Pusing Podcasting in Higher Ed

[theperfectsong]

I just gave a presentation on podcasting at a conference in Hershey PA for the College and University Public Relations Association of PA. It was standing room only.
I talked about our Mansfield University podcasts and how I made podcasting our marketing thrust for this year, doing two radio commercials that ran throughout Pennsylvania and NYS, as well as print ads in magazines, billboards and even busines cards!
The campaign has also included being interviewed by several magazines and national newsletters related to higher education admissions and marketing. I've been continually surprised at how little other PR and media folks know about podcasting. The standard answer is a puzzled, "Oh, that has something to do with the iPod, right?
Anyway, hopefully my efforts will help not only Mansfield but the podcasting field in general. Just thought I'd share the news.

[theperfectsong]

Guess I should learn to proof better.

[TheBiblePodClass]

That is an excellent idea. I hope your effort produce much fruit. One thing to help push the concept of podcasting is to bundle it with the concept of eLearning.

eLearning emcompasses quite a bit including reading, writing, seeing and hearing. I believe educational podcasters could push podcasts as the "distributed audo component" of eLearning.

My site kind of stinks, but it is what I can do at the moment.

http://www.thebiblepodclass.com

On my site I create a web version of a powerpoint for each show, this will supply the visual aspects and even reading aspects of learning. Also through my RSS feed I push a PDF file of the slide where a student could take notes if they desired. But of course the best part of the whole process is the podcast or "the audio component of the eLeaning environment".

The biggest fear I have read from educators is that students will skip class and wait for the podcast. But that problem can be solved in the future.

The best part to podcasting is that for less than $100 a year one can get started or experiment and for $1,000 someone could produce a very professional, educational, and entertaining podcast.

When I discuss podcasting, I always try to say something like

"....Podcasting, or an internet radio...."
"....an online audio feed, or podcast...."
"....weekly online radio program for your computer..."

I think it will be a year or two even more before we could say podcast and the genreal public has an idea of what that really entails.

[theperfectsong]

Thanks for the nice feedback. Yes, I've heard the same fear from professors
that students won't come to class if they have a podcast. There are fears with every new technology.
Offering a bundle, though, is a good idea. I like the way you've designed your site.
And yes, I think it will be another year or two before there is widespread knowledge and acceptance of podcasting in education, although I've read several articles about grade school teachers having their students create their own podcasts. This tells me that it will be a part of those students' lives from then on.
Podcasting will continue to grow as people learn about it and get creative with it.

[bionicgenius]

I have a friend who's an instructor for the University of Phoenix online. We were both wrapping-up the day after work, abd he said that it was time to log-into his class.

Being the uber-multimedia enthusiast, I thought I would look-in to witness the experience. To my suprise, he was using CHAT and email.

CHAT & FLIPPIN' EMAIL!? That blew me away. I know that bandwidth limitations would prohibit a super hi-end solution, but when you think of ONLINE, and you PAY MORE for the University of Phoenix than a typical State school, don't you expect Hi-Tech?

Me thinks so too.