Edublogs Tutorials

I did say I would contact GCast support and see what they could do about their embedded player and the url link for their files not ending in .mp3 (a requirement for using InnerTOOB)

I asked:

I’m doing some research around Podcasting, GCast and InnerTOOB and trying to synthesise a package for digital storytelling

I think GCast is turning out to be a great package for what I want to do

There are a few questions I would like some help with, if at all possible

1 Is there likely to be any development work on a widget that allows Edublogs.org users to embed your excellent player, as the current script or code doesn’t work?

2 In order to use the InnerTOOB.com annotation facility (which is important for educators), I need to have a link for my uploaded file ending in .mp3 or .flv. I have looked at your links on the uploaded files in my GCast channel, but they are not in this format – I’d love to be able to link this in – any help here would be greatly appreciated – are your uploaded files .mp3s

3 Does an uploaded GCast channel automatically get submitted to iTunes, or do I have to do that independently using Feedburner or similar

This is what they had to say

Jennifer Carafelli

Thank you for contacting GarageBand Support. Our support team is not familiar with the Edublogs platform, so we are not exactly sure what the problem is. If you can describe in more detail what’s happening we will do our best to help out.

Thank you for contacting GarageBand Support. I sent you an email about edublogs for more information as we are not familiar with it. Unfortunately we don’t have hosting the supply .mp3 links in URLs. All files uploaded are MP3’s but we just don’t have a direct link URL

I have sent lots of info including links etc but will continue to have a dialogue with them

I’ll let you know what happens

I have had a go at using the visual podcasting service from Voicethread and I have to say, it was pretty intuitive.

I only had one slight problem in production -I forgot to add my intro music at the beginning. There’s probably a simple way to do it, but I didn’t find it.

+ points

1. very easy to use
2. allows contribution by voice, video or saved recording
3. allows feedback and comments - moderated by the creator (this thread’s moderated)
4. embeds into Edublogs posts

-ve points

1. does not integrate with iTunes
2. allows students to browse other Voicethreads by other people - I do not know if this is moderated

I would highly recommend having a go at this - you might like to  comment on my production or just saying ‘hello’ - in fact, I’d really like to see what it looks like to have a collaborative podcast and see if this would work in the classroom. My suspicion is that it would be brilliant

Well I’ve managed to put out another one. This podcast is about my investigations into GCast and InnerTOOb which I think both offer great opportunities for educators to get involved in podcasting.

GCast is a hosting site and you can add your mp3s there and simply add a link on your post. when you are redirected, there are lots of podcast subscription services you can use, including iTunes, just with the click of a button.

You can also have this added to your homepage in Google, Yahoo, MSN as well as subscribing by email.

Option 1:

Option 2: add to your start page

Option 3: This means you really don’t need to go through all the trivia of setting up feeds using feedburner. However, the podcast does have some notes and tags when you upload it and my next step is to see if this gets transferred to the iTunes information for the podcast - if it does, then great.

The slight downside, as mentioned before, is that the GCast player does not embed into the blog, otherwise folks could access your podcasts directly from your Edublogs site. - still, small discomfort to have unlimited upload space and hopefully auto iTunes integration

I was also hoping to link CGast uploads with Innertoob but at the moment, I can’t seem to get innertoob to accept the GCast files - I’ll keep on working at this.

Here are the three versions

Number 1 

Podcast 4

and Number 2

and on Number 3

You choose which one seems best for you at the moment

For homework, I have set myself the challenge of using the visual podcast, VoiceThread

Take a look at the tutorial - done in voicethread -this service embeds beautifully

Just in case you hadn’t noticed these in the support area - Edublogs has its own video tutorials to help you get started

BTW - I added the Podcast 3b and 3c to the post Podcast #3

and also the link to Wes Fryer’s blog, where the original podcast was located

I’ve just come across InnerTOOB and initial thoughts are that it fills a niche in the podcasting market for schools - free, of course

Like a blog, there’s the chance to add text to support the audio file , but there’s also the opportunity to reply to sections. This is done by adding markers to the podcast or toobcast, (as I now think of them) where a text box then becomes available.

The only bit I need to check is if the comments can be moderated - if not, this could lead to all sorts of issues - I’ll keep you posted - not found a way of doing this yet - but you can disable comments and have it read-only

Here’s podcast 3a as a link

It would appear their embedded player doesn’t embed here - nor in the side bar widgets

I have annotated the podcast - turning it into an enhanced podcast - it’s just waiting for you to add your comments, or just have a read. I’ve added links and commentaries to break up the content, but you can also add audio and video - but you have to record and host it elsewhere.

HOSTING - innerTOOB do not host your files - you will need to get them online elsewhere - there are lots of places to do this www.divshare.com is just one. All innerTOOB requires is the link for your file and then you can play with it.  This is p[roving to be a bit of a problem as I can’t seem to get innerToob to recognise any new files I try to add

I did find that I couldn’t manage to set up my own TOOB - a channel to collect all my recordings in, so at the moment, it’s just the one podcast. Still, it is a bit of fun and different.

At the moment, I’m in conversation with Daniel Nelson from Intrascopic Media who run the site to find out exactly how to use this in conjunction with Edublogs - I’ll let you know the outcomes