What is podcasting?

A podcast is an audio file made available for online streaming. The delivery mechanism can be audio, or, in some cases, video. It includes a variety of formats, such as conversations between the hosts, interviews in the field, and storytelling. Podcasts are used to inform, entertain, educate, and persuade audiences. As a format, podcasting offers a lot of flexibility. Reading an academic essay out loud does not make an engrossing podcast; students must think carefully about their audience and how to keep their interest. The conversational, journalistic style that many podcasts use encourages students to think outside the box in terms of presentation. The length of a podcast can vary greatly depending on the content and purpose. Some podcast can be as long as 3 hours while others are a mere 15 minutes with most podcasts running between 30 to 60 minutes.

How can I use podcasting?

Faculty and instructors can use podcasts to encourage students to engage with a topic by writing, speaking, and discussing. This process promotes multi-sensory learning. They can also push students to practice different types of writing for a wider audience, which inculcates a wider range of skills. Podcasts can also motivate students to use their creative energy in new mediums and merge project-based learning with digital media analysis and production skills. Podcasts can be well-suited to topics with an aural or verbal component, including, but not limited to: 

• Discussions
• Debates
• Foreign language practice
• Interviews
• Recitals
• Reflections
• Journaling

If you choose to give a podcasting assignment, you can help your students by scaffolding it into your course design. One strategy would be to use “One-minute podcasts,” which asks students to produce miniature one-minute podcasts that introduce the topic, the thesis statement, or the project plan. You can even have a sequence of small assignments where the students submit all three.

You might utilize rubrics in your assignment design. When recording material, people often become focused on pauses, awkward silences, and other minor details, or else get carried away with editing and special effects. Rubrics are valuable because they will help your students focus on the core assignment. They help set expectations about: 

• Length
• Audio quality
• Content
• Structure
• Engagement
• Delivery. 

Some examples of podcast rubrics can be found at University of Wisconsin’s Podcast Rubric, readwritethink.org’s Podcast Rubric and Georgetown University’s Podcast Rubric. Professor Melih Levi has graciously shared a rubric for his Podcasting Final Assignment that he used for previous podcasting assignments. Rubrics will also help your students understand that even though production quality is important, other factors will carry significant weight when determining the final grade for your assignment, such as the level of engagement with the material they were analyzing. This can also help students manage their time and steer students away from endless retakes and towards engaging the material.

How do I help the students plan the Podcast?

Your students’ podcasts will benefit from proper planning, just like any other assignment. Whether it’s an essay or podcast, encourage your students to make an outline and plan before they start recording and editing. Have them brainstorm how they want to turn their topic into an audio story. Ask them what components they will need: spoken stories, interviews, narration? 

Before students get started producing their own podcasts, they can listen to and dissect a podcast to reveal a rough outline of the components that make up the podcast, and practice how to plan a podcast from an initial question. You can suggest students analyze podcasts produced by other students from Semester in the West or Audio Playground. After listening, you can ask your students to answer some questions for their own podcasts, such as: 

• What is the Focus/ Topic Question?
• Is there a narrator? What is her or his role?
• Will you interview anyone? Using what questions? Where will it be?
• Will the podcast include storytelling?
• What stories will be included? 
• Will the podcast include sound effects or music? 
• What ideas do you have for the beginning and ending of the podcast? 

How do I share the Podcasts?

Once students have recorded their audio and edited it together into an effective, engaging podcast, there is still one crucial step: making it available for people to listen to. Canvas has a built-in system for podcasting inside Discussions. First, the instructor must enable the podcast feed. Students upload their podcasts using the Record/Upload Media button in the Rich Content Editor, and all the podcasts are available both from the discussion and via the podcast feed link. You can also use Panopto, the University’s video management solution, to share with people in and outside of courses. Panopto is also a great option for students to give feedback on one another’s work. Panopto can auto-transcribe audio recordings as well which is required for equal access and ensures our compliance accessibility requirements. Other options include Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, and SoundCloud. If your course uses a Voices WordPress blog, you can also upload audio files directly to WordPress. 

Good luck with your adventures in podcasting. If at any time you have questions or need help please remember to reach out to Academic Technology Solutions. 

Additional Resources

1. Chronicle of Higher Education: Four Mistakes I Made When Assigning Podcasts, Evan Cordulack, 2012.
2. New York Times: Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce Their Own Podcasts, 2018. (Aimed at K-12, but contains useful tips that can be adapted to higher education.)
3. Listen to some student podcasts at Audio Playground
4. Whitman College’s Semester in the West is an interdisciplinary field program focusing on public lands conservation and rural life in the interior American West.
5. Share this Planning form from the NYT with your students as a starting point for planning their own podcasts.