This course has a most interesting trajectory. Only once before in my teaching career have I walked into a room on day one to find a group of students who were as ready to roll as this group was. Interested in the topic? Check. Willing to learn more even though they already knew a thing or two? Check. Alive to ideas, and interested in each other's ideas? Check. Capable of self-starting? Check. Capable of sustained activity? Check. Able to help each other out with constructive feedback during show-and-tell/critique sessions? Check. Egads! What more might an instructor possibly want?
So, as might be imagined, the Podcasting+Storytelling course has unfolded smoothly. After a few short weeks of introductory reading materials on podcasting and the design process, three guest presentations, some databank building (e.g., a favorite podcasts databank, and knowledge and skills databank), in-class discussions, and a sharing of a few exemplary podcasts, participants launched into the creation of their own podcasts -- with an aim of producing roughly one episode every week and a half.
The range of topics has turned out to be fascinatingly varied, and the results have been quite astonishing. Students have arrived at and developed compelling storylines, and they have produced episodes with coherence, unity between one episode and the next/others, and excellent production values for our process and learning-based purposes. And we've uncovered many folks with terrific on-air voices.
For me, it's been interesting to speculate about the connections between the above high-level engagement in podcasting, and the resonant cultural/generational contexts. It has seemed to me the students' embrace and ability to work with and develop the podcasting genre perhaps reflects their lifelong immersion in aural/oral culture more so than in the culture of reading and writing. This is something both Marshall McLuhan and Walter Ong (two of my go-to thinkers in the field of Media Studies) of course predicted. So it's been a rich and enjoyable experience for me to witness the possible enactment of theory and practice in this regard.
So, as might be imagined, the Podcasting+Storytelling course has unfolded smoothly. After a few short weeks of introductory reading materials on podcasting and the design process, three guest presentations, some databank building (e.g., a favorite podcasts databank, and knowledge and skills databank), in-class discussions, and a sharing of a few exemplary podcasts, participants launched into the creation of their own podcasts -- with an aim of producing roughly one episode every week and a half.
The range of topics has turned out to be fascinatingly varied, and the results have been quite astonishing. Students have arrived at and developed compelling storylines, and they have produced episodes with coherence, unity between one episode and the next/others, and excellent production values for our process and learning-based purposes. And we've uncovered many folks with terrific on-air voices.
For me, it's been interesting to speculate about the connections between the above high-level engagement in podcasting, and the resonant cultural/generational contexts. It has seemed to me the students' embrace and ability to work with and develop the podcasting genre perhaps reflects their lifelong immersion in aural/oral culture more so than in the culture of reading and writing. This is something both Marshall McLuhan and Walter Ong (two of my go-to thinkers in the field of Media Studies) of course predicted. So it's been a rich and enjoyable experience for me to witness the possible enactment of theory and practice in this regard.
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