If you are going to make a podcast…
My son was having some troubles understanding some of his classes , so, being the good Web 2.0 dad that I am, I asked him to sit down with me and take a look at some of the available material on the web that he could use for remediation. I gave him the standard speech “If you arent understanding it from your teacher, just find another source of the same material and see if you understand it there.”
I then went to show him some examples.
I had a captured audience, he was ready to bite….
I went to iTunes and searched for the topic he was studying. Sure enough, a whole bunch of podcasts came up about the topic.
“Here let’s see this one” I chose a podcast at random that at least looked like it had the prerequisite material.
The lecture sounded like it was recorded in the back of the room from under a blanket.
“Well, thats not a good one, lets try this” I picked another.
Nothing loaded for quite some time. Then, a podcast lasting a total of 1 minute, 1 second played.
My son began to look skeptical.
“There are a lot of resources here” I said rather lamely.
He looked away across the room out the window, which, I will admit, was probably more interesting.
After about ten minutes of hemming and hwing around, i did what any good teacher would do and said “Well, you get the idea.”
OMG. What a horrible example I set.
So , I have to rant:
If you are making a podcast that you are posting online so that anyone can grab it, please , please follow some of the simple rules of podcasting:
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1.Have something to say.
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2. Be prepared.
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3. Be short and simple.
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4.Be clear.
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5.Be yourself.
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6.Be unique.
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7. Provide detailed program notes.
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8.Don’t stick in music just to fill time, or to punctuate your show.
Even though these are pretty old rules, (the come from 2006 from here:http://www.mcelhearn.com/2006/03/12/kirks-eight-rules-of-effective-podcasting/)
it doesn’t hurt to listen to your podcast BEFORE you post it.
If it sucks when you listen to it, it will suck even more for the rest of us that don’t know what you are saying.
Thank you. Carry on.
