Edublogs Tutorials

Well, this talkcast is probably the last in the live series of broadcasts that I’ve been doing of late. I have made a number of points with respect to the use of Talkshoe which are of benefit and some which are a challenge.

Using Talkshoe as a broadcasting tool is fine most of the time. I have used Shoephone, which is their VOIP ( like Skype) and for most a time it performs very well. However, when it does fail, you have no way of knowing that this is happening unless somebody who is listening feeds back to you. Even if they did this, you are unable to alter anything as I am told this is due to bandwidth issues.

Dave Nelsen (founder) says

“ShoePhone, like any VoIP service, can be disrupted by internet bandwidth or packet delay variance problems (AKA latency). This is not under your control or ours — just one of the hazards of sending delay-sensitive voice packets across the internet. As such, we recommend to hosts that they use a regular (land-line) phone if possible. ShoePhone is more for callers who can be muted if they are having audio quality problems.”

In addition to this, uses are advised to shut down any other VOIP software they may have running as this can cause potential conflicts. The problem I have with this for education is that users in Europe would have to pay international rates in order to join in a conference - if they wish to guarantee call quality.

However, if you consider Talkshoe as a Podcasting service and forget the broadcast part for the moment, I think it is the package that Edublogs users have been looking for for sometime.

here are some of the advantages:

• allows uploading of MP3 files
• allows downloading of MP3 files
• has unlimited hosting
• allows a streamed listening via widget player
• this player can be embedded in an Edublogs sidebar
• on clicking the title within the player, a user can then subscribe to your podcast via iTunes
• can be imported to InnerTOOB to produce annotated podcasts

I think for most people, this is the complete suite of requirements for podcasting and I am recommending this to the people who require all of these tools.

I had reviewed a number of other sites, and these include:

GCast

InnerTOOB

Gabcast

Voicethread

Edublogs

and although all of them are brilliant and free, each one has at least one restriction that seems to have frustrated a number of Edublogs users in the past.

So, there are now no excuses - podcasting within Edublogs has now come of age

I hope this information helps some of you move forward and start podcasting for yourself and with your children

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