Podcasts are digital audio files that are created and shared online and can be downloaded to personal audio players. They allow for flexible learning as students can access material any time. Podcasts can be used for educational purposes like delivering lessons, having students create their own to share learning, and teachers providing additional materials. Students benefit from podcasts by developing important skills like researching and public speaking. Common free audio recording and publishing software include Audacity, GarageBand, Archive.org, OurMedia.org, and Podomatic. There are also several medical podcasts that provide news, case studies, and lectures on various healthcare topics.
1. What is a Podcast ?
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary a
podcast is a " digital recording of a radio broadcast or
similar program, made available on the internet for
downloading to a personal audio payer." in other
words, it is a digital audio file that is created, shared
and heard. Podcast can also be in the form of videos
streamlined online, however, video podcast is known
as vidcast or vodcast.
2. Why use podcasts?
• Podcasts enable students to share their knowledge and expertise with others through a
creative outlet.
• Podcasts tap into a mode of media input that is commonplace for digital natives.
• Podcasts empower students to form relationships with the content and each other in
relevant ways.
• Podcasting is yet another way for them [students] to be creating and contributing ideas
to a larger conversation, and it’s a way of archiving that contribution for future
audiences to use.
3. Educational Uses of Podcasts
Podcasts can be used for several educational purposes. Here are some of them :
Podcast are great alternatives for delivering research content or lessons to students who
need remedial or extended support
Students can create their own podcast to share their learning experiences with each other
and also with other students from other schools
Teachers can record audio podcast to provide additional and revision material to students
to download and review at a time that fits them the best.
Podcast can hugely benefit auditory learners and help them in their learning
Creating podcast allows students to develop several important skills such as researching,
writing, speaking effectively, solving problems, managing time, grabbing attention and
improving their vocabulary.
6. How to create a podcast ?
1- Recording
for this you will need a microphone and an audio recording software like the ones mentioned
below. Every software has instructions to guide you through your recording process. Make
sure you practice speaking till you get confident enough then start recording.
7. How to create a podcast ?
2- Test your Podcast
Always make sure you listen to your podcasts and redo the parts that you don’t like until you
finally get the version you want then move on to the next step.
8. How to create a podcast ?
3- Publish your podcast
You can use online platforms for publishing your
podcasts. If you have a blog for your class you can
publish it there , you can also submit it to the
public podcast directory services such as iTunes
Music Store, Podcast.net, OurMedia.org, Podcast
Alley, or Podcast Pickle.
9. How to create a podcast ?
4- Promote/ publicize your podcast
Now that you have recorded and uploaded your podcast, you will have to start promoting it
so that others know about it. This can be done through providing the podcast link (URL of the
page where it is hosted) or through creating an RSS Feed document which will let users
subscribe to your podcast.
10. Tools to create your podcast
Here are some of the softwares you might start with to create your podcasts. It included only
four tools but there are several other tools out there.
11. Audacity is a free, open source, cross platform
software for recording and editing sounds. It is
available for both Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux and
other operating systems.
12. This is an Apple software that provides users with a great platform where they can record
their audio files and share them with others.
13. One of the most well-known and popular podcast hosts is Archive.org. This website will
host any kind of media file you upload, including MP3 files. While the site is a bit slow and
replacing media once it’s uploaded is impossible, it’s a solid free host that offers plenty of
embedding options.
14. For another completely free podcast host offered by a not-for-profit organization, check out
Ourmedia.org. This media host doesn’t limit file bandwidth, allowing as many listeners to
your podcasts as possible. Uploads are fast as well. They will, however, scan your content for
anything inappropriate and if they find something deemed so, it will not be allowed.
15. Podomatic is another free podcast host that has one of the easiest user interfaces currently
available. With a free account, you get 15 GB of bandwidth each month and 500 MB of
storage overall, which should be enough for the casual monthly podcast. You can also create
podcasts directly on the site.
17. Johns Hopkins Medicine Weekly Health News
PodMed is created by Elizabeth Tracey, director of
electronic media for Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Rick
Lange M.D., professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and
vice chairman of medicine at the University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio.
It looks at the top medical stories of the week for people
who want to become informed participants in their own
health care.
18. EM Cases:
Emergency Medicine Cases
Emergency Medicine Cases (EM Cases) is a free
online medical education podcast & medical blog
dedicated to providing online emergency medicine
education & CME for physicians, residents,
students, nurses & paramedics.
20. Free Emergency Medicine Talks
This page is was created by residents of the
Temple University Hospital Emergency Medicine
program to help distribute the vast Emergency
Medicine lecture library of Dr. Joe Lex.
21. SCCM:
Society & Critical Care Medicine
Podcasts are derived from information
previously published in Critical Connections,
a bi-monthly publication of SCCM.
22. EE+ :
Essential Evidence Plus
Each week Dr. Mark Ebell, POEMs Editor, joins
Dr. Michael Wilkes, NPR correspondent and
Vice-Dean of the UC-Davis Medical School, for
a five minute discussion about an important
recent POEM. The discussion provides additional
depth and insight into the issue covered by the
POEM synopsis.
23. New England Journal of Medicine
The NEJM offers two podcasts: “NEJM This Week,”
which features summaries of articles in each week’s
issue; and “NEJM Interviews,” which feature Q&As
with key thought leaders in medicine and healthcare,
along with PDFs of related articles.
24. The University of Kansas Hospital
Access our audio podcasts to get health news
and tests and procedure guides that you can
listen to on your computer or download to
your portable audio player.
![Why use podcasts?
• Podcasts enable students to share their knowledge and expertise with others through a
creative outlet.
• Podcasts tap into a mode of media input that is commonplace for digital natives.
• Podcasts empower students to form relationships with the content and each other in
relevant ways.
• Podcasting is yet another way for them [students] to be creating and contributing ideas
to a larger conversation, and it’s a way of archiving that contribution for future
audiences to use.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)