Today, I’m focusing on how to use podcasts in education from finding podcasts to use as supplemental material to how teachers and students can create their own podcasts. So let’s jump in!
When video was first introduced into classrooms a few decades ago now, many educators thought it was a fad and it wouldn’t find a placehold. Kind of silly, now right? I feel that many in education are just as hesitant to use podcasts now. As a medium, podcasts are super popular as according to Edison Research and Triton Digital, there are now 62 million Americans listening to podcasts each week.
But they still aren’t widely used in classrooms, which is a shame as podcasts could be used in much the same way as videos, as a way to share stories of history or hear about processes in Science, or ultimately learn about a myriad of topics in all content areas. Or as Jennifer Gonzalez from Cult of Pedagogy puts it, “to deliver content, provide enrichment, or explain topics in a different way for students who don’t get a concept the first time around”.
FINDING PODCASTS
So how do you find podcasts to use in your classroom? There are podcasts that serve both children and adults and for secondary education, you will often be able to use both. You’ll need a podcast app on either a phone or tablet, which will allow you to find, organize and subscribe to shows or listen to individual episodes. Every podcast app, also sometimes known as “podcatchers”, has a section filled with recommended shows you can browse for or you can browse by category.
Some of the most popular podcast apps are Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. I primarily use Google Podcasts, but if I can’t find a show, I can generally find it on Spotify. Let me show you a quick example in Google Podcasts. Click the explore button. You can browse the education section or search for a specific podcast. When you find a podcast you like, you can see the show description, a button to subscribe and all the episodes. Click on an episode to view the description of the episode and either start playing the episode or click the download icon to download it. If I click the “activity” button and then the “downloads” tab, I can find all the episodes I have downloaded and play from here.
You can also do a simple Google search to find podcasts appropriate for your content area. I typed in educational podcasts for students and one of the other suggested searches that popped up was “Podcasts for high school English teachers”. Without even really trying, I had plenty of suggestions. But as always, consider your standards and look at which ones would be good to use for this type of medium. Pick standards that are good for making connections across genres or content areas. For example, if reading The Grapes of Wrath, pair the novel with an episode or two about the Great Depression. The same works if students are learning about The New Deal in Government or history classes. Podcasts can help students feel the context of the times they are learning about.
I’ll link to podcasts that can be used in both elementary and secondary in the episode notes, but since I work at a high school here are some of the most popular podcasts for high school students:
- Radiolab, is a Peabody-award winning series which discusses Science ideas that can be used to get students thinking or kick off a discussion.
- Science Friday, covers topics about Science and technology interviewing scientists and inventors on everything from space to microbes in the body.
- StoryCorps, from NPR has a mission to share humanity’s stories and build connections between people. They’ve recorded hundreds of people’s stories on different topics from all over the country. You can search their site for locations, topics, and the year it was recorded back to 2003 when the project first began.
- Inside the Admissions Office: Advice from Former Admissions Officers. Every week, former admissions officers are interviewed to give their advice on how to succeed in high school and get through the college admissions process. They cover components like personal essays, letters of recommendation, high school course selection, and internships.
- The Daily is a 20 minute podcast that airs Monday through Friday from the New York Times and describes highlights of the latest news and political events, which would be great for our history and government classes.
- I also want to mention one that I listen to called American History Tellers. The host does an amazing job of making the historical topics come to life and I’ve learned a lot more about how our country came to be from Dutch settlers landing on Manhattan to labor unions stepping up for worker’s rights. They often have 5 or 6 episodes per topic, but you could pick one to share with students and encourage them to listen to other episodes on their own as extension learning.
BENEFITS OF USING PODCASTS
One of the benefits to listening to podcasts is that you can listen while doing other things: getting ready for the day, working out, or doing the dishes. I listen on my way to and from work. With video, I find I need to pay more attention and can’t focus on anything else. But it’s different when you’re listening rather than viewing and students can still continue learning while doing simple tasks.
Another benefit is that podcasts can go anywhere as the easiest way to listen is through an app on a phone. Students can put their phone in a pocket or backpack and plug in headphones and keep going! However, most podcasts also have dedicated websites where you can listen to episodes, so if a phone or tablet is not an option, as would most likely be the case with younger students, you can link to specific episodes.
For students with low internet connectivity, this is also a great option as most videos can’t be downloaded, but podcast episodes can. So if they can connect to the Internet long enough to download the episode, they can listen without needing the Internet at all. And if we go by this thinking, maybe you will want to create your own podcast to share direct instruction and lectures in an entirely new way too! I mean, think about it, if you are discussing something that doesn’t need a ton of visuals, this can be a great way to share content with students with low connectivity.
CREATING YOUR OWN PODCASTS
Which leads us to, what if you want to create or have students create their own podcasts? I’m going to get on my soapbox here for a moment: Creating one recording where you talk about a topic is not a podcast. I’ve had teachers come to me before saying I want my students to make a podcast! And when I sit down with them to talk through what they’re plan is, I discover they just want to do one recording. That’s an audio file! NOT a podcast. I want to be clear here: A podcast is a SERIES. With several episodes. If you want to do this with students, I would make it a project that lasts several weeks, a semester or make it a year long project, where students have time to plan out, record, and publish several episodes. Like, say 5, at the very least. Okay, mini rant over.
I’m going to talk about this from the student side, but know that everything I am talking about applies to you creating your own podcast too. When setting this up as a project, there are some things you as the teacher should consider before introducing podcasting, such as recording time, topics, guests, etc. Ask yourself, how often will students record? How many episodes do I want them to do? Look at your timeline and at how many weeks you have and then figure out when each episode should be due and help structure that timeline for students giving checkpoints for when their topics should be decided by, when research and scripts are due, and when they should record and edit by. This is going to look different depending on age levels and topics. With younger students, it might be a one minute podcast on what they learned in class this week or for older students a 10 minute podcast discussing the causes of the French Revolution.
Speaking of topics, will students decide their own topics, or will you give them a list to choose from, or will the topic be less up for debate and maybe about a specific novel students are reading or about a current unit of study? Also, how long should their episodes be? Because these aren’t professional podcasts, I would say 5 – 7 minutes is a good amount of time and probably shorter for younger students. However, every year, NPR has a student podcast challenge and their rules state podcasts should be 3 – 12 minutes. So it’s really up to you.
Also, decide how many people will be recording the podcast, will it be one person or a pair or more? Even with the pandemic, this could still work as a collaborative project with students recording and editing in WeVideo at separate times. Real time collaboration is coming to WeVideo soon, but at this moment, students could make a collaborative project, with only one person being in the file at a time. In WeVideo, students would go to projects, click the plus sign to create a new project, give it a title and select “collaborative”. Then they would either select their partner or send them a link to join the project and click “next” until they come to the project created screen, grab the invite link if needed and start creating. The students who are invited will find the file under “projects” and then “shared with me”. However, if this seems too complicated, plenty of podcasts have only one person as the host.
To introduce podcasting to students, I would suggest starting with having students listen to a few episodes of different podcasts, so they know what a podcast is and what goes into making one. When they are ready to create, they will need to script out or at the very least brainstorm and outline the different items they need to include. Use a checklist or a rubric to help students understand what you are expecting them to include from an introduction, specific items about their topic they need to answer, to include guests or not, and a conclusion. Emphasize with students that the more prepared they are before recording, the better the recording and editing will go.
To further help you and your students, I’ve put together a module in Canvas that includes a HyperDoc that introduces podcasting and how students can create their own podcasts and their own podcast trailer. You can find it in the Canvas Commons by searching for Exploring Podcasts or by my name. If you don’t have Canvas, don’t fear, I will also include a Google Doc with the same information in the episode notes.
RECORDING YOUR PODCAST
Finally, let’s talk about recording. If students are using WeVideo, they can either create the collaborative project I explained earlier for working with two or more students or from the dashboard where they can click on “podcast”. If choosing the second option, the file will automatically open in the narrate function and students can start recording. Just so you’re aware, WeVideo only allows for 10 minutes of recording at a time. So if students do make a 12 minute podcast, they can record for 10 minutes and then click the narrate button again to finish out the last two minutes. When done recording, hit the stop button and either review the recording, record again or save. The saved recording will be added as a voiceover track. They can add music to spice it up a little and add more of their own creativity.
Once finished editing, click the “finish” button, set a name for the file, and make sure the export is set to “podcast”. I would have students save the export to their Google Drive where they can then share the file with you or submit as an assignment in Canvas or whatever your LMS is. However, I would encourage you to let students share out their podcasts, if nothing else with their classmates. The easiest way to have students share out is to create a Google Form where students can fill out their name, block or period, and paste in the link to their podcast. Then create a spreadsheet from the responses and share out the spreadsheet with the entire class so they can click on the links to listen to their classmates podcasts. You could also have students’ podcasts displayed in a Google Site or other school approved website platform.
If students don’t have WeVideo, there are other alternatives. There’s a free program called Audacity, which will allow students to record just as easily. The one thing to note is that Audacity does not have a library full of music, so students will have to find copyright free music files to add in. Garageband on macs is another free tool that makes for easy podcasting and has a library of music to choose from. These next two options are not available to use in my district, but I’m going to mention them because they might be approved for yours. Anchor is a website that will allow anyone to create a podcast, record, and also host the recording to be shared out with anyone or through a podcast catcher all for free. However, be aware that any Anchor user can click the monetize feature and make money from their podcast. I don’t think many school districts would be happy with that and that’s why we don’t use it and I’m not 100 percent sure it passes Coppa either. Soundtrap, another site similar to Anchor, has education accounts and the capability to create classes, but for a fee.
I’ll leave more information about all of these apps and sites in the episode notes.
If your students end up really liking podcasting, encourage them to create one on their own about their interests or hobbies. They can register their podcast through a site like Anchor or with itunes and end up getting sponsors! This could be a real life job for some of our students!
All of the resources mentioned in today’s episode will be available in the episode notes on Wakelet.
Have you used podcasts in your classroom? What advice can you give others?
Ms Priester EDU 