Becoming a Millennial

190. Learning through podcasts

Over the past weeks I have been listening to several podcasts which have been very helpful in becoming aware of new tools and understanding current trends and technologies.

Cranky Geeks w/ John C. Dvorak is a weekly 50-minute video podcast.  Dvorak and invited guests discuss what has happened during the week in the world of technology.

DL.TV w/ Roger Chang and Robert Herron is another weekly 50-minute video podcast.  Their program is more of a "show n tell" where they actually demonstrate new software, gadgets, etc.

SlashDot Review w/ Andrew McCaskey is a daily 15-minute audio podcast bringing tech news.

EdTech 101 w/ Brian Dvorak is a 5-15 minute audio podcast (occasionally video) specifically geared toward educators.  Each episode highlights one technology.

EdTech Weekly w/ Jennifer Maddrell, John Shinker, Jeff Lebow is a weekly 30-45 minute audio podcast geared toward K-12 educators.

I have been listening to these podcasts on my laptop using iTunes.  Within iTunes you can go the the podcast area, enter the podcast name in the search box and they will come up.

189. IE 7.0 features you may have missed

Many of you are probably now using Internet Explorer 7.0, and if you are like me you probably haven't taken the time to explore some of it's most basic features. 

Take 5 minutes to watch this video and you will be glad you did. 

This video came from a set of podcasts I have been watching called "EdTech 101" by Brian C. Dvorak.  You can go to iTunes to subscribe or directly to the EdTech101.com site.  The episodes are short, 5-15 minutes in length, but very informative for educators.

164. Blackboard e-Portfolios (An Interview)

Bill Vilberg, Assoc. Director of Instructional Advancement at Miami University (FL), contacted me the other day.  A mutual friend from Blackboard had given him my name.  Bill is the chief Blackboard person at Miami University and is doing something creative with his Blackboard Faculty Support Group blog.  Each week he records an interview and posts it to his blog. 

We set up a time last week and he interviewed me for 45 minutes over the phone.  He used Skype on his end (so the phone call was free) and I used my office phone.  In places it is a bit scratchy but overall the recording quality is pretty good.

Click on the above link to his blog if you would like to listen to our conversation.  We talked about the Bb e-portfolios that we have set up for every student at Taylor, as well as some of the Web 2.0 technologies that are impacting the teaching and learning environment. 

You can browse the Taylor e-portfolio catalog by going to http://courses.taylor.edu ... login using username=guest and password=welcome ... select the Courses tab ... and choose the appropriate category (e.g. 2006 Senior Portfolios).  We are still a year or two away from fully facilitating this to the point where every graduating senior will have completed his/her portfolio.  The infrastructure, however, is all in place supported by our Educational Technology Center and Career Development Office.

If you want to take a peak at a student portfolio, click on the link below.  My son, Neal, graduated in January 2006 with a Communications Degree and a Digital Graphics Minor.  Use the same guest login as described above:  https://courses.taylor.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=%2Fbin%2Fcommon%2Fcourse.pl%3Fcourse_id%3D_3593_1

144. ETC Podcast

Here you see Rachel (one of our student workers) and me recording our Nov. 6 ETC podcast.  Rachel played the host and I was the guest interviewee.  There were three others around the table, not pictured here.  Each of us had a microphone so that later in the editing process the audio could be balanced.  Music clips and sound effects were also added to spice up the podcast.

But you really don't need the sophisticated recording equipment.  In my previous post I talked about Quinn White podcasting with his group of six graders.  They just used the Olympus MP3 recorder with a $20 external microphone sitting on the table in the middle of the group.  It picked up everybody remarkably well.  For their first two podcasts they didn't do any editing.  They simply recorded their conversation around the table and then posted it using RSS Buddy.  Quick and easy.

143. Academic Podcasting

I'm involved in a couple successful (I think) podcasts.  Our ETC team, headed up by Steve Curtis and Ben Ranfeld, has published four episodes on iTunes. "The educational, on-the-job, and personal experiences of these staffers are fleshed out in a humorous engaging way.  You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll email them to try to get free stuff."  Check it out on iTunes.  Simply enter etcpodcast in the search box.

Quinn White, one of our TU education professors, has teamed up with a group of six grade girls in producing The Flying Dino Girls YA Book Club.  Their first episode discusses Eragon.  It's pretty fun to hear these girls give their insights and critiques.  This podcast is also available on iTunes.  Enter ya books and you'll find it.

BTW, if you haven't downloaded iTunes yet, you can go to Apple's website to get it. Here is the link.

114. Podcasting at Kansas State University

Several of our TU faculty are beginning to experiment with the podcasting of lecture material.  Kanas State University has announced plans to convert some 6,000 course recordings into "enhanced podcasts" that combine audio with slides and annotation. Many classes are now set up to automatically record lectures and convert them to an iPod-friendly format.  Read more.

106. ETC Podcast

Back in July I discovered RSS Buddy, a utility to create RSS feeds for a podcast.  This week Steve Curtis and I used RSS Buddy to publish our first Educational Technology Center podcast.  Steve and some of our ETC staff & students have been talking about publishing a regular podcast featuring a wide range of topics. 

Several days ago they recorded the first episode and Steve edited the MP3 file down to 35 minutes.  We used RSS Buddy to create the RSS feed and then submitted it to iTunes.  Within a couple days it was approved and appeared in the iTunes catalog under Education/Technology. The name is ETCpodcast.

To subsribe to the podcast open iTunes ... Music Store ... Podcasts ... and enter "ETCpodcast" in the Search box ...  You'll enjoy it.

96. Podcasts and Shopping

I enjoy shopping with my wife … I really do. And yet, there are times when I need a little help. My trusty Olympus player has been a great companion for those hours outside the fitting room.

Prior to leaving on our trip I downloaded from iTunes a number of Patrick Norton’s DL.TV podcast episodes. You need to be somewhat of a techie to appreciate these podcasts, but this has been one of my sources this summer for keeping up on the world of technology.

Yesterday between Kohls, Penny’s, and Christopher & Banks I learned about BlueRay, duo-core, P3, Bluetooth, VOIP, the AMD & ATI merger, and all kinds of other good stuff.

There are podcasts on every subject imaginable. You, too, could do a little multitasking on your next shopping trip.

Carry this one step further. Could we package content for our students so that they could do the same with their iPods on their next outing? Schools like University of Michigan and Stanford are experimenting with this and finding it effective.

88. RSS Buddy -- What I've Been Looking For

You may recall back in June that I was trying to figure out podcasting.  How do you create an audio file and get it into iTunes so the world (or at least a few family members and friends) can download it to their MP3 players?

I learned how to write the XML code for the RSS feed, but who wants to write code?  I knew there must be a simpler method.  Today I found the tool I was looking for -- Podcast RSS Buddy for Windows. 

Disclaimer:  I have only played with RSS Buddy for one afternoon.  I don't know if it has flaws.  I don't know if there are better tools out there.  But it has a nice tutorial video, has a free trial period, is inexpensive if you decide to purchase it ($19.00), it's easy to use, ... and it hasn't crashed my system yet.  You basically fill in some blanks in a web form and it generates the code.  Just what I was looking for!

The RSS file that it creates complies with the iTunes specifications, so your podcasts can be posted into iTunes' catalog for all the world to access.  I'll keep you posted as I get more familiar with RSS Buddy.

BTW, you Apple users will want to use Garage Band for creating your podcasts.  It is the slickest tool out there for creating and publishing podcast.  One piece of software does it all.

40. Two Amazing Tools

Two weeks ago a faculty friend asked if it was possible to record an audio stream and save it as an MP3 file. I said I didn't know.  The next day another faculty colleague emailed me with the solution.  It's a free download called Freecorder.  I tried it out today.  It records any audio that comes through your computer (from your CD, from an audio stream or podcast, from your Skype phone call).  Amazing! 

Are their copyright issues?  Definitely, but I'm not so sure they are any different than when the photocopy machine first came out. Our students are certainly using these tools.  We need to be aware of what is out there ... and take advantage of these tools ourselves when it is appropriate to do so.

I just learned about another free download from one of my staff members.  It is called MP3 Splitter.  If you have a long MP3 file this little utility will break it up into chunks.  You specify the size (e.g. I want each chunk 5 minutes in length) and it will automatically create the files.  This would be useful if you have a 20-minute commute to work and wanted to convert your hour-long podcasts into 20-minute segments. Or, if you wanted to email a large MP3 file to a friend you could break it up into smaller files.

37. Streaming Media Task Force

I am part of a task force that is investigating the use of streaming media here at Taylor.  We met for the first time two weeks ago.  We meet again this morning, and will meet every two weeks through the summer and fall.  On our campus there are demands for streaming coming from every direction -- admissions, athletics, academics, resident life, ... How do we facilitate all of this?

You may have heard about Apple's iTunes U.  Apple is offering to universities free hosting for the streaming of academic content -- half a terabyte of server space (that's 500 GB!)  Yesterday I talked to an Apple rep on the phone for half an hour, and then she sent me a formal application.  We'll discuss it more in our meeting today.  Some high-profile schools such as Stanford and University of Michigan have been early partners with Apple on this venture. 

I have been so impressed with the cross-platform functionality of iTunes.  Apple seems to finally be "getting it", that if they support the Windows world it will be to their advantage and everybody else's.  Now that Macs are being shipped with Intel processors it is really getting interesting.

To TU faculty -- if you have an idea of how you might use streaming media (either audio or video) in any of your courses please let me know.  If we were to go with a service such as iTunes U we need to document a carefully thought-out plan.

36. The Dynamic Nature of the Web -- Great for Fixing Things

When I listened to my four podcast recordings (see entry 32) I knew the volume was too low.  Today I was thinking about re-recording them from scratch. Then I remembered Audacity, the free sound editing software that I heard about at the CCCU conference.

I downloaded Audacity ... installed it ... opened the first MP3 file ... highlighted the clip (it looks like a wave pattern) ... went to a menu item and amplified it (the waves were now double in height)... saved the file back to my web folder.  I repeated the process for the other three MP3 files.  I was done!  Nothing else had to be touched.  It only took 15 minutes from start to finish. 

If you now go to iTunes and search for Gary Friesen's Becoming a Millennial Podcast it will open the same RSS feed on our web server which will play the new MP3 files.  And you'll now be able to actually hear them because the volume has been doubled.  They're still not very engaging, but keep in mind this is just a test :)

The above illustrates the beauty of the web.  It is all dynamic. You fix one piece and everything is fixed.

33. Multiple Casts Under a Single Pod

Yesterday I successfully got one podcast posted in iTunes.  I wasn't sure how to add additional audio files to my RSS feed.  That was my challenge for today.  It's amazing what a simple search in Google will produce.  I entered something like "RSS feed" and I quickly found a web site that gave me the information I needed. 

Remember the XML file I was working on (entry 24)?  For each additional feed I simply added a block of 8 lines.  You programmers will eat this up (Angie, are you hanging in there?).  The rest of you will say, "There's got to be an easier way!"  I'm sure there is, and that's my next challenge -- to find a piece of software to automatically create this RSS code for me.  I just want to fill in some boxes on a form and let the computer figure out all the syntax.

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>Gary Friesen Becoming a Millennial Podcast</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/</link>
  <description>A podcast of Gary's foray into the digital world of today's youth</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
   <copyright>Copyright 2006 Gary Friesen</copyright>
   <lastBuildDate>Mon, 26 Jun 2006 08:00:00 EDT</lastBuildDate>
 
  <item>
<title>Podcast #4</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast4.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
<enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary4.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #3</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast3.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary3.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #2</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast2.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary2.mp3" length="1044480" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Sat, 24 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

  <item>
  <title>Podcast #1</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast1.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experiment investigating the possibilities for faculty at Taylor.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary1.mp3" length="1441792" type="audio/mpeg"/>
  <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>

</channel>
</rss>

32. My Podcast Made it into iTunes!

Last night I received an email from iTunes saying my podcast was approved and would appear in iTunes within a few hours.  I checked but couldn't find it.  This morning I woke up early and decided to check again.  Sure enough, it was posted.  It's not the most exciting podcast in the world.  What I did was record (using my Olympus MP3 player) a couple entries from my blog, beginning with day 1.

To find my podcast open iTunes ... select Music Store ... Podcasts ... enter "Becoming a Millennial" in the search box ... Then click on the Subscribe button.

28. One Step Closer to a Successful Podcast -- Found the Bug!

Evan, our TU webmaster, helped me figure out the problem with my XML code (see entry 24).  He pointed me to a website called FeedValidator that checks RSS code for errors.  It showed I had a wrong date format in two of my lines. It was easy to fix.

I went back to iTunes and submitted my podcast.  iTunes puts it through some kind of a screening process.  They sent me an immediate email letting me know they had received my submission.  They will notify me within a few days whether or not they will post it on their site.  Stay tuned ...

24. Podcasting -- Trying to Figure Out the Middle Piece

I'm still trying to create my first podcast, but I've been having some trouble figuring out the "middle piece".  On the front end I can record the MP3 file using my Olympus digital recorder.  This is simple and anybody can learn how to do it (see entry 12).

<<  The middle piece involves creating an XML file that will function as the RSS feed to supply my MP3 file to iTunes.  I created such a file (revising some sample code I found on the web) and saved it to my TU personal web folder, along with the MP3 file.  However, when I ran the XML file it gave me an error so I must not have done something right. >>

On the tail end (if I can get the XML file to work right) I have figured out how to submit it to iTunes so anyone can access my podcast.  I open iTunes ... select Music Store ... Podcasts ... Submit a Podcast ... and copy in the URL to my XML file (the pocast RSS feed).

But something is not working, so I'll have to get some help from our campus webmaster.  So there you have my little discourse on RSS, XML, URL, and MP3.  I could have added PWF (personal web folder) but that would have made it confusing. 

From what I've written above it sounds like you have to be a programmer to do this type of thing.  You don't.  There are utilities to automatically create the XML file.  But I have done quite a bit of programming in the past (BASIC, Pascal, C++) so I am having fun trying to make some sense out of stuff like this:

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>Becoming a Millennial Podcast</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/</link>
  <description>A podcast of Gary’s blog describing his foray into the digital world of youth</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>Copyright 2006 Gary Friesen</copyright>
  <lastBuildDate>Sunday, June 18, 2006</lastBuildDate>
<item>
  <title>Becoming a Millennial Podcast #1</title>
  <link>http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/podcast1.xml</link>
  <description>This is an experimental podcast. I'm hoping to be able to help TU faculty begin to post their own podcasts.</description>
  <enclosure url="http://faculty.taylor.edu/grfriesen/rss/gary1.mp3" length="1441792" type="audio/mpeg" />
  <pubDate>Sunday, June 18, 2006</pubDate>
  <category>Education</category>
  </item>
  </channel>
  </rss>

21. The Power of Audio

You've just figured out what a blog is ... and along comes something new, the vlog.  What in the world is a vlog? 

Thursday night I drove down to Indy to pick up some friends at the airport. I took along my Olympus MP3 player and listened to a podcast I had downloaded earlier through iTunes.  It's a weekly podcast called TWiT (This Week in Technology).  Basically what I listened to was an 80-minute "free for all" where 8-10 people were sitting around a table at a computer convention in San Francisco.

But it was fascinating.  These were some of today's leading technology innovators discussing "vlogging", which is basically blogging using video. Yes, at times they were all talking on top of each other, but I was drawn in as they discussed the merits of different media platforms. You can watch a movie on the big screen, or view it on your 32" TV in your living room, or sit in front of your 17" computer monitor reading someone's blog, or take out your video iPod with its 2.5" screen and watch a vlog -- each is a very different experience producing different types of engagement.

Many of us have probably thought that pure audio (e.g. radio) would be going away in favor of living color video.  But as I sat in my car and listened to 80 minutes of audio I realized that this medium can be very effective.  My earbuds brought crystal-clear audio right between my ears and I felt I was in the middle of that meeting in San Francisco.  And the beauty of it was that I could be fully engaged in this event as I drove down I-69, something you couldn't (or shouldn't!) do with video.

What if we as educators could produce this type of content that would engage our students as they drive home on spring break or toss the frisbee back and forth on the lawn outside their residence hall?

14. Ripping My First CD

Neal was home this weekend.  He came up from his new job in Florida to attend a funeral and a wedding.  Both involved his close friends who were involved in the April 26 accident.  He is doing well.

This afternoon before leaving for the Indy airport he asked if I would rip a few CDs to load onto his iPod.  He said I could then talk about it on my blog.  The kids are giving me some pretty good ribbing about my blog. 

So I opened iTunes and popped in his CD. Never having done this before (which embarrasses me a bit, since I'm supposedly a tech guy) I wasn't sure what to expect.  It couldn't have been easier.  iTunes recognized the CD, quickly added all the song titles to the Library, and then I told it to copy all the songs.  It took about 10 minutes to "rip" the CD, meaning to convert each file from the audio format to the Apple AAC format.  Then we plugged Neal's iPod into the USB port and within seconds the entire album was downloaded to his iPod.  He was ready for his trip!

When I got home from the airport run, I tried using both Windows Media Player and Musicmatch Jukebox to see how a CD was ripped using Windows software.  The process was similar to iTunes, very easy and intuitive.  Windows Media Player saved all the songs in WMA format, and MusicMatch Jukebox saved them in MP3 format.  I'll probably use Jukebox in the future because it saves them in the format I want. (Note additional information about Windows Media Player in Entry #16)

12. My First Attempt to Record a Podcast

I'm quite certain that podcasting of lecture content is going to be a new delivery method for our faculty.  Entire lectures can be recorded (easily, I think) and posted for review purposes.  Or, a professor could provide supplementary materials in a podcast.  In fact, one of our chemistry professors for years has provided his students audio materials on cassette tape and CD to help them master difficult concepts.  This could all be podcasted.
(Note -- Graphic from eWeek June 5, 2006)

Yesterday I gave it a try.  I took out my trusty Olympus recorder and began recording.  For content I decided to read my blog entries, beginning from day 1.  Recording is tricky. I found myself appreciating media people who can read a script without stumbling.  I guess with a podcast the key is not to be too much of a perfectionist -- otherwise you find yourself constantly starting over.

I created four short audio files.  My recorder saves them in the WMA format (Windows Media).  The sound quality is great, very clean and clear.  I needed to convert them to MP3 so folks can listen to them on any type of player.  I thought for sure Windows Media Player could do that, but I looked through all the menus and it doesn't seem to have that capability. 

I then tried iTunes and got a pleasant surprise. I went to File ... Add File to Library ... When I selected my first three-minute recording, it recognized that it was in the WMA format and asked if I wanted to convert it to MP3.  Why YES, that's exactly what I was wanting to do!  Very quickly I had all four files in MP3 format.  Mission accomplished.

Now, how to get them into a podcast so others can access them?  I emailed our TU webmaster for a little help with this.  I'll keep you posted ...

10. Can a Download From iTunes Play on My Portable MP3 Player?

Today I played around with media formats.  Apple's iTunes web site has a huge library of downloadable music and podcasts.  ALL will play on my PC using the iTunes software.  However, I knew that not all would play on my new (non-Apple) Olympus MP3 player.

I discovered that most of the iTunes music (99 cents each) is in the AAC or m4a format and will not play on my player.  Is it possible to convert these to MP3?  If you know of a way, I'd be interested.

Most of the iTunes podcasts are free.  Many of them are already in the MP3 format so they will play on my player.  Some of the AAC formatted podcasts can be converted to MP3 by right-clicking on the file. Other AAC podcasts are protected and can't be converted. 

Anyway ... I was happy to discover that a good share of the iTunes podcasts could be played on my new player.

2. My First Project -- Tackling iTunes

Saturday I installed iTunes and spent a good part of the day playing with its many features.  What a great tool!  I knew you could purchase $.99 music, but I had no idea all the other features built into this software. 

The two features that most fascinated me were the huge library of podcasts and the large selection of internet radio stations.  I had played a bit with vTuner several years ago to access internet radio but really hadn't pursued it much in recent years.  I do like music but just don't generally make the effort to get something playing.

I'm interested in podcasts because I'm looking for ways in which our professors can record lecture material for playback by the students.  This type of technology could be used by traditional students for review, summer school Blackboard classes for primary delivery of content, and also by Taylor's new Center for Global Engagement to deliver the Taylor education to any region of the world.