November Learning: Expanding the Boundaries of Learning

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So, you’ve spent some time working with your class developing podcast episodes that you would like to share with others in your school community or even around the world. If you have a blog, you can easily post your podcast episodes there. But if you stop after doing so, you have not tapped into one of the easiest to use podcasting directories around: iTunes.

Being most well known for its music store, where you can purchase music online, iTunes also hosts a directory where users like you and me can freely post our podcasts so that they can be searched for and subscribed to by anyone, anywhere. The directory works through the power of RSS, which means that your podcasts are not actually stored in iTunes. You have to put the podcast somewhere that is RSS enabled and provides you with a feed address. Two of the easiest options are: your blog or FeedBurner.

If you are going to use your blog, I would suggest you create a category called Podcast. Whenever you create a new podcast episode, place it in that category. If your blogging service creates a feed for individual categories, you will submit your category’s feed address. Otherwise, you will submit the feed address of your entire blog.

As I mentioned, another option is to use FeedBurner. In FeedBurner, you would create an account and upload all of your podcast episodes to this account. FeedBurner will provide you with a feed address that you can submit to iTunes. One of the main advantages to using FeedBurner is that there are some robust podcast management features provided to you. For more information on FeedBurner, visit http://www.feedburner.com.

Steps for Podcast Submission

  1. Decide what service you want to use for your podcast: your blog or FeedBurner. Either way, upload your podcast into your account.
  2. Copy the feed URL of your blog, blog category or FeedBurner account. This is usually most easily done by finding the RSS icon on the page, right clicking on it and selecting the Copy Link Location or Copy Shortcut option. Doing so allows you to capture the needed address.
  3. Open iTunes. If you don’t yet have iTunes, you can obtain it for free from http://www.apple.com/itunes. When iTunes opens, select Podcasts from the left menu bar. This opens your podcast library, which will be blank unless you have subscribed to podcasts in the past. At the bottom of this window, select Podcast Directory.
  4. In the center of the page, you will see a large button that says Submit a Podcast. Click this button and paste the copied feed address into the blank provided. Click Continue. At this point, you will be asked to login to your iTunes account. If you don’t have an iTunes account, you will need to create one now.
  5. After creating an account and logging in, you will move on to the next step where you will be asked to verify and add additional information to your podcast’s settings. When finished, click Submit.
  6. If everything was entered correctly and your submission goes through, your podcast should appear in iTunes shortly. If there are problems with your submission or if you have technical questions, you might want to look at the guidelines and suggestions posted online at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html.