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“The Educational Podcast is a Tool for Learning in Times of Pandemic”.
Everyone knows that the world of education changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teachers have had to update themselves to teach their classes and face challenges for which many were not prepared. Due to this situation and the rise of virtual education, the need arose to create strategies and tools that facilitate student learning through understanding the activities expected to be carried out in the class with clear and precise instruction that is always available.
In March 2020, teachers were told they should migrate to a completely online educational environment. One of the first challenges was to establish precise and sufficient communication with students. They needed friendly and “familiar” communication, even if they did not have a permanent internet connection. So, I used a strategy to create a podcast as a resource to accompany the students that would explain what activities to do, how to do them, and be a resource available to them whenever they needed.
“The students who could not attend the live classes due to various circumstances still knew what to do and how to do it from the instructions given in each episode.”
In this sense, the use of the podcast was something similar to providing them with an evaluation rubric, but with the advantage of being in a friendly audio format that they could reproduce as many times as they considered necessary until they fully understood the topic. For the students, it turned out to be a handy tool. They commented that the possibility of listening to the instructions as many times as necessary allowed them to understand all the requirements for the work they needed to deliver. Also, they mentioned that although it was a new experience (because they had never listened to an educational podcast), it was easy to access. Some were able to download the podcasts and take them anywhere without an internet connection.
To achieve this, I only needed to create a specific channel for each subject I taught. I used the ivoox website, which also has a mobile version for cell phones. The content can be downloaded and played without the need for an internet connection. The strategy worked well. The students mentioned that the audio rubric helped them a lot when preparing their work. The podcast content that I created for my classes can be heard at the following links:
How to create an educational podcast?
The podcast creation process begins with writing a script specifying the educational objectives, duration times, introduction, audios used, etc. It is essential to have space that eliminates background noise, but it is unnecessary to have a recording studio (I recorded the podcasts in an office). I used a special microphone (Shure MV51) and editing software (Logic Pro X) to create the music and the sound effects for my episodes from scratch. There are also sites on the Internet where you can get free or paid music to create these auditory stamps.
I implemented a pedagogical model that mixed virtual videoconference classes and educational resources. It allows students to understand the tasks to be carried out clearly and precisely. They could access these at any time. The objective was simple. I sought a methodology utilizing audio in a podcast format to inform the student exactly what to do and the specific format for the work to deliver.
It was essential to develop a technological strategy to make the podcasts and give them educational meaning. I used a program script for each topic and covered the objectives to be achieved, allowing the student to understand each learning activity. It was necessary to have recording sessions that incorporated auditory elements that made listening more enjoyable, just like in a radio program. Each podcast was planned and recorded with a specific goal to help the student.
The results were satisfactory. The students’ opinions reinforced the idea that using the podcast was beneficial. The students who could not attend the live classes due to various circumstances still knew what to do and how to do it from the instructions given in each episode. The homework was delivered with 95% effectiveness. It had the format specified, including all of the requested points or sections were present. Of course, there is always room to do things better, perhaps through disseminating the audios through social networks or WhatsApp groups.
I hope that the information provided in this article will help fellow teachers who wish to explore using the podcast as an educational resource. Undoubtedly, the invitation remains open for collaborating in this type of strategy and even for teaching teams in common areas. With pleasure, I look forward to your contact in this regard.
About the author
Enrique Piñeiro Zamudio (enpiza4@hotmail.com) is a teacher at the Tecnológico Nacional de México, Cerro Azul Campus. He holds a Master’s in Education from Tecnologico de Monterrey, and is proudly from the EXATEC class of 2012.
Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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