Pod/vodcasting course by Wim de Bie

This week I had the privilege to join Wim de Bie for a workshop on pod/vodcasting. De Bie is working for the VPRO (a Dutch broadcast channel) and is well known for his great TV programs with Van Kooten. He was also the first professional weblogger in the Netherlands. On his blog ('his personal TV-channel') he is reflecting on personal things and all kind of things within the society with a great sense of humour. You can also see this in his pod- and vodcasts.


The interesting part for me was to hear about his way of working but also about his unique position within the VPRO. He has given carte blanche for his weblog. No restrictions, not to worry about the number of visitors (like his colleagues who are still in the TV business), he is picking his own subjects, no matter if they are popular amongst his visitors. He is driven by his passion, not by statistics.

I was there with my colleague Pierre to find out how to use pod- and vodcasting within educational settings. Although I love video and audio I'm still not sure about the value of pod/vodcasting for educational purposes. OK, I also listen to educational podcasts, especially when I'm travelling by plane or train I love to learn something via my iPod. I love 'EduKast' and also 'Stof'. But to make it successful you need to offer new casts on a very regular base with high quality. I believe more in pod/vodcasts created by learners. Just buy a couple of MacBooks and start creating learning content! This is the best way to learn. If you can explain a concept, you understand a concept!

A last remark came from the other trainer, Frithjof Kalf from the VPRO. He stated that maybe the technical way we are distributing video and audio though pod/vodcasts is temporal. How long will it take before we can use streaming audio and video at any moment at any place without downloading?

In two weeks we will have a second session and we are going to create pod/vodcasts with nice apps on the Mac like GarageBand, Audacity (open source, also for Windows and Linux) and Videocue. Will be continued....