What is a Podcast?

Podcasts are professional or homemade audio broadcasts that are available on the Internet. Podcasts can be downloaded from the Internet and listened to anytime. You can subscribe to them using. You can listen to them on your computer with programs like iTunes or on an portable music player such as an iPod.

How do I get a Podcast?

RSS (commonly known as Really Simple Syndication) is the key technology for podcasts. This is a format most commonly used for delivering summaries (or feeds) of news stories (used for Blogs), but thanks to an enclosure element in RSS, you can attach audio files to these feeds.

An RSS aggregator downloads feeds that you subscribe to. Once you tell the aggregator where you want content from, it searches on a regular basis for updates and downloads what it finds for you.

How do I subscribe to an RSS Audio Podcast Feed?

From the State of Delaware 

• Download and install a Podcast aggregator, such as iTunes or Juice.
• Familiarize yourself with how the software works by reading the program's provided documentation.
• Locate the Podcast XML feed that interests you
• Add the address to the Podcast XML feed to your Podcast aggregator by either manually typing the address or by copying and pasting from the clipboard. (Consult your Operating System or Browser documentation for more information on copying web addresses to the clipboard).

 Article about Using Podcasts in Education

• Podcasting: Transforming Middle Schoolers into 'Middle Scholars'
  
• iPods Fast Becoming New Teacher's Pet (Washington Post)
• Podcasts offer the audience pupils crave
• iPod for Kindergarten