Chapter 4 Podcasts in Context Podcasts in K–12 School Classrooms others said they read slightly ahead and then could write down a quote while they listened to it. A stu- One place where podcasts are being used increasingly dent with eyesight problems said he appreciates is in school classrooms—from first grade through the ability to take reading breaks without stopping high school. The producers of Brains On! (a science his enjoyment of the story. A few students learning podcast for kids) have heard from elementary school English as a second language wrote that they like teachers in several states who use the podcast in their how they can read the words and—as one student put it—promptly “hear how they’re supposed to classrooms. And high school teachers around the sound.”3 United States have been using podcasts like Radio- lab, This American Life, StoryCorps, and Serial in their Because of the usefulness of reading a transcript classrooms.1 while listening, you may want to look for podcasts An unexpected finding is that young people bene- with transcripts to recommend to your users. Later in fit from and enjoy reading the transcript while listen- this chapter, I’ll discuss the importance of transcripts ing to a podcast. Here is what one teacher says: for accessibility, especially for deaf and hard of hear- ing people. I’ll also give some examples of podcasts What I know now is that high-schoolers—at least my students—like reading and simultaneously lis- that include them and tools for having transcripts tening to podcasts even more. Unlike the first created. season, Serial’s second season features almost per- There is more research that supports the benefits February/March 2017 fectly accurate transcripts of each episode. I knew of audio learning for young people.4 It turns out that it would be a bonus to my lessons this year; I didn’t when words are spoken aloud, children can under- know it would be a game-changer. I turned off the stand ideas that are two to three grade levels higher lights, projected the words, and told them, “Here’s than their normal reading level.5 Also, kids have the script in case that helps anyone.” It apparently improved reading skills when combining listening helped everyone. They all turned their heads, and 6 2 with reading. alatechsource.org some of them shifted their desks. Molly Bloom, host of the Brains On! podcast says, She went on to say, “There are a lot of kids who love Radiolab. Kids are read[ing] stories that don’t have pictures and they can The reasons were as varied as they were compel- ling. Many of them said that reading along with follow it, easily. It engages their imagination in the audio helped with their focus and kept them the way that watching a television program probably from “spacing out” while listening. Others, para- doesn’t. I think podcasts are huge, because for doxically, wrote that they were able to multitask— kids, that is how they listen to things.”7 they could take notes or write on their worksheets She mentions the fact that many times kids enjoy and could keep up with the story even with their watching the same movie or reading the same book Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology eyes off the screen. Some explicitly recognized over and over. The nature of podcasts makes it easy that they could look back and re-read something to listen to particular episodes over and over, learning they didn’t understand when they first heard it; 30 Podcast Literacy: Educational, Accessible, and Diverse Podcasts for Library Users Nicole Hennig something new each time. And they fit into existing Listenwise routines, like drives to school and stories before bed.8 https://listenwise.com Advocacy groups are beginning to form for creat- ing high-quality audio content for kids. One example is Kids Listen. This group of podcast producers has The popular site Teachers Pay Teachers (where joined together to create a community of podcasts teachers can purchase lesson plans from each other) for children and develop standards and ethics.9 Learn saw an increase in downloads of plans related to pod- more by reading their blog. casts in 2014 and 2015.13 Search the site for podcasts to see some sample lesson plans. Kids Listen www.kidslisten.org Teachers Pay Teachers search for “podcasts” https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse Kids Listen Blog /Search:podcasts www.kidslisten.org/blog Some students and teachers are starting podcast Podcasts in Higher Education clubs, where people gather to discuss podcast epi- sodes instead of discussing books.10 A podcast club K–12 schools aren’t the only place where the use of could be a huge hit for adults as well and could make podcasts is beneficial. Academics are also finding a great addition to your library’s programming events. podcasts to be useful in a variety of ways. Helping Students Review Lessons Lesson Plans for Podcasts Incorporating podcasts in the classroom or as a sup- We are beginning to see both free and paid member- plement to classroom teaching is effective for enhanc- ship sites that offer lesson plans for using podcasts in ing learning. This example is from a paper about using the classroom. Here are some examples. podcasts to learn precalculus: One innovative way to use podcasts with kids is Problem-based video podcasts provide short, web- The Walking Classroom. This program combines brisk based, audio-visual explanations of how to solve twenty-minute walks, together as a class, with listen- specific procedural problems in subject areas ing to custom-written podcasts for kids on a preloaded such as mathematics or science. A series of 59 audio device. It’s reported that students return to the problem-based video podcasts covering five key ReportsLibrary Technology classroom in better moods, more focused, and more areas (operations with functions, solving equa- likely to participate in discussions.11 Learn about this tions, linear functions, exponential and logarith- program on its website, and find resources for teach- mic functions, and trigonometric functions) were created as self-study tools and used by 288 higher ers on its teacher resources page. One could imagine education students to acquire pre-calculus skills designing one’s own walking program with a group of over a three week period. The results indicated young people, similar to this. that a majority of students used the video pod- casts frequently, rated them as useful or very use- ful, viewed them as easy to use, effective learning The Walking Classroom homepage tools, and reported significant knowledge gains in alatechsource.org www.thewalkingclassroom.org pre-calculus concepts.14 The Walking Classroom: Teacher Resources Another study looked at using both lectures and www.thewalkingclassroom.org/teacher-resources podcasts sequentially to help improve learning and found that to be very successful.15 And yet another study found that students and February/March 2017 Another site worth visiting is Listenwise. It especially adult learners believe podcasts to be more includes a directory of podcasts and lessons plans effective for reviewing and studying material than for using them with children. They curate the best their textbooks. of pubic radio in order to make it easy to bring audio Statistical analysis of the results of the study indi- learning in to the classroom. Teachers can join the cates that students believe that podcasts are more site with basic features for free. Premium accounts effective revision tools than their textbooks and include interactive transcripts, student submissions, they are more efficient than their own notes in and more.12 helping them to learn. They also indicate that they 31 Podcast Literacy: Educational, Accessible, and Diverse Podcasts for Library Users Nicole Hennig are more receptive to the learning material in the learning, (3) support for content learning, and (4) form of a podcast than a traditional lecture or text- facilitating student involvement. Second, the stu- book. Coupled with the advantages of flexibil- dents saw podcasting as a study tool. The study ity in when, where and how it is used, podcasting proved authentic, internally and systemically valid appears to have significant potential as an inno- and opened up logical generalizability. Some rec- vative learning tool for adult learners in Higher ommendations are given for a better educational Education.16 use of podcasts in higher education.18 As you can see from these examples, using pre- If you’ve ever learned more about a topic by cre- recorded audio or video (such as podcasts) to review ating training for others, you’ll recognize the value of learning is helpful in a number of ways. Students can asking students to create their own podcasts. It’s clear use them at times convenient to them, review and that creating in addition to consuming information is rewind as much as needed, and they can be just plain one of the best ways to learn. fun. You might consider recommending podcasts For more ideas about how podcasts are being used related to subjects that students are studying as one in higher education, see the Wikipedia article “Uses more way to supplement learning and make it more of Podcasting,” the section on podcasts in higher enjoyable for students of all ages. education. Encouraging Independent Learning outside of Wikipedia: Uses of Podcasting, Podcasts in the Classroom Higher Education A study from the National University of Ireland, Gal- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_of_ way, looked at ways to creatively prompt independent podcasting#Podcasts_in_higher_education learning outside of the classroom and found podcasts useful for this. Here’s what the study found: The relative ease of using podcasts and minimal Spreading the Word about Research technical requirements for both lecturer and stu- dent means that it is a learning technology of One political scientist, Todd Landman, at the Univer- considerable practical value, and its portability sity of Nottingham, writes about how podcasts are a is particularly well-suited to the diverse and non- useful way to bridge the gap between academia and traditional student body of today.