June 2007 — News
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Podcasts: Improving Quality and Accessibility
Podcasts are increasingly being used in K-12 and in higher education. In part 1 of this two-part series, I discussed their nature, demonstrated their potential for learning, and pointed out that in developing podcasts, students become involved with the project method, which is a real-world experience. I also voiced my concern that many podcasts I've heard suffer from poor quality of the audio, content, and speaker presentation. Accessibility is also a major issue that is being overlooked in their development. Let's now look at what you might do to improve the quality and accessibility of your podcasts, so that all learners can benefit, including those with disabilities.
Creating a Quality Podcast
The podcast file can be created using a computer with a sound card, microphone, audio recording and editing software, and access to a website for posting (Warlick, n.d.). While you can use a microphone built into your computer, better sound might be captured using a headset, such as those produced by Logitech. For higher-quality audio, professional and semi-professional equipment would be optimal. Midrange USB and FireWire audio interfaces, such as those from PreSonus, M-Audio, and Digidesign, can be found starting at around $200 or so, as can semi-professional microphones from the likes of MXL and AKG. (Studio monitors or monitoring headphones are also recommended for mixing and editing.)
On the software side, there's a fairly wide range of solutions available. For recording and mixing, Audacity works on several platforms, including Windows and Mac OS X, and GarageBand is for Macs. For conversion of audio to MP3, LAME is an open-source solution available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and a variety of systems you've probably never encountered before. (There's also a LAME encoder for iTunes for Mac, called iTunes-LAME, that allows for high-quality MP3 conversion directly within that program. It's also quick and easy to install.) iTunes for PC or Mac is, of course, the great podcast aggregator.
There is nothing worse than listening to a poor speaker who spouts unprepared text that was posted without editing the sound. It makes me want to turn off the podcast. Fortunately, there are several Web tutorials on how to create quality podcasts. It's more than the techy side of learning to record audio. Learninginhand.com is particularly relevant, as Tony Vincent (2007), the site developer, suggests resources and discusses the four phases of production. These are preproduction, recording, post-production, and publishing.
