Welcome to Jeannine and Rich’s Movable Feast ~ OER on Podcasts. We aim to bring you a fresh look at podcasts, first covering the educational relevance and connecting you with potential resources to ‘level up’ your podcast game. Then we explore the potential futures of podcasting with three potential scenarios.
We ask that you engage with our OER firstly by taking part in our poll posted on our website, the results will (anonymously) show in real time! Secondly please come back to this post and kindly give us your feedback on one of our topic areas.
Thank you for your time to read, and enjoy!
https://sites.google.com/pwpsd.ca/oer-podcastsa2/home
Jeannine & Rich
Hi Jeannine & Rich,
Great job on your website. I found it very easy to work through and interpret. You also listed a lot of great places where podcasting could go.
In a classroom, do you see a lot of young students buying into podcasts with the increasingly short attention spans? I wonder if allowing students to multi task when listening to podcasts may be a good idea. So, they could do any activity, including playing a video game, while listening to the podcast. However, do you think that this level of multi tasking could cause more problems than good? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Jazz
Hi Jazz,
Thank you.
You’ve raised several interesting questions here. I am going to leave the first aside (maybe some others can respond) as I am not directly in the classroom these days. I will give you my personal thought on the second question you pose on whether multi-tasking is a good idea. I think for young learners/ adolescents, it would serve them well, especially in a world where technology is figuring them out faster than they are figuring themselves out, to practice being self aware of what is and what is not working well. For example some people when focusing on an intensive reading/writing task benefit from music to concentrate, while others need silence. For some people they can do a physical task while paying attention to something else requiring a lot of focus (like a podcast). My theory on multi-tasking and how doable it is, is a) whether it is taking up the same type of bandwidth in your brain. The more dissimilar the better, otherwise it is a tradeoff as to which task you can give more bandwidth. And b) To what extent have you mastered an activity, ie. whether you can do it without really having to think consciously about it.
So for A, listening to a podcast and reading a book, no, they are competing tasks, cannot separate those bandwidths. To your example podcasting and videogaming at the same time – maybe! Maybe depends on the game and the gamer.
And for B, listening to a podcast and folding laundry, no problem, I’ve done it a million times. But teaching my four year old to fold laundry is a really intense task for her and if I gave her something to listen to at the same time and quizzed her on what she comprehended while trying to do that (for her) intense task – probably would not show favourable results. Or another example, I have been driving for decades, and listening to podcasts is a great pairing for my commute. Probably not such as good idea for a new driver of 1 or 2 years to be listening to a podcast while driving. And – back to A. (competing bandwidth) not a good idea for anybody to be texting and driving no matter how experienced a driver or texter they are!
So my opinion is that we all, no matter where we are in life, have to try to be self aware of when we are preforming optimally.
Sorry for the long winded answer, but I do also find it a very interesting and useful question to ask ourselves!
Thank you for brining it up.
~Rich
Hi Jeannine and Rich, thank you for your informative and engaging OER! I love using podcasts in the classroom so I was excited for this OER. I am a language teacher and an Indigenous studies teachers so podcasts have been well used in my classroom. In my language class I ask students to write and produce their won podcast after listening to many different examples on a topic of their choice – kind of like a passion project. In my Indigenous Studies class, we study podcasts through the lense of storytelling and they each pick an podcast created by an Indigenous creator to present to the class.
I was particularly attracted to the segment on AI and podcasts, and I’m excited to start using elements of AI in my podcast units. For students, AI tools could be really important to make their podcasts sound more professional such as removing background noises and automating editing tasks. For a language class, AI can also enhance accessibility and inclusivity through accurate transcriptions and subtitles. Listening comprehension can be extremely challenging for some students so it makes this part of the unit much more accessible.
Thank you again for your OER! Great reading.
Hi Olivia,
Both of your teaching areas that you are utilizing podcasts in sound like fascinating classes – I wish I could be a fly on the wall !
For the AI aspect of podcasting, while looking into it, I definitely found more production end for current uses that is incorporating AI, not so much yet on the user end. It was fun to imagine where we might go from here through, as we seem to be in the first inning with AI technology and it will impact everything.
~Rich
Hello Jeannine and Rich,
Thank you for an informative OER! I really appreciated this ‘tab’ for Leveling up your Podcast game: Combining technologies because it was thoughtful and helpful as a teacher. It acted like a guide to give me more confidence to maybe start my own, mini podcasts for future lessons. I’ve used podcasts to enhance lesson plans and to engage students in multi-tasking. Sometimes, playing podcasts meanwhile students are catching up on their work.
Thanks Clareyeh,
The ‘Leveling Up Your Podcast’ tab was Jeannine’s handiwork 🙂 Glad it was useful.
Very cool to hear you are able to incorporate podcasts to enhance your lesson plans. ~ lucky students! (in my opinion).
~Rich
Hi Jeannine and Rich,
Great work on the OER! It was both informative and engaging. It’s exciting to see the emerging trends in VR technologies and AI creating more immersive audio experiences. I think podcasts are an excellent educational medium, but I’ve found that they can often be time-consuming and costly to produce. Utilizing AI, as mentioned in your OER, can help make production more efficient. In my experience, using tools like AI text-to-speech has helped produce audio recordings more quickly and efficiently.
Another promising aspect of podcasts as an educational tool which came to mind, is their growing use in Indigenous communities. Oral storytelling, which is crucial in many Indigenous cultures, can be well-suited to the podcast format, allowing traditional narratives and knowledge to be widely shared and preserved.
Additionally, audio and mobile technologies are being used in Indigenous communities to preserve indigenous languages, with emerging AI tools increasingly being used to aid in this process. Some initiatives are using AI to document and transcribe audio recordings of Indigenous languages, knowledge, and stories, which is promising yet challenging.Transcribing these languages can risk altering or losing their full meaning, as they are deeply rooted in oral traditions, and transcribing them into a written form may alter or fail to capture the full meaning of these languages (Ebadi, 2018). Therefore, while AI and audio technologies present exciting opportunities for education and cultural knowledge preservation, it is essential to address the challenges and limitations they may also pose.
References:
Ebadi, B. (2018, June 30). Technology alone can’t preserve endangered languages. Centre for International Governance Innovation. https://www.cigionline.org/articles/technology-alone-cant-preserve-endangered-languages/?utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=grant&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-ai0BhDPARIsAB6hmP5UTlj2LlpK4WGJX8M4_0RHDLTgbeBWg_dhTugXlQEyl23BRzI5vHEaAtEIEALw_wcB
December 04, 2023: Listen to Indigenous voices! Indigenous podcasts have emerged as a tool to decolonize the airwaves. | NITEP – The Indigenous Teacher Education Program. (n.d.). https://nitep.educ.ubc.ca/december-04-2023-listen-to-indigenous-voices-indigenous-podcasts-have-emerged-as-a-tool-to-decolonize-the-airwaves/#:~:text=Podcasting%20emerges%20as%20a%20tool,Eve%20Tuck%20at%20OISE.
Hi Lynn,
Thank you for including the Indigenous aspect here and how the affordance lends itself well to the tradition of passing on knowledge orally. I agree there are amazing opportunities there and I can see that oral communication as a way of learning and remembering is becoming of more vital importance again just in the way technology is moving. There would appear to be a great synergy there. The only (I think very interesting) issue there, I’ve heard from an elder that a story is told in context of a time, place and to a specific audience. So in a recording, some of that factoring in and communicating with the specific audience can be lost. I think however the benefit of the scalability and mobility and longevity of the archive are all very attractive affordances of the medium.
Thanks for your references and bringing in another interesting angle here that we did not cover. That would make another good project in itself !
~Rich
Hello Jeannine & Rich.
Thank you for sharing the OER this week. It’s an exciting topic I’ve seen frequently utilized in the classroom, especially when students create a product to showcase their knowledge. One notable benefit of podcasts I have seen is that students who are sometimes hesitant to express their understanding in written form are more inclined to share information verbally. I also appreciated your inclusion of AI and editing tools that can help students finalize their podcast projects.
The concept of virtual reality podcasts is particularly intriguing, especially the idea of virtual tours or incorporating visual components. However, one challenge to implementing this is the increasing ban on personal mobile devices in classrooms and the cost of (VR) devices, which could limit students’ opportunities to create podcasts and other knowledge-sharing projects.
Thank you again for hosting this week and sharing your research on the topic area.
Joel
Hi Joel,
Thanks for your feedback and observations.
To your point about some students being more amenable to auditory/verbal expression, it is a great reminder that we all have different strengths and weaknesses and different ways of learning. Perhaps the addition of another medium can create more inclusivity with learner types.
You’re right, we are heading into new territory in the schools regarding mobile usage and parents as well as professionals are also divided on the issue. It’s an issue I am excited to dig into and will be doing something along those lines for my A3.
Rich
Hi Jeannine & Rich,
I appreciate the approach and work you’ve taken with your OER.
Prior to reading your OER, I would not have considered myself an avid podcast consumer, but now I think I may be part of the statistic cited from the Pew Poll in how I interact with them. I have found over the past few years that I’ve branched out and listened to a wide variety of topics across multiple platforms, often consuming podcasts for personal use like listening to the New York Times “The Daily” for news stories and sports related podcasts to stay up to date.
Despite the availability of podcasts on virtually any topic I can think of, I think the application within my professional context is quite limited. Similar to Devon, I develop educational resources for specific needs within a corporate training environment. When we introduce concepts or best practices in our context, the resources we do develop or curate from sources need to adhere to policies and processes. One source that I can think of that offers recorded webinars that can be consumed like podcasts unfortunately have low listening rates. Part of this is due to the medium in which they’re consumed, which requires a login to a government website, but also from feedback we’ve heard is that a 60 to 90-minute session isn’t realistic for them to listen to while simultaneously working.
I also wanted to touch on your point about authenticity and tie it to what I think is the most likely future of podcasts, which would be scenario 3. I did a quick search of the most listened to podcasts on Spotify of 2023, and at the top of the list was the Joe Rogan Experience (TechCrunch, 2024). Admittedly, I have only listened to clips of this show and never listened to a full episode, but the Wikipedia page speaks to the influence the podcast has. It’s noted the impact on the 2020 American presidential election and instances where the podcast was criticized for conversations about COVID-19 that led to Spotify adding content advisories for specific episodes. I use this podcast as an example, but I think those questions about authenticity extends beyond the podcasts themselves and to the platforms that house them and their ability to manage instances of controversial or misinformation.
While this question is rather large, I think it’s worth asking. If the most popular podcasts are causing platforms like Spotify to review how they balance the line between popularity and accuracy of information, how would educators manage this context to identify biases if learners introduce content they’ve consumed into learning environments?
Again, thanks for the OER!
References
Silberling, A. (2024, February 6). Actually, it’s good for Spotify that Joe Rogan’s podcast is no longer exclusive. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/06/actually-its-good-for-spotify-that-joe-rogans-podcast-is-no-longer-exclusive/
Hi Richard,
Thank you for your feedback and added thoughts on the topic.
Regarding the specific corporate training and education that you are involved with, I am intrigued by the webinars having low listening rates. You mentioned they can be consumed like podcasts, however you also mention they require logins through a government website. Would you consider the webinars to a truly mobile friendly platform? For example is it something that easily lends itself to listening on a phone hands free through a car entertainment system for example? If it is healthcare, it would make sense that multitasking with auditory learning is not optimal during work. Do you think that if the webinars could be provided on a more mobile friendly platform it would have better uptake?
Regarding your example of authentic information as it relates to the Joe Rogan show, it is certainly is a wide range of content and opinions. Definitely not appropriate for young listeners. Spotify decided to act as a medium of communication and not as a curator of content, choosing not to get involved in censorship. I think it is different for teachers of younger people as they do have a responsibility to be careful about what content and biases they are introducing and how. Kevin, (in the post below) brought up the idea of using certain content as the learning object itself to teach the students how to discern content with a critical lens and evaluate the authenticity of information. Although teachers have always done that in various ways, I think he raises a good point that we need to continue to apply that critical lens to content on new popular tech platforms rather than just acting as a filter.
Thanks for raising interesting questions Richard and giving personal feedback as it relates to your work.
~Rich
Hi Jeannine and Rich,
Awesome OER! You’ve presented the information in such an engaging way that it was very fun to read through and learn. I am not an avid consumer of podcasts but I do have a bit of experience: a true-crime documentary during a long road trip, several comedies and Dungeons and Dragons productions, and a Lord of the Rings breakdown of the Silmarillion. I’ve also watched many shortened clips of various productions during their most entertaining moments, showcased on apps like TikTok and Instagram.
I would like to bring up a conflict about podcasts which you have already mentioned because it also has huge potential use for educators. As you describe, the ease of production allows for a “firehose” of information which may be hard to determine its value because it is also hard to determine its credibility. From what I have experienced, the credibility of information is often lost in lieu of entertainment. In addition, many hosts are not experts in the fields they are discussing, they are merely acting as invested interviewers, while the guests of shows who are deemed experts, are not always the most credible merely the most opinionated. In all, many podcasts seem to value viewership and infotainment over conveying important and factual information.
I can recall tremendous amounts of misinformation and even conspiracy in several of the highlighted TikTok and Instagram clips that pop up on my social media every day.
As you have indicated, it is up to the educator to assess the credibility of the information before they present it to a group of learners. I would just like to add in the potential learning experience where educators assess the credibility of the information with the learners. Especially at younger ages, this would be an amazing moment for learners to practice their media literacy and ask critical questions about the information they are digesting.
Not that educators would provide blatantly incorrect or consiratorial content, but at the end of a podcast, an educator could ask a group of learners how true they believe the information is and why they believe it to be so. Followed by a group researching activity, the learners would piece together some very incredible realizations.
I have done a quick activity like this with a YouTube video where several students were convinced of the truth of a video simply because it was produced at a high quality on YouTube. What they came up with in the end was amazing.
So, my point in a nut shell is this, even though educators have to be very careful to determine the credibility of the hosts and information which is being conveyed, embracing the process of asking critical questions with the learners can be even more enlightening and informational in the long run.
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for the thoughtful comments. You raise an excellent point, analyzing content together with the students is a teaching opportunity! As with so many new technologies part of embracing them in education is teaching use and management skills. It is clear that along with so much incredibly valuable content comes many different biases or worse as you point out, even potential mal/mis or dis information. But just as important as an educator critically analyzing and filtering for quality, the educator needs to also take time to make sure the students are equipped with the skill set to do so themselves.
Awesome to hear that you have put this into teaching practice with new media in a fun and engaging way with great results.
I think I will go back and add your point into our OER and update the website.
Thank you for your valuable contribution.
~Rich
Hi Kevin,
You hit the nail on the head regarding digital literacy and critical thinking. We are in an age in which educators are tasked with delivering curriculum and teaching students how to navigate this quickly evolving and changing minefield of technology. While some provinces have embedded these skills into the curriculum, a more intentional approach is needed in this new era of deepfakes and misinformation. I appreciate your statement, “the credibility of information is often lost in lieu of entertainment.” This is my main concern regarding podcasts and education – bringing students alongside to analyze podcasts or other media content, is a great way to understand the content on a deeper level while also sharpening their critical eyes.
Cheers!
Jeannine
Hey all – thank you for the OER this week. I was really intrigued by the idea of VR enhanced podcasts. The possibilities of an immersive podcast experience would be incredible. I do relate though, to when I was producing a monthly podcast, one the major draws to the medium was that it was so easy to create. You don’t need lights, or makeup or a fancy studio, it can basically be a couple of microphones and a computer. So in part, I think the complications of integrating all the other workflows and technical skills for a VR production would keep this from becoming mainstream. Plus, the user is then bound to the VR equipment, eliminating the portability of a traditional podcast. I think there will be an evolution in this area, but it will split into a separate medium away from what we know as podcast – one I would be excited to see and experience. Thanks again !
Hi Nicole,
Excellent points about VR tech adding barrier to entry. As per your experience, one of the reasons for the explosion in podcast content creation and subsequently the mass following is the ease of production and ease of access to consume.
I think you’re probably correct in your prediction that the melding of technologies will likely create offshoots rather than replace the current medium (in general). Possible too though that in time if that tech becomes much cheaper and more user friendly, it will push past the cult following/ early adopters and become more and more popular possibly displacing the popularity of the original.
Particularly with the VR though, it is limiting with respect to physical mobility during usage. I think people are really into podcasts especially for the mobility aspect.
Very cool to hear that you actually produce/ or used to produce a podcast! Would be interested to hear more about it or listen to it.
Best wishes.
~Rich
Hi Nicole,
As Rich mentioned, excellent points regarding VR. I certainly found many podcasts about VR just none that used them. As you mentioned, the equipment needed certainly interferes with mobility as in, you wouldn’t be able to listen/engage while in the car or at the gym, but there are VR systems that are very portable. With that said, the cost of such items would certainly impact equity of access to the immersive experience – which is another challenge. Eventually, I suspect technology will advance to a point where the cost and portability will catch up with the needs of the public, I just hope people don’t take distracted driving to another level!
Cheers!
Jeannine
Hi Jeannine and Rich,
Thanks for the work on the OER. I find it an interesting topic that touches on the ebbs and flows of technology: podcasts being very prominent years ago after the introduction of the iPod, then seeming to loose attention as bandwidth and memory improvements made video options like YouTube viable. Now they seem to be enjoying something of a renaissance. Also interesting in how the legacy of technology terms continues: the term podcast remains although the namesake iPod is now defunct.
Using podcasts in education I think is very context specific. I tend to teach math and science in international schools; not only can my subject matter go rather abstract, nearly all of my students tend to be working in a second language environment. Multi modal approaches are the basis of my lessons, and while I will occasionally go into a more restrictive avenue, it’s for very specific purposes.
Where I do see a lot of value in the audio dominated world of podcasts is specifically with language learning. As a learner myself, I find listening one of the most challenging aspects, so a focused listening task like a podcast has a lot of value. For my own classes, I could see bringing this in occasionally to practice listening in a focused, technical context.
Hi Devon,
Thank you for taking the time to look through our OER. I appreciate your observation and use of the word “renaissance” as I agree that they are seeing a resurgence in popularity. Using podcasts with language learning would be an excellent way to increase listening skills. I certainly understand where you are coming from as a science teacher myself, I do wonder about the cross-curricular opportunity to not only reinforce a particular concept but also support language learning with a science or math-based podcast.
p.s. I too found it interesting that they are still called podcasts when iPods are no longer in production.
Cheers!
Jeannine
Thanks for the reply Jeannine.
And I completely agree that there is value in straying outside the common approaches, and using a podcast to target listening in a math/science contest would absolutely be valuable. I personally would like to include more alternatives like, including things like non-fiction reading that isn’t a textbook: the introduction to Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot hung prominently in my last classroom. I was just underscoring the idea that different contexts will find podcasts more or less intuitive to bring into a class.
Devon
I feel confident that as a science communicator, if Carl Sagan were alive today he would definitely have a podcast!
There are some very cool podcasts out there on all things data, math and science. To your point about the multi-modal teaching approach, if I understood, the hands on application is where the magic happens. Perhaps the podcast is the prep to get learners excited.
Thanks for your feedback Devon ~ interesting observation and input!
~Rich
Hi Jeannine & Rich,
Thanks for your OER on Podcasts!
I will admit that I am not a regular or an avid podcast user – I have dabbled with listening to some over the years, but I have not stuck with them. One of my issues with them is the multi-tasking aspect and listening to them while performing another mundane physical tasks (like cleaning or vacuuming). I may start by actively listening, but over time I eventually stop actively listening and often realize that my mind has wandered to thinking about something else, even though my headphones are still in and I am still ‘listening’. Perhaps this just highlights my poor multi-tasking ability! Through your research, did you come across any information around podcasts and their relationship to our attention span, multi-tasking, and ability to listen and learn, while engaging in other physical tasks?
I am also curious about the possibilities that VR may bring to podcasting – does the addition of visual or other sensory components blur the line between podcasting and other forms of content such as video content? Would the addition of visual components detract from what makes podcasts, podcasts?
Hi Shannon,
Thank you for your feedback. I have to admit that I too am not a regular or avid podcast user but many humans in my circle are and they prefer to listen to them while completing tasks like long drives, housework, or exercise. I completely understand where you are coming from regarding attention and active listening. I sometimes struggle to hear and comprehend what is being said while I am engaged in another activity, which is the reason why I prefer to listen to music over a podcast. With that said, according to Resonate Recordings (2024), podcasts stimulate mental imagery and sharpen cognitive function. “Studies show that regular podcast listeners develop more refined auditory processing and attention skills” and “a key advantage of podcast listening is that it lets us multitask while still absorbing rich content” (Resonate Recordings, 2024).
Regarding the VR component, I think that lines are already blurred as many podcast fans are watching podcasts on YouTube. Adding a VR component doesn’t take away from the content delivered much like illustrations added to a book. The illustrations don’t change the story but rather enhance the reader’s understanding and immersive experience, VR could provide a deeper level of depth and engagement from the listener.
Thank you for the thought-provoking questions, Shannon, you make some valid points!
Cheers!
Jeannine
Hi Shannon,
Our OER didn’t really go in the direction of exploring attention spans, however I think you’ve hit on a really important and interesting research topic.
In recent years we’ve witnessed a divergence in two popular mediums from shorts: clips like TikTok, Facebook and Youtube shorts on one hand and on the other hand, surprise, many millions of people interested in listening to 2 to 4 hour deep dive conversations on, sometimes, really heavy subject matter (through podcasts). So, it is a very interesting phenomenon to look into attention spans right now and highly relevant to young learners. Then to your other point multi-tasking is also a key area of developing interest. In the not so distant past, it was common in the workplace to praise the ability to ‘multi-task’, now there is a recognition that (technically speaking) nobody is really good at multi-tasking, the new buzz word is ‘task-switching’. I’d be really interested to research both of those areas in a future project, thank you for pointing them out.
Personally speaking, I ‘multi-task’ for lack of better words, listening to podcasts when I am in a physical flow state with something I have done so many times I am almost doing it subconsciously by muscle memory. I do also think that it makes sense that studies have apparently shown listening to podcasts builds auditory and attention skills as well as visualization.
Lastly, to your question: “Would the addition of visual components detract from what makes podcasts, podcasts?”, I would say yes. From experience I can say, sometimes when listening to a podcast that is also produced as a video and posted to YouTube the people speaking may pull up some data or be looking at a graph and have to say, “for you folks just listening, what we are looking at is a graph showing x,y,z…”. It is probably optimal to gear a production to one kind of medium, but there are ways around it. This would also be an important consideration when using podcasts to teach certain subject areas that may rely more on visuals or vice versa.
Thanks for your valuable input. Perhaps being a non avid pod user you’ve brought a keen outsider insight to raise some interesting questions.
-Rich
Hi Jeannine & Rich,
I was excited to see that you were presenting on this topic. I am a long-time, avid podcast listener and I have incorporated them into my teaching on many occasions. Since they are such a part of my daily life, from sports to history to comedy as you mention in your OER, I’ve never considered what direction they’re heading, and what sort of frontiers they are approaching.
Of the topics you covered, I was most intrigued by the current and future options for AI Integration in Podcasting (specifically UX, not creation). Especially since they are most often experienced on mobile devices, there are ample opportunities to include AI-driven content, personal tailoring, and GPS-sensitive elements. I remember when I first began listening to podcasts, mostly early experiments in podcasting by CBC Radio that were just edited/packaged versions of shows like DNTO or Wiretap that had originally aired on broadcast radio.
I think this helped create my enduring impression that podcasts are relatively static, archival things that exist the same forever. I vividly recall hearing new ads when relistening to favorite episodes of a podcast (Stuff You Should Know), and it clicked for me that these were living, breathing things that could certainly be modified or tailored if need be. AI seems to be the next layer of this customization.
The most interesting thing you mentioned on this topic, from an educational perspective, was the ability to quickly, and responsively curate content and delivery for a particular listener profile. I have students who would love to hear a certain type of lesson or story presented with specific voices, dealing with slightly modified themes or content, or delivered more quickly or slowly. It leads me to imagine a platform or tool where teachers could be presented with an array of podcasts (serials, informational, language learning, etc.) and then be given several parameters that could be modified to support particular learners. The learners could even engage in this step!
I have used Podcasts from Gen-Z Media (https://gzmshows.com/) in my classroom, starting with Mars Patel and then moving into the rest of their catalog. I have already noticed modifications to old podcasts that have been made over the years, but I don’t believe they’re using AI in the way you are describing. However, I know that they have used AI-generated content/voices since they readily disclose this when it happens. They also provide lesson plans and follow-up activities for some of their content, the generation of which could be another useful application of AI. Perhaps follow-up podcast content could even be generated based on user feedback or answers to questions.
Thanks for the work you put into your platform, I appreciated the opportunity to reflect on one of my favourite things.
Hi Sam,
Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your experiences with podcasts! I appreciate hearing how you currently use them in your practice and some of the suggestions you have come up with regarding how they move forward. Engaging learners in the process, using AI, and follow-up podcast content generated based on user feedback aren’t that far into the future, especially with how quickly AI progresses. It’s exciting to think about and I look forward to hearing about the new ways you may use podcasting in your world!
Thank you for taking a look at our OER!
Jeannine
Hi Sam,
I’m glad you enjoyed our OER from one frequent pod listener to another!
It was professor Vogt who challenged us to think about where new emerging technologies and trends may take podcasts. One challenge Jeannine and I had when researching was in searching for ‘podcast + x’ you predictably get ‘podcasts about x’. Nevertheless I think we we able to touch on some new ideas emerging and theoretical.
I agree with you that one of the greatest potential affordances that AI offers is that customization to the learner profile, the meta management of the individual learner. Surely we are at the tip of the iceberg in that. Pairing that with various other technologies such as podcasts is very exciting. Where I imagine the greatest potential with technologies like podcasts is to reach the world’s poor. This is something we didn’t explore in the OER as it wasn’t the focus, but it is another avenue for exploration. For us listening to a podcast while enduring a commute or chores is a joy and and a way to possibly reach learners in new exciting ways as you are doing in your classroom. Globally speaking, according to UNESCO in 2023, there are 250 million children out-of-school. I think there must be an opportunity to reimagine delivering educational content that could include the mobility of podcasts. In 2016 a shocking headline was that more poor people in the world are likely to have a cell phone than clean drinking water. I think that podcasts are one of the technologies that could help education technology leapfrog infrastructure where it doesn’t exist and economic barriers where they do exist.
Thank you Sam for sharing the Gen-Z Media podcasts as an educational resource and your thoughts on how it does and how it may in future incorporate AI to generate new affordances.
Rich