Overview: Podcasting and Media Publishing

Introduction

The Educational Media Services team within University of Oxford IT Services regularly publishes podcasts to two parallel channels:

1.  University of Oxford Podcasts website (podcasts.ox.ac.uk)

2.  University of Oxford site within Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes U)

These channels contain over 11,000 talks, lectures and interviews from across the collegiate University. We now have more than 8,000 hours of material online bringing Oxford thinking to a broad global audience, whilst giving our current students, staff and alumni any-time access to browse a unique resource collection.

For information on making your podcast meet new September 2020 accessibility regulations, and to understand the accessibility features of the University of Oxford Podcasts website please visit our Podcast Accessibility page.

A podcast is a series of audio or video files, placed online with a public URL, which can be downloaded to digital media players. You can also subscribe to podcasts via an RSS publishing feed, which means that all new content is updated to your feed automatically. 

At Oxford, podcasting offers a great opportunity to deliver course materials and lectures outside a conventional classroom environment. Students, or interested parties (depending on whether the material is publicly available) can access the material from outside the campus, view it at any time, and by downloading it to a portable media device (such as an iPhone or Android device) they can then view the material anywhere.

If you visit either University of Oxford Podcasts or launch Apple Podcasts, you will be able to browse from a range of areas and topics. Some examples on the University of Oxford Podcasts site are listed below:

Keep in touch with our filming and podcasting news through subscribing to the Educational Media Services Twitter feed (@oxfordpodcasts)

A note about Apple Podcasts, formerly Oxford on iTunes U

In September 2017, Oxford on iTunes U moved to join Apple Podcasts. Apple relocated the iTunes U listings to fall within the general podcasts area of the iTunes software.  This means the area that is iTunes U specifically for Universities is no longer a separate tab in the iTunes software.

The Oxford material is still arranged in the same way and all existing content can be found using the same links and searches. All subscribers to series are still able to receive new material.  Material is more easily viewed in mobile platforms such as the iPhone and AppleTV. 

The current internal Oxford system we use to publish our material ("MediaPub") works in the same way and all links to material remain valid. 

With this change, users can access their series collections using the Apple Podcasts app on Mac (macOS 10.15 onwards), iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and using iTunes on a Windows PC or older Mac. The previous Oxford iTunes U Collections were automatically migrated and all links redirected into Apple Podcasts at the time of transition. 

If you have the Podcasts/iTunes app on your device already, you can visit Oxford University's Apple Podcasts page to see all the University's podcasts.

Need help podcasting?

The following pages have been devised to help you publish your media files to both Apple Podcasts and to our website, University of Oxford Podcasts. These pages are outlined below :

  • Getting Started -- An overview of the podcasting process. The steps you must complete if you are keen on publishing your media files with us for podcasting.
  • MediaPub Publishing Guide -- A guide through the workflow involved in publishing your podcast. MediaPub is our publishing portal, and plays a key role in making your files available on Apple Podcasts and the University of Oxford Podcasts website.
  • MediaPub Writing & Discoverability Tips -- A guide to help you craft your soon-to-be published podcast on MediaPub in order that it might go viral and attract the attention of a global audience.  
  • Podcasting FAQ -- A page that can hopefully answer most of your questions regarding our podcasting and publishing service, or refer you to another page that will.
  • Podcasting Case Studies -- A page with descriptions and links to a few of our unusually active and/or successful podcasting series.
  • Recording Recommendations -- A few software and hardware recommendations for those who wish to record their own podcasts, instead of using the audio-video recording services also provided by Educational Media Services.

Don't forget that if you need help producing a professional-looking podcast (filming, recording, editing), Educational Media Services also specialises in professional audio-video production and editing. If you need help with a project, please get in touch. 

 

Get support


For help with podcasting and publishing contact Educational Media Services

EMAIL EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

Local IT support provide your first line of on-the-spot help

FIND MY LOCAL IT TEAM

 

Contact us


Educational Media Services

13 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 6NN

Tel: (+44) 01865 289983

Email: media@it.ox.ac.uk