January 2008 — Features

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Building a Better Podcast

by Matt Villano

Just as National Public Radio uses music to transition between segments, so too do the very best podcasts boast musical interludes notifying listeners that one topic is ending and another is about to begin. Bob Sprankle, technology integrator at Maine's Wells-Ogunquit Community School District, likens these snippets of music to the ginger provided between courses at a sushi restaurant—filler that helps to cleanse the palate as users pause to reflect on one offering before moving on to the next.

"It's like a marker or a signal that says, 'Hey, time to move on,'" says Sprankle, who created podcasts himself for years before being promoted to district technology integrator. "This tiny addition can go a long way to making a podcast user-friendly."

Because artists own the copyright to most music, selecting music that doesn't warrant permission to incorporate into a podcast can be tricky. It behooves technology coordinators, then, to provide educators with safe places to grab their tunes. Sites that abound with these royalty-free sounds and jingles include Soundzabound, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, and The Music Bakery.

Edit Wisely

As tempting as it might be for teachers to edit speaking errors as their students are recording a podcast, it generally is better to record first and edit later, keeping disruptions to a minimum and forcing students to stay on task. When teachers do have to edit, they should check files for length, as few K-12 listeners have the patience to sit through more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time.

"If your podcast is for other teachers," says Kathy Schrock, technology administrator at Nauset Public Schools in Orleans, MA, "that's about the only time I'd say it's acceptable to publish something 30 minutes or longer. If you want students to sit through the podcast in one sitting, it needs to be under 15 minutes and you must edit wisely."

To edit, most educators use Apple's popular GarageBand— which comes free with Macs—and Audacity, also free. Another popular software tool is VoiceThread, which offers free premium accounts to educators and unlimited bandwidth, and lets students comment from home, via audio or text, about pictures and documents.

Part and parcel of the editing process is selecting a name, and in the world of podcasting, names are critical. Because most listeners search podcasts on the internet, a clever name can be the difference between catching the eye—and then the ear—of a prospective audience member and, well, losing that person to something else. Good names usually incorporate the school mascot or something special about a hometown. A podcast about New York City, for instance, might be called "Bytes of the Big Apple."