1. Have students analyze and reflect on podcasts. As with any other assignment in your classroom, it is almost never a good idea to assign something without offering students additional opportunities to analyze and reflect on those assignments. Build in written reflections, online discussion forums, digital archival work, a creative adaptation, or other methods of analysis and reflection.
2. Let us know how it goes in the classroom! Regardless if your use of a specific episode/series is a success or a dud, telling us how you used the podcast in your class can still be helpful. The more specific you can be with your assignment descriptions (including sending documents), the better.
3. Listen to an episode suggested here before assigning. Some episodes include cursing, political commentary, trigger words, or conversations that might be appropriate for one classroom but inappropriate for your class or assignment. Only you, the instructor, can determine if that episode is a good fit for your students. Do not take our word for it.
4. Suggest podcasts for our database. We are starting a running list of assignable podcast episodes and need your help. To offer a suggestion, click on the Contact page to the left. Make sure to suggest podcasts you would recommend for classroom use and offer a brief explanation of how it could be used as part of a learning exercise – bonus points if you can describe how you’ve used it in your own classroom. If you haven’t assigned it to students but enjoy listening to it and think it might be a good fit for a specific discipline, let us know! Disagree with another suggestion in this database? Let us know why.
Broad Tips for Using/Creating Podcasts in the Classroom:
Hannabach, Cathy, “Teaching with Podcasts: Assignments, Scholarship, and Critical Listening,” Ideas On Fire: https://ideasonfire.net/teaching-with-podcasts/
Murray, Jacqui, “Technology in the Classroom: How, Why to Use Podcasts,” TeachHub.com: http://www.teachhub.com/technology-classroom-how-why-use-podcasts
Mammina, Alix, “Teaching the Art of Listening: How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom,” EdWeek.org: https://bit.ly/2y34N9c
Hicks, Winnick, and Gonchar, “Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce Their Own Podcasts,” NY Times: https://nyti.ms/2J9mVUz
This American Life’s Directory of Episodes used in Classrooms: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/education
NPR, “Teaching Podcasting: A Curriculum for Educators”: https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662116901/teaching-podcasting-a-curriculum-guide-for-educators
Hethmon, Hannah, Directory of Podcasts by Cultural Nonprofits: https://hhethmon.com/directory/
H-Podcast: a listserv/discussion board that can be helpful for discussing podcasts with other educators who are making and assigning them: https://networks.h-net.org/h-podcast
Teaching with Podcasts 