple's new GarageBand '08 (version 4 and part iLife '08), has some improvements for podcasters. One of them is the ability to export directly to MP3. By clicking Export Podcast to Disk... from GarageBand's Share menu, podcasters can choose to compress using either AAC Encoder or MP3 Encoder. If your podcast is not enhanced with the extra features of AAC, you might as well use the more compatible MP3 format.

For both the AAC and MP3 encoders, GarageBand offers four preset compression settings: Mono, Spoken, Musical, and Higher Quality.

Below is the information GarageBand displays when selecting the various MP3 settings. I've included the size of a sample podcast for comparison. Notice that a sound file in the Higher Quality Encoder setting is six times larger than the same file exported using Mono Encoder.

Mono Optimized for spoken podcasts. Produces small file size which download fast. 32kbps, mono, optimized for voice. Size: 2.9MB	Spoken Optimized for spoken podcasts. Produces small file size which downloads fast. 64kbps, stereo, optimized for voice. 5.9MB
Musical Ideal for podcasts with voice and music. Download times are moderate. 128kbps, stereo, optimized for music and complex audio. Size: 11.7MB	Higher Quality Ideal for podcasts where music is the focus and even higher quality is desired. 192kbps, stereo, optimized for music and complex audio. Size: 17.6MB.

Shouldn't everyone choose the highest quality sound they can get? Well, the higher the quality the large the file size. Larger file sizes take longer to download and take up valuable megabytes on file servers, in iTunes, and on portable players. If you use a hosting service with limits on storage and bandwidth, larger episode files might use up your monthly allotment.

GarageBand's presets make a really handy reference. In fact, podcasters using Audacity and other recording programs could use these same settings when encoding audio. You'll have to manually input the settings after choosing Preferences > File Formats. Under MP3 Export Setup, change the Bit Rate to match GarageBand's preset. For example, set the Bit Rate to 64 for a Spoken podcast.

Whatever software you use to compress your podcast's audio, I suggest exporting the same sound file with different settings. Have a listen to each one and balance sound quality with file size when settling on a compression setting.

Labels: podcasting

Audacity is free audio recoding, editing, and encoding software. You can combine audio from many sources, including voice recordings, audio downloaded from the Internet, and music. By choosing Import Audio from the Project menu you can add MP3, WAV, and AIFF files. Audacity is a great choice for podcasters and others who want to produce quality audio recordings.

But look out! By default, Audacity only references imported files. That means that when making an audio project, you must not move or delete the original files you imported. If you do, Audacity will have a gap in its playback. This has happened to me before. The waveforms for an imported audio segment were still displayed in Audacity's timeline; however, no audio plays in that section. It was because I thought I'd tidy up my desktop and delete the files I had already imported, thinking Audacity did not need them. I was wrong.

Luckily, Audacity has a setting you can change so that instead of referencing imported files, it will copy the imported files into the master project file. That way if you move or delete imported files, it won't make one bit of difference in your Audacity project. I suggest all Audacity users change this preference to save themselves some possible pain and suffering in the future.

Go to Preferences and choose File Formats. Choose Make a copy of the file before editing (safer). Now enjoy piece of mind that the Audacity project file will play properly after tidying up used files.

Labels: podcasting

A less complicated way to publish your podcast is to use a podcast hosting service. Services like SolidCasts, LibSyn, and PodOmatic allow you to upload your audio file to their site through a Web browser. Then you are prompted to enter information about your podcast. Podcast hosting services then generate the news feed and a website for your podcast.

Some hosting services are free and others charge monthly or yearly fees. While a hosting service is the easiest way to publish, if the hosting service goes out of business or you stop paying the fee, your podcast will be deleted from their servers and, thus, unavailable to your listeners.

There really are many hosting service options. I've created a chart with six selected hosting companies. The chart shows if there is a free version and what you get with the paid version.

My recommendations? If you are going to pay, I suggest LibSyn (short for Liberated Syndication). It's $5 per month and you receive 100 MB per month of storage and unlimited bandwidth (downloads). This is the service I use. I like the per month model because LibSyn archives all past episodes. I probably have close to a gigabyte hosted there by now. If you are going with a free service, I recommend SolidCasts.com. SolidCasts has no advertising and they give you 100 MB free "for life." Be aware, the 100 MB limit is not monthly and means that once you fill it up, you'll have to delete old episodes to make room for new ones.

Labels: podcasting

It's time for some podcasting tidbits.

• Dave Jobbings at the Podcasts for Educators Weblog writes about sustainability of educational podcasts. After looking at 80 podcasts listed in the Podcast Directory for Educators, Schools, and Colleges, Dave has noticed some interesting trends. The most common reason for a podcast no longer updating is that the teacher or staff member responsible for the podcast left the classroom or school for another post. Dave writes, "This would seem to underline the importance of a policy for succession planning. Whatever podcasting expertise there is within a school, some action to share this expertise more widely would seem a sensible option." Dave notes that providing professional development for other teachers and developing expertise in the students are two ways that schools can be ready for succession of podcasting educators. I would like to note that Radio WillowWeb continues to "broadcast" and it's been over a year since I left Willowdale Elementary. The school is dedicated to podcasting and Radio WillowWeb did not depend solely on my expertise.
• I am teaching one-day workshops for the Nebraska Business Development Center in Omaha. Business-types and educators are encouraged to sign-up. Check out the dates, course description, and outline for Podcasting: Communicating Your Message. You can listen to a four-minute audio recording of me talking about podcasting and about the workshop. Also, I wrote "Podcasts Deliver Free Audio & Video: Listen, Learn, and Publish Your Own" that appears on page two of the Nebraska Business Development Center's fall catalog. If you're not in Omaha, remember I make a living delivering workshops. Perhaps we can arrange something for your school district, business, or organization?
• Apple has filed to trademark their popular podcasting symbol, which you can see to the right. The purple figure surrounded by concentric circles is used by many podcasters. Because it's a trademarked image, webmasters who use the graphic may someday receive a cease and desist letter. So far Apple has not indicated that they will ask podcasters to remove images of their symbol.
• There are many options when it comes to publishing a podcast. My preferred way is to use a service like Slapcast or Libsyn. These services host the episode files, create a blog, and maintain the RSS feed. Slapcast gives you three free episodes. Libsyn has no free trial. Both cost $5 per month. An educator at a recent conference clued me in on SolidCasts.com. SolidCasts will host up to 100MB worth of episodes for free. Depending on how long your episodes are and how much compression you use, 100MB is enough for about a dozen audio files. SolidCasts says that the 100MB is free for life. However, if you have more than 100MB, you have to either delete previous episodes or pay at least $12.95 per month for one gigabyte (or more) of storage.
• Another option for podcast-publishing is GoDaddy.com. Plans start at $2.39 a month for 300MB of space. Like Slapcast and LibSyn, GoDaddy hosts the episode files, creates a blog, and maintains the RSS feed.
• Check out the free How to Podcast tutorial. There are videos about using Audacity.

That's your podcasting news for now. Stay tuned for future updates.

Labels: podcasting

Soundsnap is a new place to find sound effects and musical loops. It's like YouTube for sounds because users can download sounds and upload their own--all for free. Everything uploaded to Soundsnap is copyright-friendly for podcasters to use. Here's how Soundsnap describes itself:

Soundsnap is the best platform to find and share free sound effects and loops- legally. It is a collection of original sounds made or recorded by its users, and not songs or sound FX found on commercial libraries or sample CD's.

It was originally started by a small group of sound people from all over the world. Our common belief is that sounds and samples should be free for everyone to use in their projects, commercial or not.

Our users are a diverse mix of sound designers, sound artists, web game developers, filmmakers and music producers. Hobbyists and home video makers are welcome too.

Soundsnap is fully searchable and sounds are also categorized and tagged for browsing.

You can download an MP3 or WAV version for most files from Soundsnap. I recommend downloading WAV files to import into your podcasting projects. WAV files are usually higher quality. You'll be compressing the audio later, but it's nice to start with the best sounding audio available.

Soundsnap started with 30,000 audio files and is growing. Check it out!

Update: Soundsnap is very much like YouTube, where not all uploads are appropriate for school. It's probably not a good idea to let students loose on Soundsnap (and it's likely to be blocked at school). I suggest that educators download a whole bunch of useful audio files from Soundsnap to their hard drives and organize them into folders. Burn those folders on a CD or place them on a flash drive that is always available for when sounds are needed.

Labels: podcasting, video

Micah Ovadia from Ohio has spent more than a year working on his PoducateMe Podcasting Guide. His time was well spent, as the guide is gushing with 186+ pages of information for podcasting in education. One look at the comprehensive Table of Contents and you can see why it took a year to create.

I'm always on the look out for how people define podcasting. Here's PoducateMe's definition:

A podcast is simply a collection of individual audio episodes typically recorded and edited on a computer, encoded in the MP3 file format, then uploaded to a Web server. Users of "podcatcher" software, such as Apple's iTunes, are then able to download episodes from the server to their computer and listen to the recordings on their computers or transfer them to a media player such as an iPod. Because episodes may be listened to at any time and anywhere, a popular analogy is to think of podcasts as TiVo for radio.

I noticed that video is not addressed in the definition. PoducateMe's guide includes some references to enhanced podcasts but none for video podcasts. After reading through more of the guide, you'll understand that audio podcasting can be complicated, simply because of all of the options in hardware, software, and publishing. PoducateMe often suggests alternative solutions to what I generally recommend.

I'll share one new thing I learned from browsing through PoducateMe. I've mentioned SyncTunes before, but it's worth revisiting after reading through Micah's guide. SyncTunes is free software for Macintosh that allows you to automatically sync podcasts (and other audio files) from iTunes to devices other than iPods. What about Windows users? There's BadApple, a free plug-in for the Windows version of iTunes. It's not as slick as SyncTunes, but BadApple allows Windows users to sync iTunes content to any device that mounts as a USB storage device, like Pocket PCs and memory cards.

Another way to automatically sync podcasts to non-iPod players is to skip the use of iTunes all together. myPodder is an alternative "podcatcher" that works with the online Podcast Ready service to automatically deliver podcasts to your desktop computer and portable device. There's even a version of myPodder that runs on Windows Mobile. That means your internet-enabled Pocket PC can subscribe to and receive podcasts without ever syncing to a desktop computer!

There are plenty of other useful bits of podcasting goodness in the guide. While the entire PoducateMe Podcasting Guide can be read online free of charge, it is available as a fully printable 29 MB PDF file for an educational price of $17.95. (The online version cannot be printed and the text cannot be copied.)

Labels: palm, pocket pc, podcasting, windows mobile

Dr. Patricia Deubel wrote Podcasts: Improving Quality and Accessibility for June 2007's THE Journal. Patricia's main point is summarized at the end of the article:

We're not all professional broadcasters, but listeners and readers will better appreciate your message, if you have also considered the technical merit of your podcast when it is developed.

Patricia first tackles improving the quality of podcasts. While it's possible to record a podcast with a computer's built-in microphone, it isn't recommended. USB headset microphones work really well are cost about $30. She writes, "For higher-quality audio, professional and semi-professional equipment would be optimal." The solutions she suggests start around $200. Personally, I can tell very little difference between a $30 USB microphone recording and that made with expensive microphones.

The article then focuses on boosting the quality of content and cites the four phases of creating an episode: preproduction, recording, postproduction, and publishing. If students follow these phases, hopefully they have then created something that the audience will appreciate. However, I know there are certainly times when a less-polished podcast is acceptable. For instance, students record a "sound-seeing" tour of a museum or teachers record class discussions.

Patricia brings up an excellent point about accessibility of podcasts:

Schools are in the business of educating all learners. If the podcast is on a school Web site, or is hosted at another site and has potential for use in schools, then its text equivalent should be provided. Text equivalents help meet the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508, which require streaming media to be accessible to the deaf and hearing impaired. There are also times when individuals who can hear would benefit from text, such as when silence is required in a room and headphones are missing for listening to audio, when audio might not be available on a computer, or when the listener is in a noisy room.

I agree having a transcript for hearing impaired and other students is a good idea. It's certainly extra work to prepare a transcript, even if the podcast is read from a script. Page 3 of the article explains a couple ways to caption video podcasts--and any way you do it, it's going to take a lot of time and/or money.

Podcasts: Improving Quality and Accessibility is part 1 of a two-part series, so we can look forward to more on this topic from Dr. Patricia Deubel.

Labels: podcasting

The Diffusion Group has released their report Podcasting Audience Continues to Grow, But Medium Poorly Defined by Marketers. Their findings include:

• 11% of U.S. adult broadband internet users (about 12 million people) listen to podcasts at least once per month.
• Among the users above, 68% use a portable player. 49% listen on a computer.
• Users listen to an average of 5.4 podcasts per month on a portable player and an average of 4.7 on a computer.
• Listeners subscribe to 4.1 different podcast feeds.
• 70% of podcast listeners use iTunes for access.
• Diffusion Group's prediction: The podcast audience will double in the next five years.
• Holding back podcasting usage:
  • Podcasting is perceived as too complex for the average consumer to use.
  • Consumers are not aware of the quantity and quality of available podcasts.
  • People have a poor comprehension of podcasting because there is a lack of understanding of the term podcast.

The group who wrote the report also published Rethinking the Definition of Podcasting. The report compares definitions of podcast. It gets a bit technical, but defining podcast is important if we're to share them with students, parents, the community, and fellow educators. I have tweaked my definition for podcasting over the years. Currently, here's the definition I share with educators:

A podcast is audio or video on the Web that can be cataloged and automatically downloaded.

I've tried to keep the definition simple and non-technical. Of course, it's the RSS feed that makes it possible for a podcast to be cataloged in places like iTunes and Yahoo! Podcasts. The feed also enables software like iTunes to check for updates and to download new files.

I have been making an effort to refer to an individual podcast audio or video file as an episode, leaving the word podcast as a collective term encompassing all of its episodes. The report addresses podcast vs. episode:

The term “podcast” may also refer to a single file or episode of the podcast series – this is similar to how the term “show” (as in television show) can refer to either the series as a whole or only a single episode.

Whatever the vocabulary, it is important that people know that an iPod is not required. In fact, some podcasters have suggested changing the word to netcast. I don't think we'll be replacing the word podcast any time soon, so we need to help others understand the term podcast and what it can do for education.

Labels: podcasting

The most technical part of podcasting is publishing the RSS feed . Without an RSS feed, you don't really have a podcast--you have audio or video on the web. Without a feed, that audio or video cannot be listed in directories or automatically downloaded using iTunes. The RSS feed is important if you wish to have people subscribe to your podcast.

Here are some of the options for making an RSS feed:

• Spend $0 if your school or district's server or web management system supports podcasting. Check with your technology folks to see what's available to you.
• Spend $5 a month for an online service like Slapcast.com, LibSyn.com, or AVmyPodcast.com. Simply set up an account, fill in the text fields, and upload your audio or video files. There are limitations for monthly uploads but they offer an unlimited number of downloads. You should note that once you stop paying the monthly fee, your podcast will no longer be available online.
• Spend about $30 for software like FeedForAll. Fill in the blanks and the software generates an RSS feed that you then upload to your own server. You must also host the audio or video on your own server.
• Spend $100 on Tool Factory Podcasting (Windows only). This is a complete solution for recording, postproduction, hosting, and publishing.
• Spend $0 by hosting your audio or video on OurMedia.org. Then use a combination of Blogger and Feedburner to publish a blog and RSS feeds. Here are the instructions.

And here's a new one I just learned about....

• Spend $0 by hosting your audio or video on your own server or OurMedia.org. Then use the free online service Poderator. Fill in the text fields with information about your podcast and the URL of your uploaded audio or video file. Poderator generates the RSS feed. but you must upload it to your own server. Each time you wish to add a new episode, first upload it to your server then log into Poderator and add a new episode using the URL of the item you just uploaded. Poderator then updates the feed so your subscribers can download the new episode. Note that each time you update the feed, you have to upload it to your server.

With any of these solutions, if you want your podcast to be available in iTunes and other directories, you must submit the URL of the RSS feed to iTunes and the web directories of your choice. Remember, you only have to submit one time. After that, iTunes and the directories periodically check the RSS feed for updates.

Labels: podcasting

The second edition of Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators by Tony Vincent and Janet Caughlin is now available! You might be familiar with the first edition published four years ago. Edition 2 has been completely updated and has an added 50 pages. Besides taking you step-by-step through using Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, iPods, and podcasting, the book gives dozens of examples of classroom use. In fact, the vignettes with teacher lesson idea and their insights into handheld computing is my favorite chapter. There's also a chapter with school administrators telling you all about how they use handhelds to do their jobs better.

The podcasting section is an exciting new addition to the book. It takes you through finding, subscribing, and listening to podcasts in iTunes, on an iPod, a Palm handheld, and Pocket PCs. It even has a tutorial for creating and publishing a podcast using the free Audacity software.

As with all of Janet's Workshop Books, busy educators can pick up Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators and get started right away using their handheld computers. The book's CD-ROM provides useful resources for the tutorials, lesson ideas, and podcasting. There also is this website that has all of the web links mentioned in the book.

Currently Edition 2 is not yet listed on the Tom Snyder website. Call the publisher at 800-342-0236 to order the book. You also order from K12 Handhelds here.

As a shameless promotion for the book, I made a Gizmoz animation of myself telling you about it. You can make your own Gizmoz for free by uploading a photo of yourself and then supplying text or audio.

Labels: ipod, palm, pocket pc, podcasting, windows mobile

I get many emails that ask about grants for podcasting. My response comes in two parts. First, there aren't many grants specifically for podcasting. If you need funding, consider applying for a more general grant and use podcasting to meet the goals of the grant.

Secondly, podcasting doesn't involve much expense. You really just need a computer. Macs come with GarageBand and Windows users can download the free Audacity software. You can use a computer's built-in microphone, but I suggest purchasing a $25 USB headset (Logitech makes good ones). You'll also need a way to generate an RSS feed and a web server to host the podcast.

A school district may already have a web server. If the server doesn't have podcasting support, both Mac and Windows users can use FeedForAll. It's $40 software where you fill in the blanks and it creates and updates your RSS feed. Or, Mac users can use iWeb that comes free on all new Macs. If you have a server for the episode files but need the RSS feed, you can use a combination of Blogger.com and Feedburner.com. This method is absolutely free and you can read how to do it here.

If you don't already have access to a server and/or you want to make publishing a breeze, I suggest using a service like Slapcast, LibSyn, or AvMyPodcast. These services charge $5 per month. There are limitations for monthly uploads but they offer an unlimited number of downloads. You should note that once you stop paying the monthly fee your podcast will no longer be available online.

If you encourage students to listen to podcasts on classroom computers or in the lab, you're going to want earphones. If you don't already have them, you can buy 97¢ ear buds at Walmart or you can spend several dollars for nicer headphones.

Those are the basic needs for podcasting. Of course, there are other ways to spend money. While you don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast, it's really nice to have iPods available for students. They can listen to their own podcasts and to those of other students, companies, and organizations. Also, iPods can be used as a portable hard drive, making them useful for transferring audio projects and for backing up files. You may also want to purchase a powered USB hub so you can charge and sync multiple iPods at a time.

While I prefer recording directly into GarageBand or Audacity for on-the-fly editing, there are times when you might want a mobile recorder. You can attach a $50 iTalk Pro to the larger iPods with video. You can also buy digital recorders, like those from Olympus, just be sure you can get the sound file from the recorder into the computer.

If you plan to record more than one student at once, you'll want a mixing board. Mixers combine the audio from multiple sources and allow you to perform certain audio effects. The Alesis MultiMix 8USB works with Mac and Windows computers and it can be yours (or your school's) for about $150. Not wanting to spend that much? You can find mixers at Radio Shack starting at $40. Don't forget the extra microphones to go with the mixer.

Some other things you may wish to purchase include binders and clipboards to keep track of the paperwork and preproduction notes. And while we're on the subject of spending money, it's wise to provide professional development to teachers. There are techniques, strategies, and tips that experienced podcasters like me can share to make podcasting easier, maximize student learning, and produce a high quality product.

If you are itching to apply for a grant specific for podcasting, check out the Olympus/Tool Factory Podcasting Grant. Your school can can win $3,000 worth of hardware and software:

• A site license of Tool Factory Podcasting software (Windows only)
• Three Olympus Digital Voice Recorders
• Three headsets and mics
• A site license of Clip Art Station
• A site license of Worksheet Station
• A site license of Web Page Station
• Tool Factory's Simple Guide to Podcasting (book and CD combo)

Tool Factory's Podcasting software is a complete solution for recording, editing, and publishing podcasts. In fact, there's a screencast you can view to get a feel for the software and you can download a demo. Olympus says the most unique podcasting lesson plans, incorporating student involvement, creativity, and all of the awarded hardware and software will win. There are three deadlines: 6/30/07, 12/30/07, and 4/30/08. You must resubmit after every deadline to reapply. Here is more information and a flyer.

Even if you don't apply for the Olympus/Tool Factory Grant, you can download Tool Factory's free worksheets to help with podcasting:. The worksheets include Topic Flow Chart, Episode Timeline, Sound Effects, Listener Motives, and more.

What have you purchased for podcasting? Please let us know by leaving a comment!

Labels: grants, podcasting

I've posted a new special episode of Soft Reset: Pod People #5. Like Pod People #1, #2, #3, and #4, Pod People #5 is filled with segments by educators who participated in one of my podcasting workshops. Because time was short, the segments were hastily recorded but they contain some great information. The first half of Pod People #5 has five segments, each reviewing a different podcast. The second half is filled with tips that participants learned about listening to and creating podcasts.

Looking for new educational podcasts? Scholastic Instructor Magazine listed ten of their favorite podcasts in their March/April 2007 edition. The list includes Wild Animal Chronicles, Children's Fun Storytime, Poem of the Day, and The Science Show for Kids. I'm proud to say that second on the list is Radio WillowWeb, the podcast for kids and by kids that I developed for Willowdale Elementary School.

Another resource for educational podcasts is Karen Fasimpaur's new show, Karen's Educational Mashups. She describes it on her blog:

This podcast is a compilation of excerpts from podcasts and other free audio and video content of interest to educators. Shows will air twice a month, and each show will focus on a different topic. Some will be focused on content for students, while others will feature professional development content for administrators and teachers. Our first show is on history-related content. The second show will be aimed at library media specialists (and everyone who loves books).

With over 1,000 educational podcasts listed in iTunes, Karen's podcast is a great way to learn about podcasts. Another way to learn about more podcasts and podcasting is fellow Nebraskan Dan Schmit's KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom podcast. Currently Dan's podcast is sponsoring the 2007 KidCast Podcasting Awards. The contest is divided into categories that focus on specific types of educational podcasting. The deadline is April 30th and results will be announced May 15th. To enter, fill out the form on this page.

Remember, you don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts. You can listen right in your browser, iTunes, or other portable player. The video, Uncle Seth - You Don't Need an iPod, (posted on YouTube in September 2006) makes that point very clear with a catchy song.

Labels: podcast, podcasting, soft reset

I've posted the newest episode of Our City Podcast! Sheltered Bay is by third graders at St. Andrew's Priory School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Students from the all-girls school did an outstanding job. I've already listened to the episode twice and I know I will give it a listen again soon. Why? It it one of the best I've heard! It is extremely informative while also entertaining. The girls' voices sound loud and clear. The music and sound effects compliment what's being presented. At 12 minutes, it ends before my attention begins to wander. Bravo, I say!

With 19 Our City Podcast episodes currently online, we're building quite a library of audio by kids from cities all over. I encourage elementary and middle school teachers to use Our City Podcast in their classrooms. I've got ideas for using Our City Podcast in the classroom:

• Groups of students listen and discuss different episodes. Have the groups report back to the class what they learned.
• Set up a listening center with a different episode each week. The center could be a computer, iPod, handheld, MP3 player, or a CD player (burn the podcast to CD using iTunes).
• Play an episode for the class while they work on an art project.
• Write feedback about the episode and email it (the page for each podcast lists an email address for the teacher).
• Listen to two episodes and compare and contrast the cities in those episodes.
• Listen to decide which city you would want to visit. Tell why.
• Which city would make a good home for you? Tell why.
• Which podcaster do you think would make a good friend for you. Tell why.
• Compare the information given in the podcast with the city's Wikipedia entry.
• Find landmarks mentioned in an episode in Google Maps or Google Earth.
• What information or segment would you add to one of the episodes?
• Produce your own Our City Podcast episode. Resources are available.
• Offer some of above as extra credit opportunities.

If you aren't an Our City Podcast subscriber, click here to subscribe with iTunes. Episodes from cities around the globe will be automatically delivered to your computer as they become available.

Labels: podcast, podcasting

There are times when you might want to link to an item in the iTunes Store. Maybe you want to bookmark, email, or post a hyperlink to an item. That item might be a song, podcast, video, or category. Just about everything in the iTunes Store has its own web address. Entering that address into a web browser opens iTunes and automatically navigates to the linked item. For example, clicking this link takes you to the Our City podcast in iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=104141824

How do I know the web address for the podcast in the iTunes Store? Simple. Most everything in the iTunes Store (including podcasts) is right-clickable (or control-clickable for Mac users). When right-clicked, a context menu appears. Select Copy iTunes Store URL to copy the web address. Here are some examples:

Right-click the Education category from the Podcasts section to get the link for this page.	Right-click the podcast cover art to get the link for the podcast's details page.	Right-click the podcast episode title to get a link to the podcast's details page that will have that particular episode selected.

Paste the copied web address into a hyperlink for the item. Users are redirected to the iTunes download page if iTunes is not installed on their computers.

---

You have probably seen links to podcasts that look like this:

An easy way to make this kind of link (with the spiffy iTunes icon) is to use iTunes Link Maker. You are three easy steps away from getting HTML code to include in your blog or podcast web page:

1. Enter the podcast, song, or album to which you wish to link. Click "Search".
2. Click the arrow associated with a specific link on the page.
3. Copy and paste the HTML link into your web page or blog posting.

When iTunes Link Maker supplies you with the HTML code, it also explains:

The url in the text box on this page points directly to a deep link within the iTunes Store. When a user clicks on it, iTunes will open and navigate to the correct page. The iTunes graphic is included with the code and resides on Apple's servers; all you have to do is copy and paste. If iTunes is not present, the link will automatically take the user to an iTunes download page.

Linking to items in iTunes is very handy. Once your web visitors are directed to a podcast in the iTunes Store, they are just one click away from subscribing!

Labels: podcast, podcasting

I've added a new tool to Learning in Hand. The new Grazr widget appears on some pages. Grazr is a free service for websites that allows visitors to "graze" selected RSS feeds without the hassle of subscribing. This means you can browse and listen to selected podcasts without leaving Learning in Hand. In the event you'd like to subscribe to a podcast you find in Learning in Hand's Educational Podcasts Grazr, you can follow these directions for subscribing with iTunes.

My goal is not to list every educational podcast under the sun. Instead, I want to list exemplary podcasts so those new to podcasting have a place to start listening. Please help me make this list better by suggesting podcasts to list (or suggestions for podcasts to remove from the list). Leave a comment or email me.

Labels: podcast, podcasting

It's time again to list many of items that are piling up in my inbox and in my Bloglines feeds. There's a little something for everyone: Palm, Pocket PC, iPod, Mobile Phone, PSP, and podcasting users...

There's a new Google Maps application for Windows Mobile. It's also available for Palm OS. It requires an Internet connection.

Some Australian schools are using the Nova5000 with students. Read about their experiences in the NOVA5000 Australian Trials blog.

Some U.K. schools are using PSP (PlayStation Portables) in classrooms. Read about their experiences in the PSPTeachers blog. They are using the PSP's WiFi connection to deliver RSS feeds to the students. Be sure to check out their cool charging and storage cart. Click on over to this article from Popular Science to learn how to read eBooks and watch videos on a PSP.

Doug Hyde is a library-media specialist at a Wisconsin middle school. His blog, Classroom in Your Pocket, has a useful post about showing video from an iPod on a television or projector.

Karen Fasimpaur wrote about PocketPicture, a great paint program for Windows Mobile. It's free!

The Podcasts for Educators Weblog has a post titled evaluating podcasts. It links to a PDF file for evaluating podcasts for teaching and learning. In the future, the blog will be publishing an evaluation for students and young people to use. Also at the weblog, learn about podcasting through their Online Learning Studio.

Leonard Low posted his Top 10 Freeware Apps for M-Learning on his Mobile Learning blog. His suggestions focus on mobile phones and Windows Mobile devices.

Rolly Maiquez has a couple of blog posts you might want to check out: Useful Palm Handhelds and Language Arts Curriculum Integration Links and Funding Links.

Lynn Lary points to curriculum resources for a interesting lessons using MIT's free participatory simulations for Palm handhelds. Included are materials and handouts for a unit called "Future CSI" and a unit about the Big Fish-Little Fish simulation.

Those of you who are Windows, Palm, and iPod users may be interested in Palm2iPod that sends your contacts and calendar from Palm Desktop to your iPod.

Here are several new freeware applications for the Palm OS:

• SequenceM: Sequencing application for elementary classrooms.
• ClipExtend: Bypass the 1000 character clipboard limit so you can copy and paste larger amounts of text.
• HealthCalc: Calculate BMI, body fat, heart rate zones, and more.
• Pepe Palm Chat: Send text back and forth through infrared.
• Checklist by Paper Trail Software: Create and manipulate checklists.
• Dekses: Puzzle game where you follow the right number order and move the digits to their correct places.
• Target: Game where you make words out of a 3x3 grid of nine letters.
• tejpWriter: Word processor with a surprising number of features. I like that it can export to HTML. The applications is a little buggy, though.
• SimpleChart: Plot up to three columns of data.
• Subscribe to Palm Freeware's RSS feed.
• Dale Ehrhart has produ