Podcasts at Penn State

Podcasts at Penn State is a pilot service being designed by Education Technology Services in partnership with several units within Information Technology Services and around the Penn State Community. We are investigating how podcasts could be used by Penn State faculty, staff, students, and administration to extend the reach of their messages. We are also very interested at how Penn State students react to these new opportunities. If you would like to participate in this pilot, please contact us today.

Here are just a few ways podcasts can be integrated into the teaching and learning environment:

• Students can download podcasted audio programs and listen wherever they go, whenever they like.
• New episodes of a podcast are automatically downloaded.
• Instructors can limit the listening audience to students in their course.
• Instructors can record and publish their own podcasts.
• Podcast production does not require recording studios or professional equipment; instructors can create them in their office.
• Instructors can create podcasts designed to answer questions, elaborating on difficult concepts, and giving tips on how to succeed in the course.
• Presentations by students can be created and delivered to their instructor.

Penn State Podcasting Community

The Penn State Podcasting Team has started a Podcasters User Group made up of faculty and staff podcasters. To join the group, contact us today.

What is Podcasting

Podcasting is more than simple audio on the Internet. We have been providing audio (streaming and full downloads) for years. What differentiates a podcast is the delivery channel. Podcasts can be delivered to subscribers via a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) channel. This RSS feed contains a reference to the original audio file and delivers it to those who have previously subscribed. Like a magazine subscription for rich media, the RSS feed can deliver many types of content -- audio, video, and PDFs are just a few. There are dozens of tools one can use to subscribe to an RSS podcast feed. We have included a list of some of the more popular ones here.

Listening to a podcast does not require an iPod. The term "podcast"is really a combination of broadcasting and iPod, but in reality a podcast can be played back on any computer or device that supports the MP3 format. To fully take advantage of "enhanced" podcasts you may need to use an iPod or other specific mobile device, but in general any MP3 player will do. There are several desktop software packages available to listen to podcasts on your personal computer. The cross platform (and free) iTunes from Apple provides a very stable and feature rich environment for podcast playback.