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Showing posts with label iTunes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iTunes. Show all posts

Saturday, June 16, 2012

How to Subscribe to Podcasts

iTunes 6, vlog, shared libraries
iTunes 6, vlog, shared libraries (Photo credit: thepatrick)
Now that you have the background for podcasting, it is time for you to subscribe to some podcasts.  How do you go about doing that?

It is possible to go to a site directly and subscribe to a podcast from a specific website, but that can get a little complicated.  I would suggest that you use iTunes to organize your podcasts. iTunes began as just music management application, but it has blossomed into so much more. Now you can use it to organize songs, TV shows, podcasts, movies, books and even radio stations.  Let's see what it will take to use iTunes to organize your podcast listening on your computer.
  1. Download iTunes to your computer.  It is available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.
  2. Next open an Apple account. This will be part of the process of initializing iTunes.
  3. Find a podcast to which you want to subscribe.
    1. Go to the iTunes store (this cannot be accessed through your browser. You must use the iTunes application to access the iTunes store.
  4. Across top of the opening iTunes screen, you should see a black menu bar. Click on the Podcasts link.
  5. You will find a plethora of podcasts. Click on the drop down menu in the upper right corner under the "Podcast Quick Links" header.  Select Education.
  6.  A wide collection of podcasts will appear on your screen. You can select audio or video with the buttons in the upper right corner.  Explore for a little bit.
  7. Find a podcast that you find interesting.  It might Story Nory (elementary story books), This Week in Science, Ted Talks (an necessary addition to your collection), or whatever looks good.
  8. Click the Subscribe Free button below your selected podcast.
  9. iTunes should immediately subscribe to the podcast for you. Click on the Podcast link in the left column of your iTunes app. You should see your selected podcast in the list.
  10. Click on the arrow to the left of your selected podcast. It will provide a list of podcasts that are greyed-out. This means that they are not yet on your computer but you can select them by clicking on the Get button to the right of each title.
  11. Click on the Get button next to a couple of the episodes. You will see them begin to download. The title will turn black.
  12. Double-click on one of your selections and it will begin playing.
Now you can listen to your podcasts using iTunes on your computer.


Searching for a Podcast and Subscribing.
  1. Return to the iTunes store (click on iTunes Store in the left column) and click on the Podcast selection.
  2. Using the Search Store box in the upper right corner, enter "Z & M MediaCast" and hit Return.
  3. Our podcast will appear.  Isn't that cool!!!!!!!! 
  4. Click on the Subscribe Free button below it and subscribe to our podcast.
  5. Remember to go to iTunes to ensure that they have been downloaded onto your computer.
Downloading Your Podcasts to Your iPod, iPad or Phone
Now you have your podcasts on your computer but maybe you don't want to sit at your computer while you listen to them. Wouldn't it be great if you could download your podcasts to your iPod or iPad or phone?  You can.

The process is actually called synching.  This means that files on your computer will be downloaded to your phone and files on your phone will be uploaded to your computer so that they are the same ('N Sync). You can actually modify the synching process so they only synch the podcasts or songs or ????  BTW, you need to have a Smart Phone (not necessarily an iPhone) to do this.

Here is a video that tells you how to do this:

If you don't want to use iTunes to corral your podcasts, you can download specific podcasting apps for your smart phone.  I use Downcast.  I don't know how to link this with iTunes, but it does have access to some rather interesting podcasts.

What do you use?  How do you use podcasts?

Z

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Friday, June 15, 2012

RSS in Education

English: Podcast or podcasting icon Français :...
English: Podcast or podcasting icon Français : Icône pour les podcasts ou la baladodiffusion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
RSS is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Resources (audio or video) placed on the web are given an RSS Feed. This RSS Feed enables users to subscribe using RSS readers (e.g., iTunes, iGoogle). A user only needs to open the RSS reader and it will automatically check and load new episodes from the subscribed podcasts.

It is important to remember that it is the RSS that makes it podcasting. It is a form of automated delivery or subscription.  You can use RSS for audio files or video files. Blogs use RSS for subscription as well. You might even say that Blogs are podcasted using the model we are discussing.

RSS in Plain English


Educational Podcasting
Podcasting is a medium that teachers can use for teaching ideas and students can use for sharing their knowledge. It provides a medium for organizing and sharing resources. Students can create projects that can be posted to the web and available for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even university students to enjoy.

Watch each of these 3 10-minute videos (not vodcasts) to hear how educators use podcasts.
  • Podcasting in Education 1 - What is Podcasting?  How to create a podcast using Garageband 3. (You will not be required to use Garageband to do your assignment, but it is an interesting demonstration that can be generalized to other tools.)
  • Podcasting in Education 2 - 7th grade Language Arts middle school teacher from Wisconsin. She uses podcasting for her Integrated Thematic Curriculum.
  • Podcasting in Education 3 - Middle School Principal from Georgia sharing how use podcasting to reach out to the community.
Additional Resources:

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