Podcasting: How it can work for student recruiting

1
Podcasting How it can work for student
recruiting
AACRAO SEM 15 November 15, 2005
Dan Karleen Director Online Product
Delivery Thomson Petersons dan.karleen_at_thomson.co
m
2
Thomson Petersons

• Online education information and solutions
• http//www.petersons.com
• Provide admission and recruiting services
• 12 million visitors annually
• Visitors find
• Expert advice
• Dynamic content
• Tools to manage college and graduate planning
  process
• Trusted college information
• Financial aid opportunities

3
Thomson Petersons

• Specialty searches include Visual and Performing
  Arts, Culinary, MBA, Online Learning
• Prospective students can
• Find in-depth information about colleges and
  universities
• Manage a list of schools
• Compare
• Sort
• Annotate
• Link to many points on client school web sites
  (e.g. admission page, student blogs, sports,
  application)
• Get school contact information
• Inquire to client schools for more information

4
The new Petersons.com More dynamic than ever

• Weekly online discussions with experts
• More links to client school web sites
• Sports pages
• News pages
• Student profiles
• Many more
• Embedded school news feeds
• Reaching students with syndicated feeds
• Reaching students with podcasts

5
Petersons.com More links to client web sites
Links Include Application Inquiry form Google the
schools web site Student profile Student
blogs Dates and deadlines Sports Others
6
Petersons.com Embedding client news headlines
Headlines are pulled from schools own
website dynamically, via RSS (Really Simple
Syndication)
7
clicking through to BU.edu news pages from news
feed headlines on Petersons.com
8
Petersons.com Reaching students with news feeds
(RSS)
Students can include Petersons.com news feeds in
their MyYahoo home page
9
Petersons.com Reaching students with podcasts
10
Thomson Petersons Support for Professionals

• Providing new media resources for Higher Ed
• Audio and Video Podcasting
• Blogging
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
• Syndication for Higher Ed
• Covers latest new media developments in Higher Ed
• http//syndicateblog.petersons.com
• Or better yet, Google it Syndication for Higher
  Ed
• College and University Feed Directory
• http//directory.edufeeds.com
• News feeds that can be read in a news reader such
  as Bloglines (http//www.bloglines.com)

11
Syndication for Higher Edresource on blogging,
podcasting, and RSS in higher ed
More than 100k hits, 10k unique visitors since
Sept 1.
12
Syndication for Higher Edtop resource on Google
Google search for higher ed podcast 2 of top
5 links
13
Syndication for Higher Edtop resource on Google
Google search for ipod video education Link
in top 5
14
College and University Feed Directorynearly 1000
news feeds
Feed Categories Calendars Libraries News Podcasts
Sports Schools and Programs Technology Others
15
College and University Feed Directoryshowing
well in search engines
MSN search for college feeds 3
16
Podcasting
17
Themes from this conference

• Prospective students want information
  instantaneously
• Desire to populate website with rich content
• Marketing demands on admission professionals
• Students are finding us before we find them

18
Themes from this conference?Takeaways

• Prospective students want information
  instantaneously
• Podcasts represent on-demand information
• Desire to populate website with rich content
• Podcasts represent dynamic content
• Marketing demands on admission professionals
• Podcasting lends itself to marketing messages
• Students are finding us before we find them
• Podcasts can reach people where other
  communications do not

19
Our Agenda Today

• Intro to podcasting (5 minutes)
• Background recent developments (5 minutes)
• Where are teens in all this? (5 minutes)
• Examples from the world of podcasts for
  prospective students (20 minutes)
• Wrap-up (10 minutes)

20
What is podcasting?

• Ability to subscribe to an online audio or video
  series (think audio version of daily news,
  delivered to your computer/portable player
  automatically each day)
• Download for listening at your convenience (think
  TiVo)
• Create your own
• Dont need an iPodpractically any digital audio
  or video player will do
• How can I subscribe to podcasts?

21
Background/Terms/Tools

• Part of a movement in consumer-generated media
• Blogs
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
• Video blogs
• Audio blogs
• Wikis
• Podcasting coined mid-2004
• Podcasting originally for iPod
  Broadcasting
• Adam Curry Dave Winer made the connections mp3
  RSS
• Need Podcatcher software to subscribe, e.g.
  iTunes, FireAnt

22
How has podcasting grown?

• November 2004 a few hundred podcasts
• July 2005 Apples iTunes launched podcast
  support and podcast directory
• October 2005 Yahoo Podcast Directory launched
• November 2005 20 million (est.) episodes

23
Podcast Timeline World of Higher Education

• Late 2004 iPodder.org directory adds education
  node maintained by DArcy Norman
• December 2004 or January 2005 Educause podcasts
• February 8, 2005 Podcasts_at_Petersons
• February 12, 2005 Lecture recording using
  Camtasia produces screencast and podcast, Drexel
  University
• March 2005 Grassroots Learning Project, Oregon
  State University
• April 28, 2005 Allegheny Podcast, Allegheny
  College
• September 2005 Ball State University Blogcasters
• September 22, 2005 Higher Ed podcasts featured
  on podcast home page in iTunes
• September 23, 2005 University of Michigan School
  of Dentistry announces private iTunes podcasts
• October 2005 Duke Podcasting Symposium
• October 2005 Chronicle piece on podcasting

24
PodcastAlley.com Education Section

• January 1, 2005 12 podcasts
• April 26, 2005 66 podcasts
• November 10, 2005 354 podcasts

25
602,000 hits for podcast lecture
26
Viewpoints

• Podcasting is a good way to advertise a
  university.
• -Jean-Claude Bradley, Drexel University,
  classroom podcast pioneer, commenting on
  open-classroom podcasting, 10/31/2005

27
Viewpoints

• In response to a podcast episode I recorded and
  posted Monday, two people contacted one of our
  researchers to request more information.
• The same information had already been available
  for some time, in print and on our web site, but
  the podcast reached these folks when other media
  did not.
• -Paul Baker, Senior University Relations
  Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
  Wisconsin Center for Education Research, on
  Wednesday, 11/9/2005

28
Viewpoints

• is this something like, well, taping a lecture?
  phenomenal!
• -Blog comment, 11/5/2005 on http//www.realtechnew
  s.com

29
Where are teens in this?

• Comfortable with the technology (Internet, mp3s,
  iTunes, etc.)
• Producing their own audio and video podcasts
• Some using their players for more than just music

Use their mp3 player for music, audio books,
podcasts
Dont own mp3 player
Use mp3 player for music only
Source Informal poll conducted on Petersons.com,
July, 2005
30
What kinds of non-lecture college podcasts are
out there?

• Monologue
• UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
• Interview
• Butte College
• Allegheny College
• Harvard Law (mp3, no feed)
• Produced
• Mansfield University
• News
• University of Florida

31
Examples from the world of college podcasting

• Haas School of Business
• Allegheny College
• Butte College
• Ball State University
• Thomson Petersons
• Mayland Community College
• Texas AM University
• U-W Madison
• Drexel University

32
Ball States page on Petersons.com

Link to student blogs
33
http//www.bsu.edu/reallife

34
Ball State Student Blogcasters

• Students blogging/podcasting on behalf of the
  admissions department, launched September 2005
• Students were given hardware/software and
  instructions
• Students use iPod w/Griffin iTalk to make audio
  recordings
• Prospective students are responding and
  interacting with the blogcasters via the blog
• 400 podcast downloads
• Focusing not on podcasts, but on overall
  effectiveness of the blogstext, images, audio
• Site is reaching students earlycomment from 8th
  grader

35
Ball State Student Blogcaster Guidelines

• Number one, your blogs/podcasts should give
  readers a feel for what life is like for a Ball
  State student.
• It should include lots of details that make that
  make campus and the university experience come to
  life.
• It should be honest. Student life isnt all
  smooth sailing. You have scheduling conflicts,
  disappointments, stress dont feel like you
  have to completely gloss over these things.
  Explain how you managed having 3 tests on one
  day, how you handled a disagreement with a
  classmate, or what you did when you ran out of
  gas money until your next paycheck.
• You should post on average once per week.
• It should be something you are proud of. The site
  does not only reflect on Ball State, it reflects
  on you.
• Remember that your parents, friends, professors,
  the university president, and even current or
  future employers will be reading your blogs
  and/or listening to your podcasts.
• Source Nancy Prater, Web Content Coordinator,
  Ball State University

36
U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business

• Information messages directly from admissions
  officers
• First podcast was a 15-minute segment containing
  high-value information for potential applicants
• 2-hour recording session to get 15 minutes of
  audio
• Used on-campus recording studio
• Additional podcasts planned to cover financial
  aid (expected November 2005), career services
• October 200527 unique downloads/day average
• Lets listen

37

38

39
Quick comparison chart

40

41
Podcasts_at_Petersons

• Student question-driven shows, build on weekly
  online discussion (text) with experts on
  Petersons.com
• Launched within one week of go decision
• Recording and production
• Professional microphones
• Inexpensive 8-channel mixer w/USB-out
• Mac OS X, Audio HiJack Pro, Garage Band, iTunes
• In-house vocal talent
• Scripted
• Shows take less than 15 minutes to record, 45
  minutes to edit and make mp3

42
Podcasts_at_Petersons

• Investment per show
• Script 60 minutes
• Recording 15 minutes
• Editing 45 minutes
• Payoff
• 3000-4000 downloads/month
• Persistent demand for older shows (perhaps a
  function of the way the site is designed)
• During October, podcasts launched in February
  were among the most downloaded
• Exposure for Thomson Petersons in iTunes and
  other podcast directories

43
Podcasts_at_Petersons

• Observations
• Site organized like a catalog, not a blog ? still
  strong demand for older shows
• Pages and feed files maintained manually
• Host mp3 files on our own servers
• iTunes tags included in feeds (required for
  inclusion in iTunes)
• iTunes had big impact on downloads 60 of
  downloads come via iTunes
• iTunes is a black box, no help with problems,
  etc.
• Submitted podcasts to many podcast directories
  (one-time activity)

44
Steps involvedWhat to expect

• Planningaudience, material, tone, talent,
  recording equipment/facilities
• Technical bitsa place to host the podcast files
  and the RSS feed
• Promotionschools web site, collateral
  materials, podcast directories
• Tracking usage and responding to
  comments/inquiries

45
What if I want to get started?

• Listen to a sampling of podcastsjust the mp3s
  if you dont want to go to the trouble of
  downloading a podcatcher like iTunes (list some
  websites, come to my blog, etc.)
• Find some that are inspiring, and study what they
  do well
• Remember that your listening habits are not the
  same as the next persons
• Try the toolspodcatchers, recording software,
  blogs, RSS feeds, etc.
• Look for opportunities to collaborate (e.g. media
  departments, etc.)
• Talk to someone whos doing it

46
Tools and Services

• Castblaster (beta)
• Classcaster (podcast lectures via cell phone)
• Audacity
• HiJack Pro (Mac)
• Garage Band (Mac)
• Ourmedia.org
• Libsyn.com

47
Some ideas for what to include

• Excerpts from lectures on a topic of interest to
  prospective students (forensics is a hot topic)
• Interviews with current students or alumni
• Excerpts from events on campus
• Student athletes
• Student-generated podcasts
• Campus tour video
• Highlight faculty podcasts, including excerpts
• Responses to common prospect student questions

48
Themes from this conference?Takeaways

• Prospective students want information
  instantaneously
• Podcasts represent on-demand information in a
  novel format
• Desire to populate website with rich content
• Podcasts represent dynamic content
• Marketing demands on admission professionals
• Podcasting lends itself to marketing messages
• Students are finding us before we find them
• Podcasts can reach people where other
  communications do not

49
How to Connect with Thomson Petersons

• Free resources on podcasting and blogging
• Syndication for Higher Ed
• http//syndicateblog.petersons.com
• Promote your schools news feeds for free
• College and University Feed Directory
• http//directory.edufeeds.com

50
How to Connect with Thomson Petersons

• Becoming a client
• Reach students others are notthrough podcasts,
  news feeds, etc.
• Quality leads
• Promotion
• Grow traffic to your site through dynamic links
  on Petersons.com
• Podcasting, blogging, and RSS services and tools
  for recruiting
• http//www.petersons.com/recruit

51
Thomson Petersons

• Website
• http//www.petersons.com
• Podcasting Resources
• http//syndicateblog.petersons.com
• Google us Higher Ed Podcast
• Dan Karleen
• Dan.Karleen_at_thomson.com