5 conversations about podcasting

I am amazed I had 5 conversations today about podcasting, the first three initiated by other people. This morning I met with Vicki Allen, who works for Southwestern Bell here in Texas and helps K-12 as well as university folks with technology integration– especially classroom videoconferencing. She had been in Amarillo yesterday at the ESC16 technology conference, visiting with David Warlick who was a a speaker there, and was impressed by his use of an iTalk microphone to record some conversations for a later podcast.

This afternoon at lunch I visited with my friend Mark Umstot, a local photographer, and he mentioned how much he has been enjoying a variety of podcasts lately. He wants to start one himself, but is not sure what he would talk about! Mark is an incredibly gifted and interesting person to talk to, so I am sure he wouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with ideas. I would certainly like to hear about his photographic techniques. He has taken some amazing pics.

About 5:30 pm this evening I visited briefly with Miguel Guhlin via phone from San Antonio. I wish I had been using Skype and recording, because his comments about open source technology and schools would have been superb in a podcast. Miguel talked about listening to Bob Sprankle’s podcast about how podcasting had changed his classroom and been integrated into a writing workshop model of language arts instruction– and it was so cool, because last week on my drive back home from Colorado I listened to that same podcast. It is great, Bob Sprankle is teaching so many of us through his Bit by Bit podcast.

I would say “small world,” but I think it is more appropriate to say “flat world.”

The fourth conversation on podcasting was at church this evening with my pastor, Paul Cunningham, who is a Mac user and very interested in podcasting. The sermons at our church have been web-posted as mp3 files for about a year, but recently I created a blog account and setup a smart feed so they could be used in podcasts. (even available in the iTunes music store!) I was showing him the iTalk microphone and demonstrating how it could be used for podcasting. I am looking forward to an upcoming church retreat, which should provide some great opportunities for podcasting. He was enthused.

The last conversation of the day about podcasting was with my son’s teacher, who called to touch base and discuss how things are going so far in the semester. I pitched the idea of podcasting with students, either as an optional after school activity or during the school day. We’ll see what happens. I plan to burn a CD with some Room 208 podcast examples and some Connect Learning podcasts for her, so she can get a flavor for what podcasting is and can be.

5 conversations on podcasting today, and the first 3 all started by others. Amazing.

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