During the COVID-19 quarantine one of the challenges facing teachers is how to adapt their courses to teaching online. In our last digest we offered a number of resources to support teaching and learning online. In this digest we will focus on one way to teach online: using podcasts.

1. Tips for Starting a Podcast by Jennifer Gonzalez @cultofpedagogy

   If you want to make a podcast, where do you start? Jennifer provides a helpful list of tips to get started podcasting.

2. How to make an educational podcast? by Centre for Innovation at Leiden University

   This PDF gives practical advice and tips for creating educational podcasts. It focuses on how to write scripts and produce podcasts.

3. A Studio At Your Fingertips: 5 Apps Teachers Are Using To Make Student Podcasts by Diane Adame for NPR

   Whether you are including podcasts as project for students or making one yourself, this list of apps is a helpful way to get started!

4. How To Keep Making Your Podcast… Even If You’re Stuck At Home by Sequoia Carrillo for NPR

   Another resource from NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge. This article provides some helpful tips for recording podcasts at home (including building a pillow fort!).

5. Teaching the Art of Listening: How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom by Alix Mammina for Education Week

   Whether you are thinking about making your own podcasts or integrating existing podcasts in the classroom, this article provides some ideas about how to use them effectively.

6. Why use podcasts in class (and 14 activities to try!) by Erin Walton for Education First

   Thinking of assigning a podcast to use in your next class? This article gives tips for best practices on using podcasts in a lesson plan and some activities to try.

7. Podcast recommendations

   If the idea of making your own podcast seems overwhelming, or if it simply isn’t feasible for you, there are tons of educational podcasts that you can assign. A quick google search for “Top Educational podcasts for …” will come up with no shortage of suggestions. To get you started here are a few recommendations:

   1. Radiolab - Radiolab consistently shows up on lists of educational podcasts and it’s not hard to see why. Radiolab is a longer running podcasts (episodes last about an hour) that investigates a wide range of topics. From Dolly Parton to ill-fated balloon attacks to space, Radiolab features unique stories about the world around us. For a list of episodes that are better suited for younger audiences, check out Radiolab for Kids.

   2. How Stuff Works - How Stuff Works is a family of educational podcasts dedicated to providing reliable and easy to understand explanations of how stuff works. They have podcasts on History, Food, and more!

   3. Brains On! - “Brains On! is an award-winning audio show for kids and families. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world.  Our mission is to encourage kids’ natural curiosity and wonder using science and history…but there’s no age limit on curiosity, and episodes of Brains On can be enjoyed by anyone.”

   4. Learning Scientists - If you are looking to learn more about the science of learning then check out our podcast archive! We feature interviews with other researchers, bite-size research where we explain an interesting study, and discuss issues related to learning science.

From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:

Digest #138: Fostering Self-Regulated Learning in Students

Digest #139: What Comes After School? Career Tips and Advise

Digest #140: There’s An App For That

Digest #141: Autism and Educational Settings

Digest #142: (COVID-19 Edition): Online Teaching and Learning Resources