Podcasting for Educators-This might alter your thinking.

Podcasting has seen a huge rise in popularity, and it continues to trend upwards. For educators, podcasts are a great way to create courses while sharing your expertise with listeners. Podcasting can be a great way to stand out from the competition while reaching a new audience. 

Much like in your professional career, podcasting can be incredibly helpful for both your research and development as a teacher. This article focuses on how to utilize podcasts for personal, professional, and academic development as well as how to incorporate them into the curriculum as a learning tool.

What is Podcasting

Before learning everything about podcasting for educators, let us look at what podcasting is. A podcast is a digital audio file that is automatically downloaded from the Internet to a computer or smart device. Podcasting allows users to subscribe to a particular audio feed, through an automated process set up by the podcaster. Another way is to listen to them on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, etc. 

Podcasting started as a way to distribute pre-recorded audio files over the internet. The term podcasting is a portmanteau of iPod and broadcasting, but most people use it to refer to any type of audio file that you can subscribe to and then download and listen to on your device.

Podcast episodes can range from just a few minutes to several hours, and they’re available on a wide variety of topics. Some podcasts are highly produced, with music and sound effects — they’re basically radio shows you can download and play on your own schedule. Others are informal conversations between friends or family members. And others still are more like public radio shows, with an expert talking about a topic in-depth for an hour or so.

Podcasts are usually free, which makes them tempting for those looking at cutting their cable bill. But there’s no reason you can’t use podcasts as another way to sell your products and services and attract new customers — podcasts that deliver valuable information, like how-to podcasts or podcasts that teach about specific topics, can be extremely valuable to listeners.

Why is podcasting a good way to reach your audience

Podcasting is majorly a free and easy way to build an audience and grow your audience with almost no effort. All you need is a computer, a microphone and some free software. You can subscribe to podcasts and have them automatically downloaded to your computer so you can listen on the go. So if you are an educator, podcasting for educators is a great way to engage your students. 

The best part is that podcasting is usually free. All you need is a computer with some free software, such as Apple’s GarageBand or Audacity (commonly used by podcasters), and a good-quality microphone. If you want to get fancy, you also can get equipment for podcasting, but it isn’t necessary to build an audience.

There are over 100 million podcast listeners in the United States. While that number may seem staggering, it pales in comparison to Americans’ use of social media. Facebook alone has almost 30 times more users than the entire country’s podcast audience.

It’s clear that social media is still king when it comes to reaching an audience. Yet, that doesn’t mean that podcasting should be overlooked by business owners who are looking to expand their reach. Podcasting provides entrepreneurs with a great opportunity to reach customers in a one-on-one format. It’s like having your own radio show or TV program, but without any of the major costs associated with producing and airing content.

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Podcasting is the new way educators stay connected

Podcasting is the new trend that has taken over the world of education, and it is here to stay for good. Every day more and more teachers are taking advantage of podcasting in their daily classrooms. They are also realizing that podcasting can be used not just to give students access to information but to assess them as well. Podcasting for educators is something that every educator needs to have a look at. 

Podcasts are a great way to deliver information because the information is delivered in an informal manner. It makes it easier for students to learn. Podcasts are also more accessible because you can listen to them on your own time which makes it convenient for students who have issues with staying up late or getting up early.

Podcasts can be used for many different areas of the curriculum. For example, podcasts are a wonderful way of learning about history because you get real accounts from people who were actually part of historical events. They also make for great literature pieces when you get someone to read a passage from a book and then you can hear how they interpreted the passage in their own way.

Podcasts can also be used to teach skills such as public speaking and interview skills. You can also use podcasts to teach discipline in things like how to use proper grammar and pronunciation in English class.

Podcasting has become a more common teaching tool. With the right podcast, educators can reach an entire audience of students and parents at once. Podcasts are also easy to listen to on-demand, even when teachers need to be in different places for their own jobs.

Podcasts are most successful when they fill gaps left by traditional teaching tools. Classes like science or math need more visual aids than podcasts can provide. Some subjects, like poetry or literature, are better served by audio than by reading text. Teachers can use podcasts to keep parents involved in their children’s education as well.

Podcasting can supplement your classroom instruction

Many educators and instructional designers are familiar with the idea of podcasting as a means for expanding learning beyond the classroom. Podcasts present an opportunity to go beyond audio information and engage learners in an interactive way. While you could simply use a podcast as audio, by adding some basic interactivity you can take podcasting one step further and help your students to engage with the content in new ways.

Podcasts are perfect for supplementing classroom instruction. They can be used to reinforce material students are learning in class or for providing additional information relevant to classroom lessons. And because podcasts are engaging, they can help students stay motivated to continue their studies outside of school hours, which facilitates continued learning over time.

Here are some ideas for how podcasting for educators can be used to supplement your classroom instruction:

• Ask questions: Students can listen to a podcast, then answer questions based on what they have heard. 
• Ask students to formulate questions that they want to be answered before listening to the podcast or after they have listened. You could also use this approach for vocabulary exercises by having students find words in the podcast that match vocabulary terms they have learned in class. 
• Make the students select particular parts of the podcast that they want to be explained more fully.

Podcasts can provide a wealth of information. Students can listen while commuting to and from school, during chores, and while completing homework assignments. By offering students a vast selection of podcasts to choose from, you can add more depth to your lesson plan.

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What to do while podcasting for educators

When you create a podcast, you should include:

• An introduction and conclusion where you tell listeners what they will learn and why they should listen. This is helpful if someone is listening to your podcast after it has been recorded.
• An intermediate conclusion at the end of each section where you summarize the main points of the section. This helps someone listen to your podcast more than once.
• A call to action at the end of each section where you encourage people to contact you with questions about the topic or visit your website for more information.
• As with all online content, be sure that comments are moderated to prevent spam. Include a brief summary of what people can expect from your podcast at the top of any transcript or video description page.

Podcasting can supplement your lesson plans

Podcasting for educators can be used to supplement your lesson plans in several ways. First, it provides a way for you to include media elements in your lessons that might not be available in the classroom. Recording and posting podcasts allows teachers to take advantage of the latest technologies to enhance their lessons and bring media into the classroom. 

Podcasts can also be an excellent way for students or teachers to share information with each other and with the world. Having a podcast does not mean having to start from scratch; there are many free resources online that make starting a podcast easy. Podcasts can be accessed via many different mediums such as; smartphones, tablets, computers, etc.        

Podcasting is an excellent way to supplement your lesson plans. Most of your students probably have access to a computer or phone, and therefore can listen to podcasts at any time.

Podcasts are a great way for you to deliver content on a regular basis and allow you to be able to relate it to the class material. If you feature your podcast on your website, students will be able to follow along with the information and reinforce what they learn in class.

If you’re interested in using podcasting for educators in your lesson plans, here are some tips:

• The podcast should be short – If you’re trying out podcasting for the first time, try making short podcasts that run about five minutes long. You can always make them shorter as you improve at recording and editing, but starting out with longer podcasts can make them more difficult for listeners. 
• Make sure there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end – The best podcasts start with an interesting introduction and provide a clear conclusion at the end. This helps listeners understand how the podcast relates to the lesson plan and makes it more likely that they’ll return for future episodes. 
• Start with one subject – It’s tempting to throw in everything you know about every subject when you first begin podcasting.

Curate the podcast content according to your students

While using podcasting for educators it is very important that you are curating your podcast content in order to keep the students engaged. The podcast should be relevant, interesting, and timely. Consider students’ interests or focus on a particular topic for the year.

The most important factor to consider when creating your podcast is relevance. Students are more likely to engage with your work if it is engaging to them. You want to create something that will capture the attention of your students, but also something that they will find interesting. Each time you record a podcast, you should have an idea of what you are going to discuss beforehand. This way you can think of questions ahead of time to ask certain students or re-direct the conversation if needed.

Do not veer off topic during the podcast recording because it could cause confusion for the listeners and make them tune out. Keep it simple by sticking to one topic per episode to make things easier for yourself. Curating podcasts is a great way to keep students engaged in your course. To optimize your podcasts, you can create a podcast channel on YouTube and add related channels to the channel. In the channel description, include a link to your class website or an external blog post that will complement or enhance the podcast.

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In addition to adding videos from other channels, you can also add additional media such as images and PDFs in order to enhance the content of your podcast with supporting materials. The more you add, the better off you’ll be in terms of keeping students engaged in your course material. 

How many podcasts should you produce as an educator?

Once you have decided to start podcasting for educators and use it to enrich your lessons. The next most important thing that has to be decided is “how many podcasts to produce”? There’s no easy answer to this question, but as a rule of thumb, I recommend that you produce at least one podcast per month. If you’re producing more than that, then great! Keep it up. If you’re not, then perhaps you should be.

At the very least, every educator should have a podcast for their students and/or their parents. This can be a weekly show or a monthly show. The goal is to have a podcast ready to publish on your site or on your blog – if you have one – each time you have a lesson ready to teach.

But the number of podcasts you can produce depends on your free time and your ability to produce quality content. If you have a lot of free time, it is recommended to produce a podcast every two weeks. You should also spend a few hours each day reading other blogs and listening to podcasts. 

If you don’t have a lot of free time, it would be better to produce a podcast every month. There will be fewer episodes, but the episodes will be high quality. If you follow that schedule, you’ll also have more time to spend reading other blogs and listening to podcasts.

Thus while podcasting for educators, you will be the one making the decision on how many podcasts to produce. Just ensure that the episodes are regular and provide quality information. 

Summary

Educators can podcast to engage students and make learning fun. Podcasts are a great way to reach new people and share what you know. If your target as an educator is to use podcasting for educators to better your classrooms and lessons, now is the perfect time to start. Just make sure that you curate your content according to the students and make it engaging for them. All the while ensuring that it supplements your regular teaching.