For all the predictions about podcast popularity waxing and waning a simple fact remains: Video hasn’t killed the radio star. This enduring popularity has nothing to do with marketing or device popularity but instead grows from a human attraction to oral storytelling. My A1 project explores why podcasts endure and why both podcast consumption and creation is a valuable educational experience.
Please note, there is an optional section on podcast production. A secondary goal of my project is to ensure any educators inspired to incorporate podcasting into their teaching feel confident to do so. I produced this podcast episode (outside the scope of this project), from recording to publishing, on one smartphone and with no additional microphone. I share it here and in my project only to demonstrate how clear a product can be with a BYOD and a free app.
Previous cohorts have done an excellent job introducing podcasts, documenting their history, and exploring current and future trends. For example,
- This A2 project provides an excellent overview
- Tanya’s A1 specifically looks at podcasting for formal education
- Linda Zhao’s post on video podcasting and the subsequent discussion ultimately inspired this A1 project
Thanks for participating!
Hi Lyndsay, thanks for your thought-provoking presentation! It got me thinking about how the ways students share information in school have changed over the years. For years, students have been expected to give speeches, book talks, various sorts of oral presentations to share their learning. All of these require the oft-dreaded act of standing in front of the peer group, hoping not to embarrass oneself! Podcasts and other types of audio or video presentation accomplish this requirement of “live” presentation, without that on-the-spot pressure. Students can redo their podcast as many times as they want to, before sharing it. Podcasts are a great option for student sharing of information. The biggest challenge I see, and have experienced, for producing this kind of thing in schools, is the recording piece. In busy school buildings it can be challenging to find a quiet recording space. Do you have any tips or tricks for overcoming this challenge?
Hi Wendy!
So happy to see you’re interested. Unfortunately, I don’t have many meaningful tips or tricks for handling this challenge. A relatively quiet room does work best. My recording was done in a room near a busy road and the app was able to filter out some noise. I think if noise is coming from another room, within reason, that wouldn’t affect the recording. But a quiet room is definitely a must. That said, small rooms, like closet-small, can work great. I’d probably look for unused, unconventional spaces where possible. Outdoors might be an option if you found a sheltered corner? Sorry, I can’t be more help!
Hi Lyndsay,
This was very informative. I used to listen to a lot of different podcasts but I found myself moving away from it this year (I’m not sure why).
I have never considered making my own but from going through your course, I didn’t realize it is actually quite simple! As you have experience making your own, do you think this is something students should be able to do as well?
Hi Seo-Whi,
I move in and out of love with podcasts too. One thing I noticed in my research was that listeners found podcasts essentially more difficult to listen to and didn’t rate them as highly engaging as video stimuli, even if their learning had greater depth by other measurements. I’m indebted to Evelyne Tsang’s comment and for sharing this study and inspiring me to explore how the difficulty of listening versus watching stimuli has a lot to do with a greater degree to which we are constructing knowledge as we learn. Listening a deeper learning experience but takes more effort. All that is to say that in this pandemic year my brain has been in overload more than once (as I’m sure has been the case for others) and is often when I drop podcasts in favour of other forms of entertainment or learning.
You’re right to notice podcast production is incredibly simple these days and I do think students could make their own quite successfully. I also think they’ll get much more out of making their own, either solo or in groups, than just listening (though that has value too). I don’t have experience with apps other than Anchor.fm, such as Audacity or Bandcamp, but I get the impression Anchor.fm is the simplest to use. One of my favourite parts about the app was that you can conduct an interview by logging in, opening what is essentially a private chat room, and sending your interviewee a link via email. The interviewee opens the link on their smartphone and is instantly in your recording room. The quality is so much better than the old way, which involved a hand-held recorder for interviews and a separate microphone for narration. The quality never quite matched up and assembling all the pieces was frustrating for a novice. Because all the pieces students need are in one place they can focus on just bringing their project to life instead of learning a handful of different devices and programs.
Lyndsay,
Your presentation is an engaging overview of the benefits of podcasts (Articulate is such a cool program). I am a huge consumer of podcasts. I have shared different episodes, such as Radiolab, within my class but I have never made one of my own – maybe it is time! Your Podcast Production is an excellent resource that students could easily follow to make their own recordings. Have you had your students make podcasts themselves?
Hi DeeDee,
I’m so glad to hear you found the steps clear and useable by students as well as adults! I was really hoping to demystify the process. It’s a much more accessible medium than people think.
Now is certainly the time to jump in! It’s so much easier than it used to be to make a decent quality podcast (see my response to Seo-Whi Kwon above for more on that).
I haven’t had students make podcasts themselves, but I did produce a youth radio show about seven years ago in my non-teacher days. I helped youth conduct interviews, source music, and write scripts, then aired the pre-recorded episode on a local radio station (likely much easier to make happen in rural Yellowknife, NT than in an urban centre). Even with access to a proper sound room, I wish we’d had access to apps like the one I used here because the quality is much easier to regulate between music, narration, and interviews (phone interviews can have huge variations in quality when conducted old-school over the phone). The app really capitalizes on the benefits of mobile technology in a way sound rooms and hard-wired telephones just can’t.
As a teacher, I usually work with 3- to 5-year-olds and I think even that age would get really into the process. I would begin by playing a podcast-story for young children. Then, I’d use one of my favourite story-building activities with them to write our own story. We could plan out certain sound effects and I’d likely have the children record their contributing sentences one-on-one with me. It would be an excellent parent engagement activity as well because it would be easy to share, though privacy may be a consideration. I published my Anchor.fm podcast (officially on Spotify) but you can also simply download the file to your device and share it in a more private way.
Ultimately, I think the empowerment of seeing the self as a modern content-creator would be beneficial for any age, preschoool to adulthood, and is completely doable. Have fun with yours! I’d love to hear it!