Audio Clips for Classes - an innovative use of technology supporting teaching and learning

[[What is this thing?]]\nTiddlyWiki

For doing simple and brief audio clips designed for classes, which is what we've discussed in this material, don't worry about these other things. If you want to read more about some of the more advanced podcasting things, you can read more at:\n* [[All About RSS|http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.php]]\n* [[XML|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xml]]

The final step in preparing and using audio clips in class is to evaluate your experiences and the perspectives of your learners. Given that this discussion has focused on using audio clips in classes (it could be any level of class, but the author is in higher education), the intrinsic drive to research, evaluate, and inquire about new initiatives is presumed present and active.\n\nEvaluation is a crucial step. Consider questions you should ask of yourself, those you should ask of students, and those for which data can be obtained from alternate sources.\n\nFor yourself, you may wish to keep track of the time you spend on preparing audio clips compared to the amount of time you spend in doing narrative (or other) responses to students. Consider your reaction to preparing the audio clips. What would you advise others who might be considering this?\n\nQuestions you might ask of students include:\n* How often did you use the audio clips - each week, at the end of each semester?\n* Where did you use the audio clips - at home, on your commute, at school, other?\n* Did you experience any difficulties in accessing, downloading, or using the audio clips? If so, what were they?\n* How valuable do you believe the audio clips were?\n* What recommendations do you have for using audio clips in this or other classes?\n* What recommendations do you have for improving the podcasts?\n\nIt is important to conduct formative evaluations of the audio clips as the term progresses and not just wait till the end of the semester and perform a summative evaluation. A combination of Likert or other numerical scale questions as well as open-ended questions will help ensure depth and breadth in the evaluation.\n\nWork with your information technology (IT) support staff. They can assist you in reviewing statistics for use of your audio clips so that you have objective evidence of students' access. In the case of one faculty member who did a weekly brief audio clip of the week's discussion, he noted from reviewing the statistics that toward the end of the semester students tended to not download the podcasts as much. He therefore cut back on doing the audio clips, instead posting narrative material on the course discussion board.\n\nIf you opt to try audio clips in your class, be sure to prepare and deliver a presentation about its success, as well as a manuscript detailing the process and outcomes. Involve some students in this effort. Share your experiences so that others can build on what you've done!\n\nHere are some specific materials that provide a great deal of information about evaluating audio clips to make sure they are positive additions to the teaching and learning environment.\n[[Evaluating podcasts for teaching and learning]]\n[[Formative evaluation of podcasts in dentistry]]

[[Evaluating podcasts for teaching and learning|http://recap.ltd.uk/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=190]] - © 2006 RECAP Limited. This work is licensed under a [[Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License|http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/]].\n\n1. Criteria for evaluating the quality of a podcast\nSome aspects to consider for evaluating the quality of podcasts as a teaching and learning resource.\n\na) A podcast could be judged as high quality where:\n• The topic is presented in an interesting and imaginative way\n• The content is well structured and organised\n• Sources for further information (websites and email) are included\n• Effective use is made of the presenter, discussions and interviews\n• Vocals are clear without background noise or popping\n• Presenters are clearly heard above background music and effects\n• Any audio effects are used to enhance the content and presentation\n• Smooth edits are evident in transitions between segments\n\nb) A podcast could be judged as satisfactory quality where:\n• The topic is presented in an appropriate and relevant way\n• The content is suitably structured and organised\n• Further information (websites and email) is referred to \n• Effective use is made of the presenter, discussions and interviews\n• Vocals are audible and without distortion\n• Presenters can be heard above background music and effects\n• Audio editing means smooth transitions between segments\n\nc) A podcast could be judged as poor quality where:\n• The topic is presented in a tedious and uninteresting way\n• The content is unstructured and disorganised\n• No sources for further information (websites and email) are included\n• Ineffective use is made of the presenter, discussions and interviews\n• Vocals are inaudible or distorted\n• Presenters cannot be heard above background music and effects\n• Any audio effects detract from the content and presentation\n• Rough audio edits are evident in transitions between segments\n\n2. Criteria for evaluating the suitability of enhanced podcasts\nUsing an enhanced podcast rather than audio podcast for a learning resource is likely to be considered:\n\na) Very valuable where:\n• high quality graphical images enrich the topic and convey stimulating visual material\n• the timings of image transitions are well matched to the audio content\n• hyperlinks are clearly displayed and relates to the topic's content and material\n• linked website pages provide good quality material and information for learners\n• chapters are clear, concise and closely match the topic’s structure and presentation\n\nb) Appropriate where:\n• graphical images are of satisfactory quality and match the topic's content\n• image transitions are timed to complement the audio\n• hyperlinks are relevant to the topic's content and material\n• linked websites provide additional information and topic material for learners\n• chapter titles are meaningful, matching the topic's structure and presentation\n\nc) Inappropriate where:\n• the quality of graphical images is inadequate and unrelated to the topic's content\n• timings of image transitions occur in a haphazard way, unrelated to the audio\n• hyperlinks are irrelevant to the topic's material\n• linked websites do not provide any additional material for learners\n• chapter titles are misleading and unrelated to the topic's structure and presentation\n\n3. Prompts for considering podcasts for personalised learning\nAspects to consider when considering whether to use a podcast as a resource to support personalise learning.\n\na) Pedagological questions include:\n• Will the podcast make a positive contribution to the learning objectives for the subject/topic?\n• Would using a podcast match the learning styles of identified individuals or groups of learners and promote independent learning?\n• To what extent would using a podcast help learners acquire relevant knowledge, skills and understanding?\n• Should the resource be seen as essential for an optional activity for all children and young people?\n• How far would the podcast be useful as a supplementary, support or extension activity for different groups of learners?\n\nb) e-Learning questions include:\n• To what extent would the use of a podcast aggravate or combat the increasing digital divide amongst learners?\n• Would access to online sources for the podcast mean that the esafety of learners needs to be carefully considered?\n• How confident will learners be in applying their ICT knowledge, skills and experience in using podcasts?\n• Do learners have access to appropriate guidance and support within the educational setting they are expected to operate?\n\nc) Technical questions include:\n• Is there good access to broadband for using podcasts online?\n• Does the configuration of a school/college/university network allow for online use/downloading podcasts?\n• Do computers have the appropriate software and "plug-ins" to download and "play" podcasts?\n• Is there appropriate hardware installed to support efficient playback of audio-visual (AV) material, including podcasts?

An ever-growing list of FAQs for the topic of using audio clips for classes.\n[[What do I need to do this?]]\n[[What will students need to listen to these?]]\n[[How much storage space will clips take?]]\n[[Do I need to be concerned with RSS feeds, XML files and other things that I see mentioned on some pages?]]

The EduCause Quarterly, Volume 29, Number 3, 2006 has an excellent article entitled: [[Podcasting Lectures: Formative evaluation strategies helped identify a solution to a learning dilemma|http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0634.asp?bhcp=1]] by Sarah Brittain, Pietrek Glowacki, Jared Van Ittersum, and Lynn Johnson. From their abstract:\n>At some point in their educations, students must learn copious amounts of information. To do this, they use a variety of well-known strategies such as study groups, note-taking services, and videotapes of lectures. In fall 2004, a group of first-year dental students at the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Dentistry asked to have all dental school lectures videotaped and recordings made available on a Web site. The students’ doubted their ability to accurately summarize in their notes the quantity of information presented in lectures. The students thought that reviewing a video recording of each lecture would help them better retain the biomedical information presented.\nSome important points from their article include:\n* Formative evaluation was deemed essential\n* They used two evaluation measures (self-reporting via survey and focus groups and records via server logs and statistics) out of four types described (tests and observations)\nThey delivered content in three different media forms:\n# audio (MP3)\n# audio synced with PowerPoint (MP4)\n# video (MP4)\nSurvey questions included:\n# Which audio or video format did you prefer using?\n# Which audio or video format did you use the most?\n# Did you use the online media as a review of the lectures you already attended or as a substitute to attending class?\n# Where did you primarily use the media files? (home, gym, on commute, at school, other)\n# What best describes when you acquired the media? (time from posting to download)\n# Did you find the system for accessing the media easy to use?\n# Do you feel the use of media had an effect on your exam grade?\n# Of your current classes, which would be most helpful to have classroom media for?\nSurvey results showed:\n* Audio-only was preferred and used at a much higher rate than the other two formats\n* Students reviewed lectures and did not use it to replace lecture attendance\n* Most students used the files at home\n* 25% downloaded the media as soon as it was available, but over 40% downloaded files closer to the relevant exam\nFocus group results showed:\n* students preferred a central location to download files\n* computers and iPods were the most frequently used playback devices\nFaculty were concerned about intellectual property. The authors noted that student desires for enhanced media in courses need to be balanced with faculty concerns and the cost to the institution in terms of staff time to record and post lectures.

If only audio is used, it's almost a one minute one megabyte rule. This is all dependent on the quality of your recording - it needs to be good enough, but not spectacular. So, record in mono and not in stereo!\n\nSo, if you have an audio clip that is two minutes 34 seconds in length (m:s = 2:34), then it would be about 2.3 MB in size. \n\nGiven that the size of most audio clips should be around 5 minutes in length, then you're looking at about 5 MB in size. \n\nIf you did a weekly audio clip and the class was 15 weeks in length, then you'd have around 75 minutes worth of audio clips, or a 75 MB file size.\n\nHow does this compare to something like, say, a CD-ROM? A CD-ROM can hold around 680 MB, which is about 9 times more than the above estimated full file size.\n\nSome web sites provide an estimate of one hour = 15 MB, which is much less than the one minute to one MB rule.\n\nIf these clips were to remain archived and accessible in perpetuity, then storage space might become more problematic. However, for the purposes described in this site, those of using brief audio clips to reinforce class content, provide a way to deliver late-breaking news, and other such brief things, you're likely not going to need to keep these materials posted and archived forever. The clips are more targeted to a specific constellation of students, events, and occurrences. Therefore, while it would be appropriate to keep them posted for a semester, more than that is likely not useful.

[[Plan]]\n[[Narrate]]\n[[Review and Edit]]\n[[Publish]]\n[[Evaluate]]

[[Audacity|http://audacity.sourceforge.net/]] is a free software program that can be downloaded to computers to capture audio clips. It is cross-platform and can be used on Windows Operating System (OS) or Macintosh OS computers.\n\nThe first step is to go to Audacity's download site, at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/, and download the current version.\n\nOnce you download and install Audacity, you need to also download the [[lame encoder|http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3]]. The lame encoder permits you to save files in mp3 format, making them playable on devices (such as PDAs and iPods and other players).\n\nHere are a couple of brief (3-5 minute) and excellent tutorials about using Audacity from [[SeeItDoItTV|http://www.seeitdoit.tv/]].\n* [[Audacity Tutorial One|http://www.seeitdoit.tv/freevideos/AUDIO_001.html]] - How to record your first podcast using Audacity.\n* [[Audacity Tutorial Two|http://www.seeitdoit.tv/freevideos/AUDIO_002.html]] - How to edit and enhance your audio (Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together and change the volume speed or pitch of a recording).\n\nOther tutorials for using Audacity - some people like certain tutorials, some like others. Explore and see which one best helps you!\n* [[Tutorial from How to Podcast|http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-tutorial.htm]]

[[Skype|http://www.skype.com]] is a free VoiP (Voice over internet Protocol) program. Users download the program to their computer and then may place a call to other computer users anywhere in the world - at no cost! Skype even offers the ability to //Skype Out// where a computer user dials from a computer to a standard telephone line (this feature has a cost associated with it).\n\nOne way that Skype may be used for audio clips is if you want to invite comments or interview someone at a distance. For example, in teaching informatics for healthcare I might want to interview a well-known nurse informaticist. I could have the students generate questions that they would like the "expert" to answer and then send those to the individual via email. You could then Skype the person (they would need to have Skype on their computer) and interview them. Consider who you'd like to introduce your students to in this manner!\n\n[[Recording Skype Conversations|http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-record-skype-conversations.html]] covers the steps to use in recording a conversation with someone else using Skype.

[[How to prepare audio clips for class]]\n[[How to use Audacity]]\n[[How to use Skype]]

In the 2005 trend paper on [[Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning|http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/jun2005/0506_trends]], Eva Kaplan Leiserson briefly describes podcasting and then offers a detailed description of the implications that digital (audio narrated) content has for learning. She provides a paragraph on each of the following topics - an excellent brief explanation of these points:\n* Assist auditory learners.\n* Provide another channel for material review.\n* Assist non-native speakers.\n* Provide feedback to learners.\n* Enable instructors to review training or lectures.\n* Replace full classroom or online sessions when content simply requires delivery.\n* Provide supplementary content or be part of a blended solution.\nThe paper highlights the efforts of [[Margaret Maag|http://www.m2hnursing.com/index.php]] (now Margaret Hansen), an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco’s School of Nursing, who has recorded her classroom lectures and posted them on a secure website since learning about podcasting from an Educause webinar in March 2005.

[[Supporting materials]]\n[[How to's]]\n[[FAQs]]

'Michigan State University prepared a brief web page on //Pedagogy and Techniques: Online Audio Course Content//. This website supports [[Sloan-C's effective practice highlighting West Virginia University's use of audio clips]] in its description of the importance and relevance of using audio clips in class. For instance, they noted that \n>voice conveys more human personality and emotion than text. It can be interesting and inspiring to actually hear the professor making a key point, or to know what a guest sounds like. \nIt is important to not replicate a one hour lecture in audio only ... that would be grueling and cruel and unusual punishment! As noted on the website:\n>Long audio puts students into a passive learning mode. Instead of long lectures, compact, scripted, highly produced short chunks may be more conducive to online learning.\nTheir faculty effective practice described how a faculty member posted an outline of lecture notes with brief audio clips embedded in the outline.

Audio clips are to radio what online videos are to television. Well-done audio clips take listeners into another space with the narrator. \n\nYou can have the very best content but, if you give no consideration to the importance of narration, your listeners (learners) may be disappointed and lose interest. \n\nAudio clips are not like face-to-face conversations. For one reason, in audio clips you do not have the accompanying non-verbals of either the faculty narrator or the learner listener, such as facial expressions, body stance, eye contact, etc... F2F conversations also have an immediacy and are bounded by time and space with 2 people interacting within that time, unlike audio clips where the narrator created the material for playback at any point selected by the learner. \n\nUnlike in F2F settings where astute faculty sense when learners are going other places (figuratively) while in class, online and asynchronous audio clips must provide an engaging, value added component to hold learners' attention.\n\nThe importance of considering your narration relates to several points about good speech:\n* creates contrast and variation (alleviates zoning out)\n* keeps focus on content and not on how something is said\n* how something is said contributes to the meanings of spoken phrases and sentences\nSome important components of narration include:\n* voice projection, which is concerned with:\n** volume - speak in a normal volume for conversation; don't yell and don't speak too softly\n** intonation - the pitch of the narration should rise and fall in speech to help enhance intended meaning; don't over-stress it or it will sound clownish\n** articulation - clearly articulate each word; don't mumble\n* personality, to include:\n** passion for the topic - we all can recall listening to two different individuals present on a similar topic, but you really remember the one presenter and not the other\n** personable and approachable - evidence, through voice projection and content, that follow-up questions and contact are appropriate\n** humor and humility - use as appropriate\nIt is vitally important to realize that your //presence// in the audio clip is as important as the content of material in the audio clip.

Successful audio clips require planning so that they are organized, thoughtfully prepared, and brief. It is more time consuming to be brief and organized than to just hook up a microphone and ramble. Yet if the clips are lengthy or unorganized, learners will not find them helpful and will likely stop listening to them.\n\nYour audioclips don't have to be perfect. If learners get something of value, if they feel as if they understand something better, if they feel better about themselves and their learning, then they'll consider your audioclip a success.\n\nYou need only 2 or 3 main points. Learners remember very little spoken information. Give 2 or 3 key points that will make a difference to them!\n\nSo, the first step in preparing an audio clip for class is to plan! Carefully consider how and why you are using an audio clip.\n* For what purpose are you using audio? \n** To enhance comprehension or understanding of key concepts?\n** To provide a "break" from you typing and learners' reading text responses?\n* Is the audio intended to supplement or replace what you currently do?\n** If supplemental, what value will be added by the audio? Supplemental means that you maintain what you're doing and are adding an additional source of content.\n** If the intent is to replace what you currently do, how is it that you know that audio will be either more efficient or more effective to communicate the content?\n* What audio will you be using?\n** Is it only your voice?\n** Do you intend to have others' voices (like a guest speaker) on the clip?\n** Are there other materials, such as music or other sounds, that you will use?\n* Is any of the material to be included copyrighted?\n** Consider the TEACH Act and its implications for this.\nSome specific ideas for the use of audio clips in class include:\n* Instructor introduction for students to listen to prior to the start of classes\n* Instructor interviews with:\n** Experts in a specific field\n** Persons living with specific illnesses\n* Synopsis of a week's content, particularly from discussion board postings\n* Late-breaking news\n* Critique and feedback for students' projects\nEric Rice has prepared a brief page on [[How to build a 10 minute podcast|http://blog.ericrice.com/blog/_archives/2005/6/4/909411.html]] that is greatly helpful in the conceptualization/planning phase of podcasting. He doesn't deal with the technology at all. Rather, he focuses his writing on the planning (even as specific as planning content for a specific amount of seconds). Have a quick look at it and convince yourself that creating good audio content requires a little foresight on your part! Most of us won't get so specific as crafting a second by second draft - but, again, carefully consider the message that you need to convey in a brief (< 5 minute) audio clip. You can't, and wouldn't want to, say it all!

Now is the step to make the audio clip accessible to learners. While specific steps for doing this can range from the complex to the simple, any step is dependent on your available resources.\n\nAudio clips should be posted in a central location so that learners can access them. Out of respect to people's email quotas that are increasingly pressed to the limits by spam and transfer of large documents, it is not appropriate to email clips. \n\nRemember that this material has focused on brief (< 5 minute) audio clips for classes. These are not the typical podcast. Much literature about publishing audio online focuses on publishing podcasts that the developer wants the world to know about. In the case of material discussed here, its content is mostly specific to the specific constellation of classroom discussions, activities, or information. Therefore, you may believe it inappropriate for the general public to access the clips. So the options described here for posting audio clips do not include those options specific to making podcasts available to the general public.\n\nThere are various possibilities for posting clips online and each of these have pros and cons. The following table provides a beginning exploration of this topic. In all cases, though, your ideas for posting clips need to be explored with information technology (IT) support staff at whatever institution you're located.\n|>|>| !Possibilities for Posting Audio Clips |h\n|Location| Pros | Cons |\n|Blackboard or other course management system| Centralized access in a location familiar to students that doesn't require them to login to another place | Dependent on the number of people doing this and the size of the files, this may not be an option because of lack of available storage space |\n|Central server - could be on campus or a private company| Centralized access | Faculty need to learn how to upload files to the central server; Students need to access a different system (link can be placed in the Blackboard course site); To prevent general access a password protection system will need to be implemented |\nCheck with your local IT support staff to obtain their guidance on the best location for posting your brief audio clips. \n\nLearners appreciate having a centralized location to download audio clips. Instead of going to one location for one course's audio clips and another place for another course's audio clips, having all clips posted on a central website repository is preferable. This is yet another reason to involve local IT support staff!

So, you've taken time to plan the audio clip. You've narrated the audio clip and have attended to voice projection, personality, and presence. At this point some people would post the clip for learners to access. But not you! Because you're reading this and know the importance of reviewing and possibly even editing your audio clip.\n\nOnce you've narrated your clip, play it for yourself. For the first couple of clips you develop, you may even invite colleagues (or family and friends) to listen to it and provide you with some feedback. Other people who are not so involved in (er, attached to) the material can offer us great insights that may affect your planning or narration.\n\nWhen you listen to the audio clip, you may find some or all of the following:\n* long pauses (while F2F sessions can easily accommodate long pauses, in asynchronous audio long pauses can be deadly - and of great concern if someone thinks they have lost material or that you're done)\n* words, phrases, or sentences that are not articulated carefully\n* missing personality, projection, and presence\n* distracting sounds - such as dogs barking, coughing, telephones ringing, etc...\n* and other things that affect the quality of the audio clip\nAudacity (and most other voice recording programs) allows you to edit these things. You can even re-narrate some or all of your audio clip.\n\nEarly on, as you are just beginning to implement audio clips, you may find that you re-record the entire clip. There is a learning curve to doing narrated audio. The best radio personalities have developed skills over time ... if you were to contrast Paul Harvey's initial audio with today's audio, you would notice a number of changes that make today's listening experience much different than those earlier times. \n\nAs you continue to create audio clips, you will find that you have less (or sometimes no) editing to do. But even the most experienced audio narrator has issues from time to time - such as coughing or unanticipated interruptions! So make sure that you allow sufficient time in your production schedule to review and, if necessary, edit your work before you move on to the next step!

an innovative use of technology supporting teaching and learning

Audio Clips for Classes

Sloan-C is a large consortium that encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction (see http://www.sloan-c.org).\n\nIn their April 2007 email, they feature the following effective practice: [[Asynchronous Audio Feedback to Enhance Teaching Presence and Students' Sense of Community|http://www.sloan-c-wiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=West_Virginia_University%3B_Asynchronous_Audio_Feedback_to_Enhance_Teaching_Presence_and_Students%E2%80%99_Sense_of_Community]] from West Virginia University. \n\nIn the brief report, it was noted that students perceive audio feedback as conveying nuance, increasing community, increasing retention and application of content, and demonstrating that instructors care about students. They also describe the length of time to provide audio versus text feedback – definitely in favor of audio feedback.\n\nTheir summary:\n>1. Audio feedback was perceived to be more effective than text-based feedback for conveying nuance; 2. Audio feedback was associated with feelings of increased involvement and enhanced learning community interactions; 3. Audio feedback was associated with increased retention of content; and 4. Audio feedback was associated with the perception that the instructor cared more about the student. Document analysis revealed that students were three times more likely to apply content for which audio commenting was provided in class projects than was the case for content for which text based commenting was provided. Audio commenting was also found to significantly increase the level at which students applied such content.\nCertainly lends credence to more fully exploring the potential of this technology!

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[[Sloan-C's effective practice highlighting West Virginia University's use of audio clips]]\n[[The Chronicle of Higher Education's "How to podcast campus lectures"]]\n[[Learning Circuits' Trend paper on Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning]]\n[[Michigan State University's Pedagogy and Techniques: Online Audio Course Content]]\n[[Evaluating podcasts for teaching and learning]]

A nice article from //The Chronicle's// January 26, 2007 issue that talks about [[podcasting on campus|http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i21/21a03201.htm]]. Some important points:\n* Creating a podcast requires a bit more effort and technical know-how than many professors anticipate - review the section on [[How to prepare audio clips for class]]\n* It might be tempting to try building a podcasting empire in a semester, but overambitious projects aren't likely to succeed - this is true, whether for one class, one college, one campus\n* Ask students what they want - ask them initially, obtain feedback as the initiative proceeds, be willing to alter plans\n* Think seriously about intellectual property - don't violate IP rules in this environment any more than you would in print

TiddlyWiki was developed by Jeremy Ruston. As noted on the official [[TiddlyWiki website|http://www.tiddlywiki.com]], \n>"A TiddlyWiki is like a blog because it's divided up into neat little chunks, but it encourages you to read it by hyperlinking rather than sequentially: if you like, a non-linear blog analogue that binds the individual microcontent items into a cohesive whole." TiddlyWiki represents a novel medium for writing.\nIf you're not familiar with TiddlyWikis, visit the official TiddlyWiki website. Have a look at these other useful resources for TiddlyWiki beginners:\n* Dave Gifford's [[TiddlyWiki for the Rest of Us|http://www.giffmex.org/twfortherestofus.html]]\n* Another variant of Dave Gifford's [[TiddlyWiki for the Rest of Us|http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~huynhbac/Wiki.html]]\n* Morris Gray's [[TiddlyWiki Help File for Beginners|http://tiddlyspot.com/twhelp/]]\n> To decrease your learning curve, you might find Dave Gifford's brief guide on [[How to Read TiddlyWiki's on the Internet|http://www.giffmex.org/twfortherestofus.html#%5B%5BFor%20beginners%3A%20reading%20TiddlyWikis%20on%20the%20Internet%5D%5D]] a useful and quick read.

The answer to this question is //Not much!// The other pleasant part of the answer is //At little cost!//\n\nYou will need the following:\n* computer (most directions given here are for using computers with Windows operating system). The computer needs a sound card and a microphone input/headphone output (most recently purchased computers will have these).\n* headset microphone\n* audio recording program - recommend Audacity because\n** it's very easy to use\n** it's free\n** there are many tutorials on its use\n** see [[How to use Audacity]]\n* content - one of //the// most important items!\n* a place to upload completed audio clips\nHere are some online resources that get into more specifics about the gear you need to successfully produce an audio clip (most of these resources go into a lot more detail about what you need):\n* [[Basic Podcasting Gear|http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/11-basic-podcasting-gear.htm]]

The framework for this material is a TiddlyWiki. Click on the link to TiddlyWiki to read more about this powerful self-contained web page that easily enables linking within a document as well as linking to external resources.\n\nThis particular document is created to provide a repository of material and information about faculty using brief audio clips in classes. This document does not cover:\n# podcasting complete lectures\n# students' use of audio clips in class\n# uses of audio clips outside of a classroom environment\n# uses of video, also known as vodcasting\nI'm differentiating audio clips from podcasts, even though it is technically appropriate to interchange the terms. By consciously talking about audio clips, it is hoped that the reader will continue to think in the frame of //brief// (5 minutes or less) narrated material. \n\n3 to 5 minutes ... about the length of a song. The length of time that learners can fit into, around, within other activities and not find it too lengthy or untenable.\n\nI also hope that any of you who implement this strategy will not merely replicate the //talking head// lecture mode. It is deadly in a face-to-face classroom and it is even more so in this environment. If you are not convinced of this important point, please listen to a 30 minute podcast yourself - on any topic, even one about which you are passionate. After you listen, consider how much you retained of the material, whether or not you were focused on the podcast the entire time (or multi-tasked and missed material), and what other ways you might have wished the content to be presented.\n\nThis page is evolving. As you identify additional information that would be important to include, let me know at cynthiakrussell {at} gmail {dot} com.

Sometimes people mistakenly think that to listen to these recordings they must have an iPod or a similar device. In reality, though, students may listen to your audio clips in a variety of ways:\n# they may listen online - merely click on a link and have it play in their web browser\n# they may download the clip and listen to it from their hard drive\n# they may download the clip, upload it to their portable audio player (like an iPod) and then listen to it elsewhere\nHeadsets are not requirements - the sound can come directly through the computer's speakers.\n