Why Podcasts are Perfect for Classrooms
At Vocal Fry, we make all kinds of podcasts. In one of our latest projects, it’s all about nursing! Stories from the Field: Public Health Nursing in Ontario was created in collaboration with the University of Toronto's Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing.
But it’s not just a podcast about nurses — episodes will actually be used as course content and a learning resource for nursing students at UofT.
How cool is that?
Throughout production we’ve been thinking about how podcasts can support both students and lecturers.
Here’s how podcasts can play an amazing role in and out of the classroom.
Accessibility
Students learn in all kinds of ways. Some are auditory learners, visual learners, or tactile learners—some are a mix of all those, depending on the subject. That’s why as a medium, podcasts are an accessible way for students to interact with course material. Podcasts are usually in a traditional audio format, but they can also have a video component as well.
Transcripts are another bonus when listening to podcasts. Reading along with a podcast is especially helpful for those who prefer a text-based format over audio. Plus, transcripts are super useful for referencing back to ideas or searching for specific information.
Conversationality
Producers put a lot of work into podcasts so that they feature segments that spark discussions, ask questions, or inspire new ways of thinking. This makes podcast episodes a great tool to prime students for discussions and debates prior to class time.
Podcasts are conversational in nature, which is helpful for putting students in a space to speak freely about the topic they’re learning about, where research articles and textbooks can come across as rigid, stilted, and overly academic. I would have loved to have listened to podcasts as a discussion exercise when I was a student, it would have helped make course content more tangible, approachable, and easier to discuss!
Hearing a variety of perspectives on a topic can prime students with opinions and responses that they can take with them when it’s time to work through the topics as a class or in small groups.
Approachability
Since podcasts are pre-recorded, they can be edited to provide key information to students without any stumbles or false starts. This fluid flow of ideas is helpful for keeping attention. Another plus is the ability to play/pause, fast forward/rewind, or increase/decrease speeds at their convenience. This is helpful for students who need breaks or other accommodations to help absorb information.
Transportability
Podcasts are extremely mobile, which makes them perfect for a long sitdown study session, a companion playlist at the gym, or as a soundtrack to a long commute. The portability of podcasts creates an advantage for the medium being useful in times where pulling out a hefty textbook and highlighters isn’t feasible. Not only that, but the portability makes podcasts simple to start and stop at the listener’s convenience, cutting down on some of the stress that can stop a student from beginning a study session that they think is complex and overwhelming.
Longevity
Once produced, podcasts are quite affordable to host and maintain relative to the reach and use that you can get out of them. Done correctly, it’s simple to create episodes that are evergreen and can be referenced for semesters to come.
Also, updating podcasts is as easy as uploading new episodes to your feed. There’s always something new happening in the world of nursing, from groundbreaking research to changing public policy, so there’s always an excuse to make a new episode!
As you could imagine, we’re huge supporters of using podcasts in the classroom. Podcasting is all about speaking directly to your audience, and students are an amazing audience to speak to. If you’re playing with the idea of using podcasts in the classroom, get in touch with us. We would love to hear about your podcast goals.
P.S. Click through to read an interview with Maureen Cava and Susan Blue, retired public health nurses and hosts of Stories From the Field, about their experience creating their podcast.
