About Podcasts
Have you been playing with the idea of making an educational podcast? Looking to allow leading experts to reach your students from the comfort of their own home? Creating inspiring and durable learning materials with a personal touch to boot? And having a lot of fun in the process?
You've come to the right place!
On this overview page, you will find the most essential information on educational podcast production at WUR.
After going through this, you will:
- be familiar with the podcast production process at WUR;
- be able to decide whether and why a podcast is the right format for what you're trying to achieve;
- understand and be able to create the basic conditions for a successful educational podcast.
Step 1: Ideation
Recording a podcast starts with booking an intake meeting via [email protected] or directly through the Outlook booking app. In this intake meeting, an instructional designer will explore the project with your and refine your idea. Topics that will come up:
- Your audience, educational goals and how to best achieve them;
- The scope of your project;
- A first exploration of fun and interesting angles.
We'll also consider the question: is a podcast actually the best format for what you're trying to achieve?
Bluntly put, podcasts work well for reflection, inspiration, involving otherwise hard-to-reach experts and exploring complexity and dilemmas in accessible dialogue. If you need students to remember every detail, visual solutions like knowledge clips are a better fit.
Read this short article on the advantages and disadvantages of podcasts in education to learn more.
Step 2: Preparation
Once your idea is clear, it's time for the most exciting part: crafting your story. We do this by addressing several production goals and creating a podcast script. We'll explore:
- What format best fits your podcast;
- Who will be part of the podcast and in what capacity;
- What anecdotes/angles/stories/jokes/sound design support your goals best.
To achieve this, we'll typically follow the steps below. Some projects cut out or combine steps, others add more depending on scope and goals.
Production goals
A quality educational podcast is both well-structured and engaging. To achieve this, we'll consider these core aspects of your podcast when preparing:
- Your audience, learning goals and scope;
- The podcast intro and outro;
- Roles & responsibilities of all participants;
- What to say (but not exactly how);
- The roadmap through your conversation;
- Bringing your podcast to life.
Each production goal has a number of considerations we take into account.
The podcast script
To facilitate your podcast roadmap, we have created podcast script format for interviews and discussion/conversations. If you're looking for a different podcast format (e.g. a documentary), we'll customize these formats to fit your specific needs.
The template will allow you to structure your podcast into:
- segments (~3 main subjects);
- topics (~3 talking points within your subjects);
- notes (the details and nuggets of conversation).
This will allow you to have a well-structured but spontaneous conversation.
Step 3: Recording
Showtime! You'll record your podcast in the sound-proof podcast studio in the basement of Atlas (104) in room D.040.
Intimidated by buttons? Dreading the sound of your own voice? Nervous for your first recording? No worries, one of our multimedia specialists will help you from start to finish, taking care of:
- conversations up to 4 people recorded on a Rode Podcaster Pro setup including 4 Rode Podmic microphones;
- calling in additional external guests;
- any (licensed or rights-free) sound effects and jingles;
- you, whether you need emotional support or just coffee.
Step 4: Publication
After the recording, our media specialist will:
- export the recording as a final audio file or separate tracks;
- publish the final podcast on YuJa, the WUR's media platform for you to embed in BrightSpace or elsewhere.
What we don't support, but you are free to do yourself:
- editing your podcast;
- publishing your podcast on a public platform.
To answer this question, let's look at some advantages and disadvantages specific to podcasts.
Advantages:
- Otherwise hard-to-reach experts are just a Teams call away;
- Can be listened to at any time in any place and re-used for years;
- Research shows people tend to learn better from dialogue than direct instruction in multimedia learning;
- People tend to use more accessible language in a conversational podcast setting than in direct instruction, making it easier to digest;
- There is room for prepared 'negotiation of meaning': a host can ask questions to clarify what a guest wants to convey;
- Listening to a podcast is an intimate and immersive experience as the audio is generally very close to the listener (you are literally "in their ears");
- Podcasts lend themselves well to elaborate storytelling and emotion, which stimulates learning.
Disadvantages:
- Podcasts have no visuals. Relevant visuals greatly support learning and transfer.
- Listeners are often doing something else at the same time and will not be engaged 100% of the time;
- Listeners will often remember specific details rather than the big picture;
- The listener is not an active contributor to the learning activity unless additional exercises / context are provided.
Conclusion:
Podcasts are probably not a great fit to replace your lecture with. But they do provide great opportunities for learning, particularly leveraging the power of dialogue, storytelling and sharing experiences & attitudes.
| ✔️ |
❌ |
|---|---|
| To model attitude & inspiration | When every detail matters |
| To access otherwise unreachable experts | To replace instruction |
| To break down complex info in dialogue | |
| To provide complementary context and hooks | |
| To make info accessible wherever, whenever | |
| As an assignment (e.g. for feedback) |
A quality educational podcast is both well-structured and engaging. To achieve this, we'll consider these core aspects of your podcast when preparing:
1. Your audience, learning goals and scope
Considering your audience and learning goals helps you scope your podcast. It dictates what information you will include in your podcast and, crucially, what you will leave out. You will also consider the tone of voice and format that will resonate with your audience. In addition, think about your scope. Will your podcast be a one-off on a specific topic? Or will it be part of a series?
2. The podcast intro and outro
In the podcast intro, you set the tone for the rest of the podcast. It helps listeners tremendously if you take them by the hand and make clear what they can expect. Moreover, it is an opportunity for you to convince your listeners that it is worthwhile to pay attention. In the outro, you tie things together and reiterate important conclusions. We recommend writing out the intro and outro word-for-word in your script to make sure start and finish with a strong and deliberate message. This will also take away some of the nerves you might experience in what might be a completely new experience for you.
It's also important to consider sound design here; podcasts typically include an intro and outro jingle that matches the energy and format of the podcast.
3. Roles & responsibilities of all participants
Podcasts typically include one or more hosts and one or more guests. It helps to define what is expected from each participant. Do you support your learning goals best by having your guests give long, free-flowing answers? Or do you want your host to take the reigns? What if there are two hosts and/or guests? Whatever you decide, it's important that everyone is on the same page as co-creators of the podcast. We recommend having a preliminary discussion with all involved to make sure of this.
4. What to say (but not exactly how)
A good educational podcast spotlights the nuggets of conversation that will stick in your mind. That's why we will look to pinpoint the best examples, the most engaging anecdotes and the most vivid stories. Teachers and researchers have treasure troves of information, knowledge and experiences. Our challenge is to pare this down to well-structured and digestible learning materials.
At the same time, we want conversations to be natural. So we will not overprepare and write a word-for-word script (unless it fits the format). The goal is to know what to say, if not exactly how.
5. The roadmap through your conversation
Once you know what to say, all that's left is adding structure. This means creating segments: clearly defined thematic blocks within the podcast covering a specific topic. Within these segments, you also determine what is important to mention, and in which order. We call this the roadmap, and our podcast formats help you make a roadmap.
6. Bringing your podcast to life
Should your preparation be thorough? Yes. Should you keep your educational goals in mind? Absolutely. Is structure essential? No doubt.
But listeners will tune out in seconds if they're bored. Enthusiasm, humour and emotional connection are key elements to an effective podcast. So let's give them the attention they deserve, both when preparing and recording your podcast.
Do you want to start creating your educational podcast, or explore ideas with our team? Send an email to [email protected] or plan an intake meeting directly.
Want to know more about video and podcasts for education?
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