Report of Podcasting, Music, and Audio

 “A podcast is an ongoing digital audio program that releases regular ‘episodes’ that listeners subscribe to via a feed.” (P. 199) It could be either streamed directly in real time on computer or downloaded automatically as soon as it was released if it was subscribed by listeners who have preset relative operations on a ‘Podcatcher’ such as iTunes or Juice Receiver. In China, people who are interested in podcasting almost use a free online audio sharing platform named ‘Himalayan’ to post their completed podcasting and subscribe what they want to listen as well.

  Compare to the traditional ways for context presenting purpose such as paper writing or infographics, podcasting dose more effective on accepting information needed and acquire knowledge conveniently which means people can access to this vocal processing easily without any temporal or special constrains as long as they have a smartphone or computer which is connected to the internet. Of course, they should know how to use relative ‘podcatchers’ first, and it’s not a big deal by following the comprehensive tips provided by dedicated platforms.

  For educational purpose, “podcasting could be highly effective in promoting collaborative, socially constructivist learning environments where students build and share knowledge and opinion.” (P.186) Podcasting performs perfectly on asking students to identify a problem and to find a way of answering it. And students can also develop a wide variety of skills in the process of planning, creating and publishing a podcast to answer a problem such as technical skills about how to record, edit and distribute digital audio, project management skills, social skills, communication skills, intellectual skills. In a word, podcast could practice students’ different relative skills in collaborative troubleshooting. So how to plan, create, put various coherent, focused digital audios together into an entire podcast and publish it is fairly important.

  At first, teachers should conceptualize podcasts needed and develop a format for podcasts that students would do later. For example, teachers should explain students concisely and help them understand what’s the main focus of the predictable podcast, what are the essential targets, which kind of indicated audience and decide the format of podcasts such as hosted panel discussions or class report according to the real teaching demands.

  Then students should work on their podcasts by following what teachers demanded promptly. Before they started their podcasting projects, they should work out a detailed working sheet include context or interview plan first. Then, they should choose a suitable and quite location where is more easily to control the ambient noise to host a high quality recording. They also need voice recording equipment with a fairly large recording capacity or memory, headphones that allow them to listen for irritating background noises that might need to be edited out, microphones that will be adequate for making purpose and a computer with audio editing software like garage band, adobe audition or audacity. Of course, they need a platform to publish their achieved podcasts.

  Thanks for the rapid development of computer technology, it’s easier for students to use audio editing software for essential manipulations. Students can highlight and edit certain sections, amplify quieter bits, insert silences, add effects, fade in or out, and accomplish many other feats of digital modification to their recording. By the way, it’s better for students to edit from a copy on the computer, save work regularly during the editing process, create a backup of what they have recorded and keep the original file somewhere safe so they can edit materials again if something unforeseen happens like software snafus.

  Different from America, Chinese people can download the music without payment for listening or non-commercial purpose because of the particular condition in China, so teachers won’t worry about the issues of copyright or privacy for educational usage. But it’s necessary to extend thanks to the original author at the end of the podcast.