One of the more exciting features of Classcaster is the ability to record podcasts just using your telephone.  Every Classcaster blog has this feature, all you need to do to start podcasting is follow these instructions.

1. Login to your blog’s Dashboard.
2. Click on the ‘Plugins’ link on the left hand menu to open the Plugins page.
3. Find the ‘Classcaster Phone Blog’ plugin in the list and click on the ‘Activate’ link.
4. Once the plugin is activate, click on the ‘Settings’, ‘Classcaster Phone Blog Settings’ links to open the plugin settings page.
5. Complete the settings form by filling in your telephone number and selecting a PIN. Please remember these numbers as you will need to enter them to record your podcasts. Add your full name and a topic or topics for your podcast. Your name and the topic will be embedded in the podcast sound file. Finally, enter your CALI/Classcaster password to allow us to verify your account and create draft blog posts for your podcasts.
6. Click ‘Update’ to save this information.
   1. You should see a ‘Plugin settings saved.’ message at the top of the page, but the form appear blank. Just click on the ‘Classcaster Phone Blog Settings’ link again and your information should appear.
7. Click on the ‘Settings’ link, then ‘Writing’ on the left hand menu.
8. Under the ‘Remote Publishing’ section check the XML-RPC box and click ‘Save Changes’.
   1. This allows the telephone recording system to talk directly to your blog, uploading your podcast  and creating a draft post.
9. All done.  You have now activated and setup the podcast recording features of Classcaster.

To actually record a podcast:

1. From your blog’s Dashboard, click on the ‘Settings’, ‘Classcaster Phone Blog Settings’ links to open the plugin settings page.
2. Dial the phone number in the first paragraph.
   1. Yes it is a metro Atlanta area code, so long distance charges may apply.
   2. Yes there is only one number at this time, but it has 4 lines, still if you get a busy signal or voicemail just hangup and try again later.
3. Listen carefully to the Classcaster voice menu.
4. When prompted enter the 10 digit phone number you entered in the ‘Classcaster Phone Blog Settings’ page.
5. When prompted enter your PIN.
6. If you mistype any of the numbers the system should prompt you to try again.
7. Once it accepts your phone/PIN combo, you will be prompted to record your message, so just follow the prompts.
8. If you hangup or are disconnected before the recording is finished, don’t worry.   The system will save what you have recorded and forward it to the blog .
9. Once Classcaster says good-bye, you may hang up and your recording is posted to your blog as a draft, so no one can see it except you.

So, now you’ve done it, recorded a podcast.  If everything worked, which I’m sure it did, the recording was transferred to your blog and a draft post was created.  Now just a few more steps and you’re ready to share with the world.

1. Login to the Dashboard of your Classcaster blog.
2. Click on the ‘Posts’ link in the left hand menu.
3. You should see a post with a title that begins ‘ A Classcaster podcast for… ‘ that is marked as a Draft. Click on the title to edit the draft post.
4. You can now edit the post, changing the title, text body, etc.
   1. NOTE: Do not edit the bottom portion of the post that includes ‘Click here to download…’ line and the ‘Play it now’ code located between the 2 horizontal lines. This allows your students and listeners to have quick access to the podcast.
5. You can also assign the post to categories and add tags to make ti easier to find.
6. When you are done editing the post, click the ‘Publish’ button to publish the podcast to the blog.
7. Surf on over to your Classcaster blog homepage and you should see your new podcast post.