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Podcasting is a relatively new technology that continues to grow in popularity in educational settings. Being able to review recorded lectures and other course materials provides students with the ability to work at their own pace. It extends classroom boundaries and offers students more flexibility to juggle competing interests and tasks. Podcasting provides faculty with new resources and ways to design and enhance course curriculum. Required assignments and lectures could be posted online to optimize learning opportunities and better utilize valuable class time.

Podcasting Options for faculty:
Faculty currently have two products to choose from, when looking to create and deliver their podcasts. They are Tegrity Campus 2.0 (Currently in pilot phase and restricted to 25 instructors during the Spring 2008 semester) and Wimba Voice Podcaster.

Please note: Registration for the Spring 2008 pilot is now closed. Last minute spots may be available. Please contact Vishal Kurup at kurupv@umkc.edu for additional information.

Tegrity Campus 2.0

Tegrity Campus 2.0 although in its pilot phase, is UMKC's podcasting tool of choice. Instructors create a recording of their course via the Tegrity interface. Recorded lectures can include both audio and video of the instructor's actions on his or her computer screen. Recordings are automatically given chapter headings based on instructor slide changes (in powerpoint) and application switching (e.g. instructor switches from powerpoint to a word document on their computer screen). Tegrity also creates visual indexes for each chapter, which makes lecture navigation easy. Instructors and their students can then revisit their lectures using one of the following methods: 1. Stream the recordings online using the Tegrity Viewer 2. Download the recordings to their computer 3. Subscribe to the audio (only)podcasts via RSS using a podcast aggregator such as iTunes or Juice Tegrity (+)Pluses 1. Multiple methods for students and faculty to access course recordings. 2. Allows students to revisit lectures in audio and video formats. 3. Can create enhanced podcasts 4. No limit to length of files. Extended recordings will increase the processing and upload times. 5. Allows the instructor to generate reports on viewing, downloads etc. 6. Integrated with Blackboard. Tegrity (-)Minuses 1. Requires installation of Tegrity software 2. Podcasts in Tegrity are audio only. Students can however view the video recordings by either streaming or downloading them to their computer. 3. Does not allow podcasts or mp3s created in an external software application to be uploaded directly to the Tegrity server.

WIMBA Podcaster

The Wimba Podcaster supports basic podcasting (audio only). It is one of the six Wimba Voice Tools now available within Blackboard.  Wimba Voice Podcaster is very simple to use. It allows faculty to create audio podcasts up to 20 minutes long, or to upload existing .mp3, .wav, or .spx files for podcast distribution. Instructors can create fun and engaging course exercises by opening up the Podcaster to allow students to post their own vocal messages. Any course user can easily subscribe with one click on the Podcaster interface. Wimba (+)Pluses 1. Simple to use. 2. Allows instructors to upload existing mp3 or wav file recordings made with an alternate software. Wimba (-)Minuses 1. Podcasts are limited to 20 minutes (to ensure they are error-free) 2. Podcasts are audio only. 3. Does not support enhanced podcasts. 4. Does not have the ability to generate reports.

Recommended Downloads

We recommend that all users download some type of pod-catching or podcast aggregating software to manage their course podcasts. There are several free podcast aggregators available on the net. Here are two we recommend: iTunes - Apple's all in one music management tool & podcast aggregator. Widely used and free. Juice - A great free pod-catcher with tons of features and customization.

Questions: If you have any questions about podcasting at UMKC or just have a technical question, please feel free to email the podcasting team at kurupv@umkc.edu.