Publishing Podcasts from Studywiz

Podcasting has been around for quite a while now but it’s still a good way to publish content in an audio or video format, particularly where the content is being updated at regular intervals.

The definition of a podcast from Wikipedia is:

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.

Podcasting lends itself really well to things such as school newsletters, tutorials and episodic video programmes. Producing the actual media files is usually straightforward and makes for a great classroom activity which can be accomplished using free or reasonably cheap tools.

Podcast episodes don’t have to be audio or video, you can also podcast documents such as those in PDF format.

Although Studywiz doesn’t include tools to create the individual podcast episodes, it does help with the hard part, which is to create a published podcast feed that other people can subscribe to using an RSS reader. The podcast feeds that Studywiz produces can be accessed without the need for a Studywiz account so you can publish your podcasts to the entire world and publicise them through your school’s website or the iTunes Store.

Here’s a quick guide to setting up a podcast feed in Studywiz. Studywiz users can access detailed information on how to do this via the online help within Studywiz.

Step 1

Once you have decided on the purpose of your podcast, start by actually producing it. The planning and design stage offers many learning opportunities so take your time with this, your students will get a lot out of the process and you’ll produce better quality podcasts at the end of it. Do a web search for guides on how to create podcasts and you’ll come across several, including some of these:

• Teaching Ideas: Podcasting
• Podcasting in the Classroom
• How to Publish your Podcast on iTunes (eHow.com)

Step 2

Now, in Studywiz, create a Gallery Activity. When creating the Gallery make sure to check the option for **Publish as Podcast**.

When you do this, a message will appear informing you that by making the Gallery a podcast the contents will be publicly available. This only applies to this particular Gallery and since you’re deliberately making a podcast then you can go ahead and click ok.

Once you’ve saved the Gallery you will find that you are presented with two different podcast URLs. The two URLs are subtlety different:

The Podcast URL provides an RSS feed URL which can be used by your audience to subscribe to the podcast in any RSS reader such as the popular, and free, Google Reader.

Subscribe to Podcast is a URL which, when clicked, will open up the iTunes application on the user’s computer (if they have it installed). iTunes is a really nice way to subscribe to, and manage, podcasts with the added benefit that it makes it easy to add your podcasts to an iPod, iPad or iPhone so you can access them on the go. Imagine a scenario where parents can download your podcasts to their mobile device and listen to them during their commute to work. iTunes only works with certain podcast formats so it’s worth checking your intended format is iTunes compatible before you publish the podcast URL.

 Step 3

Now start to add your podcasts to the Gallery. Depending on how you want this to work you can either add individual episodes at regular intervals if you want your podcast episodes to be released over a period of time, which is really how podcasts are intended to be published, or you can simply upload them all at once which will make all episodes instantly available via the feed.

If you’ve kept the Lock Gallery option unchecked then your students can upload their own files.

Step 4

Finally, publish one or both of the URLs from Step 2 to your audience. You could put them on your school website, or send an email to parents with instructions and the URL. If you really want to promote yourself to a worldwide audience then you can add your podcast to the directory in the Apple iTunes store.

Remember, Podcast URL will work with any RSS reader, Subscribe to Podcast is iTunes specific.

If at any point you want to remove access to the podcast simply uncheck the Publish as Podcast option in the Gallery.

Here are a couple of example podcasts that are worth your time:

• Apple for Kids
• How 2 Video tutorials @ GHS (iTunes)

If you or your school uses Studywiz in this way then please let us know, we would love to hear from you.

Online Learning rises above the ashes

It is always interesting to see how teachers and students unable to get to school have found ways to continue learning. There was an interesting story on the BBC Website about a teacher who used an Internet Cafe and Skype to continue his A Level revision lessons whilst stranded in Spain due to the ash crisis.

Here is a link to that story.

I couldn’t help thinking that with access to Studywiz, he could have done even more: work could have been set up and marked with feedback given, forums could have been set up to discuss revision topics when  access to the Internet was available and tests could have been created and marked with the teacher being able to check the results. Add this to the ability to access Studywiz from a mobile device and you can see the true benefits of a Learning Platform for all situations that have students and teachers away from School.

A number of schools have been using Studywiz during this crisis. One school had over 100 students stuck in the Far East and Studywiz was being used to communicate and provide work for the students stranded.

As with the snow earlier in the year in the UK, this ash incident has highlighted how important it is to have a Learning Platform that allows access to learning from anywhere. At this time of year, when students are preparing for exams, finishing coursework and maybe going on Study Leave, Studywiz can provide another tool for revision. From setting up a Gallery of past papers that students can download to discussion forums on revision topics, Studywiz enables teachers to keep in contact and provide support for all those preparing for exams.

iPod mobile project

I’m Regina Cockerill, Middle School Technology Coordinator at TASIS England, an American-International school in the suburbs of leafy Surrey, England. This is our fifth year using Studywiz. We were fortunate enough to have been provided funding for a pilot study of iPods in one of our foreign language classrooms. This was inspired by Louise Duncan, another Studywiz user and great promoter of iPods in education.

Although the foreign language teacher knew in his gut that a ubiquitous device like the iPod could transform foreign language education, we are riding our own learning curve daily. The past two weeks has required figuring out what to purchase, figuring how to manage an AUP, deciding how much ‘freedom’ to give 11-14 year olds on the device, deciding what apps to purchase, deciding what our learning objectives and outcomes would be, announcing the project to the community, and launching the training and delivery of the devices to students.

The students have taken their privilege and responsibility really well. They are watching Spanish curriculum videos, audiofiles and .pdf files regularly. In addition, they are addicted to Spanish Word Search games where they are given the Spanish word and they must search for the English definition. These are usually played on the bus ride home. Students are already excited about how much better they comprehend their Spanish lessons because they can view or listen over and over again, at their own discretion. This puts constructivist learning in the hands of the student — perhaps the best way to learn.

One of the great surprises was that we, as teachers, were only considering the students’ need to access Spanish class documents from Studywiz. The kids of course, were so excited to find all their homework easily available through the Studywiz mobile interface … and all their eLocker documents available at the click of a button. These students began to realize the instant access of learning material that was available to them. We’re only in week one of a six week study. We’ll keep you posted.

Louise Duncan Blog

If you are interested in the use of mobile devices within teaching and learning then you should definitely read Louise Duncan’s blog and subscribe to her Twitter feed, where she shares a steady stream of insights into her own practice and links to other mobile projects and research.

Louise is a fantastic educator and recently won the Lindsay Thompson Fellowship Award for her involvement in the Studywiz Global Mobile Research Project. She will be speaking at the Handheld Learning Conference in London next month and then traveling over to the US as part of a world tour to assist with her research into mobile enhanced learning.

U.S. Secretary of Education Supports Video Games And Mobile Devices In Classroom

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talked enthusiastically about using digital tools like video games and cell phones in the classroom on Frontline Digital Nation during a recent interview. By using their mobile devices, kids love to learn in and out of the classroom and we can move with kids instead of against them.

Access a brief excerpt of the conversation here>>.